USU SCUBA Club

Weight belt

Especially if wearing neoprene (which is positively buoyant, causing you to float), you're going to need to wear additional weight to allow you to descend and establish neutral buoyancy in the water. Usually, this weight is worn around a belt, although it is now commonly being integrated into buoyancy compensators while scuba diving (more on this later, when we talk about BCD's).

Belts can be as simple as a strap stringing through hard lead weights, or more complex, consisting of a set of zippered or velcroed pouches that can hold "soft weights", small bags filled with lead shot. The more neoprene you wear, the more weight you will need to use in order to offset the suit's positive buoyancy. It's not uncommon for cold water divers to wear up to 30 lbs. of weight.

Next page: Choosing Scuba Gear