Disposable weights ???

[gladiator]

My favorite hunting spot is about 2 km inshore swim (no boats allowed) with very strong currents. Heading back to shore with the extra weight of my catch and after 4 hours of swimming leaves me always on my last breath and sometimes I even feel like there is no way I am going to make it back to shore. I was thinking that if I could dump my weight belt before heading back will make my return much easier.

Can anyone suggest an economical way to make my own disposable weights (other than filling my wetsuite with rocks )

Thanks

[sanso]

Why don't You pack catch and weights on Your float? You surely use one, right?

[Erik]

^ yeah that^ A float is not just to warn boats. I've dnoe that very thing sanso suggested.

[Magpie]

And it can carry you as well as your catch making the long swim much easier.

[Marwan]

i dont get how will the disposable weights help? buy/make new ones every dive? even rocks wont be economical ....
use a float definitely and from the sound of it you go out alone too, right? i know its not always easy, but try to find someone so that you dont get caught in the current all by yourself...
of course you could also get yourself a scooter and it will do all the work for you, they are specifically made for that
dive safe

[Lenny]

Hmmmm, Id never thought of useing a scooter, I had always thought of them as scuba gadgets. I wonder how they handle kelp.

[spaghetti]

I second what the other mates said.
If strong current is an issue, try to the following trick:
before starting your dive, throw a piece of wood in the sea and watch where it goes to. That will tell you the main direction of the current. When ready, start your swimming against the current, so that you will be in favour of current when you'll finally have to swim back to shore.
The reason for doing this: It's better to swim against current at the beginning, when you're still fresh, than at the end, when you'll be tired and less motivated.
Of course the direction of the current might suddenly change within 4 hours, but that's facts of life.

[gladiator]

I thank everyone for their inputs. let me explain where I come from:

I do have a float of course, and I do use it to tow my gun, stringer, and a bottle of water. I never spear alone, I always go with the same buddy on all my hunts. The problem with the float is this, when I load the fish + my weight belt on the float it will lean a little forward or backward enough to add a good amount of drag. I cannot lay on the float either as it is very uncomfortable to lay on top of 15-20 KG of groupers and the float is already too heavy as it is if I lay on it it will be 90% submerged.

I cannot avoid the current on the way back to shore as the current is always side ways (low tide current pulls you to open water, while high tide pulls you in-land) on the attached map, yellow lines indicate current direction and red arrow is the swim to fish hideouts.

Finally, my thought was if I could dump the 10+ KG of weight belt the float will have better water dynamics and therefore my swim back would be much easier. I might be totally wrong but it was just a thought.

[Erik]

If you go to exactly the same place, then you could leave a weight belt with a short float on it, not coming out of the water, but maybe a few metres from the bottom. Or you could have a float at the surface too, if you thought nobody would steal it.
Just a thought?

[gladiator]

Originally Posted by Erik

If you go to exactly the same place, then you could leave a weight belt with a short float on it, not coming out of the water, but maybe a few metres from the bottom. Or you could have a float at the surface too, if you thought nobody would steal it.
Just a thought?

Thanks Erik, that's a great idea, this will definitly solve my problem

I love this forum

[Paraaronoid]

Can you find any weighted objects in your surroundings to use? Sand, small rocks, etc.??

XS Scuba makes velcro weight pouches that you "fill" with lead shot. They come in different sizes, meant to hold 1-6 pounds of lead. They are not meant to be disposable, but you could use them instead to fill rocks, gravel, etc., whatever has weight in your surroundings, and then dump them out on the way back.

You would have to accept that you will need more volume of weights though, given that anything you use in your surroundings won't be as dense as lead.

[Gunnar]

Originally Posted by Paraaronoid

...you could use them instead to fill rocks, gravel, etc., whatever has weight in your surroundings, and then dump them out on the way back.

You would have to accept that you will need more volume of weights

I don't think that's a good idea. As you said youself the density is the problem.
If you use say 5 kg (about 11 pounds) of lead (density 11,3 g/ccm) measured on land of course, it will still weigh over 4,5 kg (over 10 pounds) in the water.

If you want the same downforce in the water, that ist 4,5 kg, you need a lot of rocks. Rocks have a density of about 2 - 2,5 g/ccm, (gravel, sand etc even less) that means, that in the water they weigh only little more than half of what they weigh on land.
Given that the rocks you find have an acceptable shape, to be honest, they won't, it would still not be very comfortable to swim with the amount of rocks (sand or gravel) that is an equivalent of 9 kg (20 pounds) of rocks on land on your belt.

And I am not even talking yet about the rocks not being tight to your body and "working" and scratching on your suit...

just my 0,02 €.

Cheers
Gunnar

[riffehunter717]

you might want to leave two weight belts that way if one disapears you wiil have a spare right there instead of being bouyant the whole dive or having to make the swim 4 times

[sanso]

As an - important - side issue,

I think that in generally nothing at all should be left in the sea. And if one just can't avoid it, anything left in the sea should be something that will disappear/rot away/feed its inhabitants.
It's a definite to leave things in the sea that aren't more than trash.

[Heinz57]

Use a kayak