Old trick changed my mind about weight belts

I used to think you needed heavy weight belts to stay down. Then I heard a guy at the dive shop in Morgan City say he drops 10 pounds of lead and uses a 5 pound belt. Said the less drag lets him move faster on bottom jobs. Tried it last month checking a pipeline in the Gulf and it worked way better. Any of yall run lighter belts for long bottom time?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_thomas15d ago

You said "dropping 10 pounds is wild to me" and honestly I'm with you there. That's not a small tweak, that's a whole different setup that could go wrong fast if you miscalculate. Feels like a lot of trust to put in a trick you heard from some guy in a shop.

hunt.quinn15d ago

That's a bold move dropping 10 pounds of lead. How did the buoyancy control feel when you were running that 5 pound belt? I'm curious if you had to work a lot harder to stay level once you got down there, or if the lower drag made up for it. Seems like it would be a fine line between having enough weight for stability and not being a total anchor.

brian_rivera5915d ago

Start off by saying that dropping 10 pounds is wild to me. I mean, maybe it's just me but that sounds like a huge swing in gear setup. I could see the speed benefit on bottom jobs though, like less effort fighting the current. But idk, I'd be nervous about popping up too fast if I'm working deep for a while. Gotta trust your buoyancy control big time for that to work.

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