Flack Jacket as ballast?

[Ragnor]

Anyone tried using a flack jacket for diving weight? My estimates show I need about 28 lbs to sink. Flack jacket seams like it would be kind of convenient. Strapping that weight around my waste sounds like a sore back. A horse beat me up pretty bad a couple years ago. I'm sore most the time already.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Family Maps of Hinds County, Mississippi, Deluxe Edition - Grab it through Amazon!

[ratled]

28 pounds sounds very light. My standard belt starts at 55 and I go from there depending on how fast the water is. You don't want to sink, you want to drop like a rock and stay there. I know some folks aren't fans of them but nothing beats a harness from Armadillo. Sam will take care of you on internet and phone sales
Dredge Sales, Dive Equipment, Mining Supplies and Metal Detectors - ArmadilloMining.com

ratled

 

[kcm]

Not only that, but wouldn't it be better if the weight was lower, rather than chest-high? Seems to me when it comes time to come out of the water, you would want the weight lower - if you trip and fall in, the weight could take you head-first into the water.

....No, I don't even go into swimming pools!

 

[winners58]

28lb without a wetsuit is about right for freediving like for sport gigging or spear gun hunting.
I'm 5'11" 175lb I use 3 12lb weights that's about the lightest I can get away with.
even then if I get into faster moving water it's a struggle to stay down, I have to hug the bottom
or hold onto rocks, most dredgers use 50 or 60lb's I have a bad back plus I like to swim around.
shouldn't make much difference if the weight is on your waist or a little higher up, you don't
try to get your feet underneath you to get your balance you lay forward or stretch your feet out first anyway.

 

[russau]

I remember wearing the "flack" jacket while in RVN in 68/69 and boy did they suck up the sweat in their Summer heat and humidity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wonder if they are boyant when soaked?? and how fast you could get out of one in an emergency?? I personally have a harness for my weight belt . I don't know if my back could hold it any more............(F.O.G.)

 

[ratled]

and how fast you could get out of one in an emergency?? I personally have a harness for my weight belt .

russ can I like a post more than once??!!!! russ brings up a critical point that I take for a matter of assumed fact in that the flack vest doesn't have an escape route where, like the harness mentioned above does. Motorcyclist say if you ride long enough you will go do, dredges should say if you dredge long enough you will need to bail out.... and it ALWAYS happens right after the exhale! You now have about 90 seconds to solve your problem.

Thanks russ

ratled

 

[okbasspro]

Escape route is a must. I wear about 60# unless in wetsuit then more.

 

[Capt Nemo]

Out of air is no time to be fumbling with the weight system holding you down. You need to blow and go!

90 seconds? More like 5...4...3...2...1...PANIC!

You could build a backpack for a backup cylinder with shot bag dump rigged like a parachute. Pull the ripcord, and it dumps the shot bags on both sides of the cylinder. Some of the old 60's and 70's scuba cylinder fairings did that, as well as buoyancy control. If you build it, make damn sure that it will release every time, and in every position! One mistake, and you're dead!

 

[Ragnor]

Thanks for the replies. sounds kind of dumb, but I was going off of ocean diving sites for weight estimates. I never considered that those guys are going for neutral buoyancy till now. Sounds like I'm going to have to use rocks for weight or pack in the lead over several trips. 50#'s would be a heavy pack for scaling down onto my claim and a definitely wouldn't want to pack it back out.

 

[ratled]

Not dumb it's you don't know what you don't know... now you know. Another upside to the harness (vs the belt) is it is easier to pack as it distributes the weight better

ratled

 

[okbasspro]

Thanks for the replies. sounds kind of dumb, but I was going off of ocean diving sites for weight estimates. I never considered that those guys are going for neutral buoyancy till now. Sounds like I'm going to have to use rocks for weight or pack in the lead over several trips. 50#'s would be a heavy pack for scaling down onto my claim and a definitely wouldn't want to pack it back out.

You can always wear ankle weights and put a rope with hand hold on a big azz rock and just use your hand to hold you down.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Thanks for the replies. sounds kind of dumb, but I was going off of ocean diving sites for weight estimates. I never considered that those guys are going for neutral buoyancy till now. Sounds like I'm going to have to use rocks for weight or pack in the lead over several trips. 50#'s would be a heavy pack for scaling down onto my claim and a definitely wouldn't want to pack it back out.

You may have to pack the weights in over multiple trips. rocks DO NOT work well for diving weights. They aren't dense enough. Put them under water and you lose about half of their "weight". You couldn't put enough into pockets or bags to be workable.

Also, those scuba estimates are crap. Every person is different and changes in weight and body composition change the needed lead to be neutral. Just plan on wearing a LOT of lead and experimenting until you find what you need. Find a dive shop that can mold you some 10# weights. I have a ton of 6 and 8 pound weights and I have to use 2 weight belts to wear enough.

 

[russau]

when wearing a weighted belt I always thought it would be a good idea to tie a line to that belt incase of you needing to get out of it quickly.....................somebody has to get that belt eventually! might be EZer to just pull it back up with the attached line instead of diveing down back in for it! BUT then again Im a F.O.G. and don't need to be doing things twice!

 

[Jason in Enid]

when wearing a weighted belt I always thought it would be a good idea to tie a line to that belt incase of you needing to get out of it quickly.....................somebody has to get that belt eventually! might be EZer to just pull it back up with the attached line instead of diveing down back in for it! BUT then again Im a F.O.G. and don't need to be doing things twice!

The problem here is, what is the other end tied to? You have to have freedom to move from dredge to nozzle and back. If its tied off at the dredge, that mean you are going to have a lot of slack line in the water unless your suction hose is stretched all the way (and your rope is exactly the right length). Other wise, you have loose line flopping around , wrapping in logs and rocks, and may become an anchor holding you to the bottom, now forcing you to ditch the belt (and you cant pull it up because of the entanglement)

 

[boaraxa]

A mate of mine used to make his own out of a plastic canvas type material it was basically a vest with big pocket that went all the way around the bottom that he would slide his weight belt through once on he would do the belt up but leave it loose letting the vest take most of the weight to your shoulders.

 

[njcommercialdiver]

in the medium sized rivers in NC using a 3mil wetsuit and my KMB bandmask, i use 25-30lbs and a pair of 4lb ankle weights. i use either a commercial diving harness or a belt with shoulder straps, but then again when im in a deep hole, im only in 8-10ft of water and ive had a few OOA experiences but when the dredge stops sucking then the volume tank has abt 15 seconds till you use all your reserve.