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Three: A Weighty Matter
Weight belts are dead. Or, at least, you’d think they would be by now. Dive stores and manufacturers have long reported they sell few, if any, non-weight-integrated BCs any more.
Divers are more likely to rent a non-weight-integrated BC than to buy one; however, this situation is changing rapidly as well.
In a recent survey by DiveRetailing.com, nearly three quarters of domestic USA dive stores responding reported that at least some of their rental and teaching BCs have weight integration; nearly half reported that most or all of their rental/teaching BCs are so equipped.
So why beat a dead horse? Because this horse isn’t quite dead. The same DiveRetailing.com survey asked retailers whether they taught beginning students using conventional weight belts or weight-integrated BCs. This was the response:
The issue here isn’t whether or not beginning students learn to use weight belts.
So long as there is a reasonable possibility that students might travel to a destination where the only available rental BCs are not weight-integrated, you can make the argument that divers need at least some familiarity with how to use conventional weight belts.
What’s more important, however, is that, despite the fact divers these days are overwhelmingly likely to buy a weight-integrated BC (or, at the very least, rent one), 86 percent of dive stores report they provide students with no training whatsoever in the safe and proper use of this equipment.
Think about it: Would you want your loved ones to learn to dive from a dive store or instructor who did not teach students how to use submersible pressure gauges, power inflators or alternate air sources? It’s much the same issue with integrated-weight BCs. There are currently very few places students can go to get proper training on the very equipment they are likely to buy or rent.
There’s also more to this than just the fact weight belts are uncomfortable and inconvenient. Weight belts have serious issues with fit, safety and environmentally responsible diving as well. In this issue of StupidDiverTricks.com, we’ll look at seven reasons why weight belts need to take a back seat to safer, more modern equipment.
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