Kevin, having the droppable weight in the form of a weightbelt is not
strictly necessary when diving in a drysuit, and I usually never wear
one.  In fact, the only time I wear a belt anymore is on tendered SAR
dives.  When it may become appropriate is when you are ocean diving
from a small boat such as a RIB, which requires you to take the kit off
on the surface before boarding.  More of an issue when there is a
significantly choppy sea  - this prevents an excessively negative kit
from sinking on you while dekitting and transfering the gear to the
boat.  Of course, depending on how negative it actually is you could
just as easily lose the light, but when your fingers are not quite 100%
dextrous in the cold water - I would rather lose a $30 belt than a
$1000 light.

-Sean


On Sun, 16 Jan 2000 18:36:32 -0800, Kevin Connell wrote:

>Sean, good post -
>
>Only thing I might contend with here:  You made the point about ditching a 
>weightbelt, and in the same sentence mentioned a drysuit:
>
>I don't believe a weightbelt is appropriate with a drysuit.
>
>My impression is:
>The ditchable weight is only necessary if you don't have redundant lift 
>(drysuit & wings)


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