Make your own weight belt.

Things you will need.. One buckle $15 from your local sports shop (probably cheaper round) ,one length of rubber belt $15 from you local para rubber or such, one beer and one dog (optional)

Take your buckle in to make sure the rubber belt fits your buckel ( don't guess and hope)
Also get Flexi belt I went with heavy duty and it's bloody good but way to firm not enough give in it so when breathing up it doesn't give around my guts.. Also allow an extra 600 mill of length if you have the weights you bind on. Mines a bit of a tits up so back to get another length of belt. And photos of the mould and weights used to follow
Attachment 42077

That looks like a hell of a thick belt

Yeah like I said bits of a tits up... But that said I've seen 3 comercial ones torn with eyelets tearing out of the rubber hence the thick stuff.
That's also why went with a clamp rather than the normal belt buckle.... Any ideas welcome!

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Originally Posted by stingray

Yeah like I said bits of a tits up... But that said I've seen 3 comercial ones torn with eyelets tearing out of the rubber hence the thick stuff.
That's also why went with a clamp rather than the normal belt buckle.... Any ideas welcome!

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Sorry my comment may have come across a bit negative.

It wasn't meant to be. I think the clamp should work pearler if it has got good teeth in it.

Dogs no longer a cone head :thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by puku

Sorry my comment may have come across a bit negative.

It wasn't meant to be. I think the clamp should work pearler if it has got good teeth in it.

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Na your all good ! :thumbsup: I'm just to sensitive.. I hate fucking up something I should have worked out / thought about before hand...:pissed off: Moving forward going with lighter / thinner rubber. Also show the mould and making of weights.. Could even loan the mould to forum members. Anything to make it cheaper for others setting up for free diving.


Yeah Cam cone head gone... Still limping and sulking hard. He's moulting like a barstard, so mums sympathy has run dry and he's an outside dog again much to his dismay.

dont make normal weights. make crescent shapped ones. they sit on the body nice and dont catch in kelp!!

Depends on how much weight you need, I'm a skinny white boy
That needs 11kg to sink
I use to use 3 big paua shaped weights but started to get a sore back
So moved to a neoprene vest that holds about 6kg and rubber belt takes the rest
I find It keeps my core held down better when on bottom if that makes sense

dont make normal weights. make crescent shapped ones. they sit on the body nice and dont catch in kelp!!
Attachment 42101

Quote:

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Originally Posted by longrange308

Depends on how much weight you need, I'm a skinny white boy
That needs 11kg to sink
I use to use 3 big paua shaped weights but started to get a sore back
So moved to a neoprene vest that holds about 6kg and rubber belt takes the rest
I find It keeps my core held down better when on bottom if that makes sense

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Photo please!

What ever buckle you get, make sure you can get it off your person with one hand. You dont want to be stuck somewhere and unable to remove that which is stopping you from getting air....

I made one years ago. Its clasp was a rollover cam. If you pulled it with one hand it would come away from the body and separate from you with one hand and without letting it go. The dive instructor insisted it was unsafe until I got him to try take his one off with one hand. He had a conventional claw clamp that the belt goes through and he had to let the end go to remove it. When he saw how quickly mine worked, he still insisted it was not safe but I noticed h stopped trying to sell me his ones as he could see they were worse than mine. All the other belts I have ever seen all have the same commercial buckle that he had on his. Best one I saw had a pin in the hinge like a grenade. If you got into trouble you pulled the pin. Buckle did not open but it actually separated from the belt and released from the other side. Never did find out where he got it.

Been thinking of redoing my weight belt, as it keeps slipping down. I have the pocket style. I have a rubber one and that doesn't slip for free diving.

http://pararubber.co.nz/industrial-r...ber-strip.html @stingray is this the stuff I need to get?
Going for a dive Waitangi w/e and need a few things

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@puku @Gapped axe

So far this project has being bloody niggley. Would have being cheaper for me to by a ready made barstard ( but where the fun in that eh)

So lesson one get a toothy buckle
...lesson two take the buckle to para rubber with you and make sure you get the right thickness
....lesson three allow extra for threading on dive weights if nesscary
....Lesson four don't loan out your dive mould.
Here you can see the rubber is to thick and the buckel won't close properly on the rubber
Attachment 44607
Stole this buckle of a web belt that I had spare ,close but still not acceptable ,as you can imagine that flapper hooking in the kelp/weed and you belt coming loose when you battling that cray
Attachment 44608

So off to shop once again to get it bloody right!!
Here is a photo of both buckles front on
Attachment 44609
A neat project, but I seem to be suffering from a case of act first think later on this one!:pissed off:
Cheers

Also I am thinking about drilling the lug hole out a mill, this should add clearance to the jaw allowing it to close futher...might go see @veitnamcam , because Stingray the ham fisted has a solid history of fucking up things like this!
Attachment 44610

An old flatmate of mine was involved in prepping the F421 Canterbury for scuttling. He or one of his group (of dive-mad nutcases, they had it baaaaad) had a dive weight mold made with a silhouette of the ship and "F421" beneath the silhouette as a commemorative thing. I believe he donated it to the AKL uni dive club or someone like that for when people did their first dive of the wreck. Was quite a neat idea.

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Originally Posted by stingray

Also I am thinking about drilling the lug hole out a mill, this should add clearance to the jaw allowing it to close futher...might go see @vietnamcam , because Stingray the ham fisted has a solid history of fucking up things like this!
Attachment 44610

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Must remember that it's E before I in Cam-land :thumbsup:

Cheers and fixed!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stingray

Also I am thinking about drilling the lug hole out a mill, this should add clearance to the jaw allowing it to close futher...might go see @veitnamcam , because Stingray the ham fisted has a solid history of fucking up things like this!
Attachment 44610

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Shouldnt be a problem mate just drop it off and show me what it needs.

@stingray bugger I ordered some rubber about an hour before you posted.
Figured I would find a buckle to fit. I got 3x50mm neoprene rubber.
I better get looking for a buckle, or buy one from wettie

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I don't think its that complicated ... Get a buckle like this
Attachment 44653
Take to you local engineer and get him to open either the jaws ( grind the teeth back a mll) or drill your bottom plate lug holes out to a ml ie 4 rather than 3mll I think it would snap shut like a trap ... Or if he could build a bottom plate and use the flapper from the original.
Attachment 44654
Hope it all makes sense

That or yes get a belt style buckle ...what concerns me is I've seen the belt buckle tear through the drilled holes hence them using domes now.
That said you may be ok with the neoprene rubber I think it's thicker / tougher than what they are selling localy as a free diving belt without domes its a very soft almost inner tube like rubber ( heaps thicker but same soft consistency)
What worries me most is anyone looseing $80 of lead weight .