Over vs underweighted

[spectrum]

Maybe I'm wrong, but personnally I think being a bit overweighted is A LOT better than being underweighted.

For example, I once had a dive where once in the water (saltwater) I realized i needed more weight. I added a few more pounds and thought-hoped it would be enough.

I wasnt, during all of the dive, I had to work really hard not to shoot up to the surface, making the dive both unpleasant and unsafe.

( I know, I could have cancelled the dive...)

Personnally, I think it's better to be a bit overweighted than to discover too late that you were underweighted.

What do you think?

Phil

I think you are right.

 

[Puffer Fish]

That's funny! I was on a dive boat in Hawaii and they ran out of weights before I could grab what I needed. (Long story way but not the point) I was only a few pounds short and thought, no problem, I'll just grab a few rocks. (A common solution when I first started diving)

One problem, most of the rocks at that site, were volcanic. I spent most of that dive hanging on the mooring line watching everyone else having a good dive.

Dave, I have this... ah...wetsuit issue... I cannot pass up a deal on a nice suit...so I currently have 11 suits. Problem is, I don't remember all the weighting for them, as they are all different thicknesses and materials.

I have however, learned how to do an inverted, dowward swimming safety stop, which comes in handy on drift dives. The hard part is the gradual surface at the end, because if you turnaround, you rocket to the surface.

The other advantage is, with bright yellow fins, it is easy for the boat to spot you.

 

[TSandM]

I would much rather have students and most normal divers be underweighted

Sparty, this is one of the rare occasions when I violently disagree with you.

The last thing a new diver needs is to breathe a tank down to minimums (which they WILL do) and discover that they can't stay down, especially if they have followed their DM to 130 feet in Molokini.

The most uncomfortable and unpleasant dives I have done have been where I was underweighted. Even with the experience and training I have, I often end up fighting at the end of the dive and thinking my skills have deserted me . . . only to realize, later, that I was simply underweighted. Having the presence of mind to pick up rocks, or grab kelp stipes (as I did when I lost a 5 lb weight from my belt during a dive) is the act of a fairly experienced diver, not a novice who doesn't understand why things are going to Hades in a handbasket.

Being massively overweighted (as I have removed more than 10 lbs from new divers and left them adequately weighted) is horrible. But being 2 or 3 lbs overweighted is VASTLY preferable to being light, IMHO.

 

[Belmont]

That's funny! I was on a dive boat in Hawaii and they ran out of weights before I could grab what I needed. (Long story way but not the point) I was only a few pounds short and thought, no problem, I'll just grab a few rocks. (A common solution when I first started diving)

One problem, most of the rocks at that site, were volcanic. I spent most of that dive hanging on the mooring line watching everyone else having a good dive.

Volcanic rock! like pumice...I once found a piece of pumice floating.

 

[String]

if not weighted properly, then over is better. If nothing else than to avoid the ICBM issue.

Ive seen far more polaris style rapid ascents from overweighting than i have from underweighting.

 

[SparticleBrane]

Sparty, this is one of the rare occasions when I violently disagree with you.

Then we will have to agree to disagree. My viewpoint comes from working with brand new divers for a good number of semesters now.

It's better for someone to be underweighted, especially during open water checkouts (hence the word "student" ) than it is for them to be overweighted, as a general rule. I would much rather have to get out of the water to get some more weight, than to pick up a dead student off the bottom. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule and I listed a few.

Same with most divers -- I'd rather they be at the surface, complaining about missing out on a dive from being underweighted, or how their dive wasn't enjoyable (been there myself; never fun to have that feeling that you're slowly ascending and there's nothing you can do about it except kick down), or even possibly bent, than still down on the bottom because they couldn't get back up.


Most divers carry around way more weight than they need, many by 10-15lbs (or more). That's a lot of weight to swim up (and try to keep up while bobbing at the surface), especially if they panic and forget to drop a weight belt.


A lot of what I'm saying comes from wanting the opposite of most instructors and DM's -- they'll overweight people (again, sometimes by ridiculous amounts) to plant them on the bottom and perform skills and "make sure they stay down". Personally I feel this is exactly the opposite of what one would really want...I'd rather they have trouble going down than coming back up.



I suppose I should also mention that I strongly feel this way for students and for brand new divers. As one progresses through diving and learns to manage their buoyancy much better I don't honestly have an issue with being a tad overweighted (as long as it isn't ridiculous).

 

[String]

I have found that without enough weight I cant even get down so I dont see how underweighted would work..

Because you have about 5lb of gas in your full tank at the start of the dive which isn't there at the end.

 

[spectrum]

There is a world of difference between being 2-4 pounds above ideal weighting and being severly overweighted.

Being under weighted attempts to defy physics if the dive is to be completed under control.

Pete

 

[goodive]

Ive seen far more polaris style rapid ascents from overweighting than i have from underweighting.

This is a valid point. If you have a limited experience in diving, you won't be able to go down really underweighted. You might just think you are underweighted. Coming up you might not be able to nail your safety stop, but as potentially dangerous as this is, it is more dangerous for a less experience overweighted diver, coming from a deeper depth, keeping adding air because he/she couldn't get of the bottom (even they might be just imagining it) and by adding too much ending up in ICBM.
I still would say as a general statement that slightly (slightly being a key word) overweighted is better then underweighted.
So lets just be weighted properly, to avoid any potential problems.
Last little point. Most instructors will tell you, that they teach over weighted in OW to be able to drag down runaway :balloons:, but that is a different topic.

 

[TSandM]

Most divers carry around way more weight than they need, many by 10-15lbs (or more)

Note that I said that massive overweighting was an issue. I do not think that being 2 or 3 pounds heavy is ever going to cause someone to drown because they are stuck to the bottom and can't get up. Being 10 or 15 pounds overweight (as I have seen divers after their OW classes) is potentially dangerous, both from that standpoint and from the buoyancy instability that results from huge air spaces to manage.

But being light means you CAN'T control your ascent at the end of the dive, and with any significant nitrogen accumulation, this is begging for an injury.