weight harness?

Fuzz, what brand of rubber belt do you use?  I have a rubber belt but it's really flexible...sometimes I think it's too flexible.  I've seen pics of what I think are the Rob Allen belts (could be wrong) but they seemed to be a hard plastic.

I tried making my own harness because I thought I was getting lower back pain from wearing the traditional belt around the waist.  Using lead shot, I filled the biggest mountain bike innertubes I can find then sealed the ends.  I also attached buckles on the ends and wore the tube/harness like a backpack.  How I did this was cross the links in the middle to form an "X" and added a couple more twists.  I then put it over my shoulders, like piggy back, and reached for the two ends hanging under my arm pits and brought those forward and clipped them to the ends that are hanging over my shoulders. 

The harness was very comfortable due to the lead shot conforming to my body.  The down side was now most of the weight was in my upper body and this made me very top heavy.  I had to make more inner tube filled shot to go around my lower legs (knees) to offset the top heaviness.  In the end I found the system, while very comfortable also much more time consuming. 

I also discovered that it's not the weight belt that was making my back sore, but rather the way I was diving while hunting a particular species of fish.  I changed my approach and no more back pain.

Fuzz, what brand of rubber belt do you use?  I have a rubber belt but it's really flexible...sometimes I think it's too flexible.  I've seen pics of what I think are the Rob Allen belts (could be wrong) but they seemed to be a hard plastic.

I know exactly what you mean - fine for tropical waters & light weights, but once you put 18#+ of weight on it, the thing is sagging below your butt and bouncing around as you try to walk. 


Comparing different Marseille (basically belt buckle) style belts:


Loosely ordered from stiffer to stretchier

Rob Allen is the standard for stiffer, heavy-duty belts.  There are 2 compositions - older ones are stiffer, newer ones are stretchy (but still good).
Sumora belts have a nice balance of stretch for norcal, similar to the stretchier Rob Allen belts.
Sporasub belts(old ones, haven't tried new) are thicker and I like them for diving here... but hard to find
Mako is the most economical version - stretchier than Sumora, but not as stretchy as the belts listed below.
C4 & Cressi are both pretty stretchy as well, useable... but mostly warm water.
Omer belts are soft & stretchy - great for easy breathing, but made for warm water.



Personally, I use either a Sporasub or Sumora belt.  Just seems to fit well.  It's a lot of personal preference in what you want.

Dave, what shop did you buy them at?  I'd like to check them out.

I got them here in fort bragg at Sub Surface Progression.  I'm sure they can be found online.