Weight Question

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H2Andy:
next dive you do, get your tank to just over 500 psi and keep only enough weight to stay slighlty negative or neutral at about 10 feet

this will allow you to ascend the last 10 feet under control, or stay at 10 feet indefenitely (well, not really ... but for quite a while)

depending on the dive, you can either put the weight you remove on the bottom while you test it out, or hand the weight to a buddy.

your goal should be to be just about neutral at 10 feet with 500 psi or so in your tank

you can use the 10% body weight formula and then divide than by 2 to get a ballpark figure

for example, at 180 lbs, my 10% weight is 18 lbs. i divided that by 2 (9 lbs) and started experimenting.

H2Andy, your equasion must be for warm water. What I have done for cold water here on the West coast is 10% plus 2 lbs. Example: I'm at 180 lbs X 10% = 18 lbs, then add two pounds to get 20 lbs of weight. This is a good ballpark figure for someone starting out and diving water colder than 70 degrees F.
 
muddiver:
H2Andy, your equasion must be for warm water. What I have done for cold water here on the West coast is 10% plus 2 lbs. Example: I'm at 180 lbs X 10% = 18 lbs, then add two pounds to get 20 lbs of weight. This is a good ballpark figure for someone starting out and diving water colder than 70 degrees F.


i am diving a 3 mil farmer john, so my weight is going to be a lot less than somene diving, say, a 7 mil

the goal is to be neutral to slightly negative at 10 feet with 500 psi, however much weight you need
 
Thanks. I added 2 lbs and I was slightly negative which helped during the safety stop.
 
First, there are no "perfect weight" numbers. It all depends on salinity, wet suit thickness, body composition etc.. but you know by now what the end goal should be.
Second, they don't teach weighting numbers or how to achieve them in AOW, you should have learned it in OW. If not, it's your fault for not asking.

Anyway, I have been reading through your previous posts because I found you post rather interest and wanted to learn a bit from it. So, I have to comment, (Just can't help myself). For a person who is part of the "Solo Divers" group and posts questions and discusses topics about Tec computers, Cave/Deep diving, back wings, drysuit diving etc... and then comes up with a question about basic bouyancy, that tends to concern me. I don't know anything about you or your diving experience, so I won't pretend to. But I just hope you know what your doing out there and that I don't find you on the bottom with pockets full of lead and a tank full of air.

Safe diving...
 
Scott04:
First, there are no "perfect weight" numbers. It all depends on salinity, wet suit thickness, body composition etc.. but you know by now what the end goal should be.
Second, they don't teach weighting numbers or how to achieve them in AOW, you should have learned it in OW. If not, it's your fault for not asking.


Actually the Peak Performance Buoyancy module in the AOW teaches the weight numbers.
 
Scott04:
Second, they don't teach weighting numbers or how to achieve them in AOW, you should have learned it in OW. If not, it's your fault for not asking.


Nah, I disagree. Should it be up to me to ask an instructor or should the instructor instruct??? My question is "who are these people and who signed their credentials"? Maybe just having the right amount of money should not be the deciding factor when giving out certs. Suppose the instructor left out that little blurb about not holding my breathe while ascending. Should I have to ask???

I wonder why my computer is blinking. Last one on the boat doesn't get any cookies.
 
bubba105:
Nah, I disagree. Should it be up to me to ask an instructor or should the instructor instruct??? My question is "who are these people and who signed their credentials"? Maybe just having the right amount of money should not be the deciding factor when giving out certs. Suppose the instructor left out that little blurb about not holding my breathe while ascending. Should I have to ask???

I wonder why my computer is blinking. Last one on the boat doesn't get any cookies.

The Open Water PADI course can be quite condensed and people miss things. There should be nothing wrong with someone wanting to ask questions on this board to clarify what they learned.

I myself always thought that you do your weight check at the beginning, not on a partially empty tank, and that's what I thought I was taught. It seemed logical to me to test my buoyancy when I first jumped in the water. Only when I had buoyancy issues on my trip did I learn to test my buoyancy on a partially empty tank.
 
H2Andy:
the goal is to be neutral to slightly negative at 10 feet with 500 psi, however much weight you need

My vote is for slightly negative. The diver needs enough weight to stay UW at their most buoyant stage, empty tank, near the surface, normal breathing pattern, no air in the BC.
 
tropical:
The Open Water PADI course can be quite condensed and people miss things. There should be nothing wrong with someone wanting to ask questions on this board to clarify what they learned.

I myself always thought that you do your weight check at the beginning, not on a partially empty tank, and that's what I thought I was taught. It seemed logical to me to test my buoyancy when I first jumped in the water. Only when I had buoyancy issues on my trip did I learn to test my buoyancy on a partially empty tank.


This is undoubtedly a great place to learn, as should be an OW or AOW class. The OP stated that he wasn't taught to check his buoyancy. I find that indefensible on the part of the instructor. The more threads I read, the more bad instructing I come across. Condensed is for soup, not scuba instruction. I don't care what agency is involved. There are certain aspects of diving which should never be skipped. This is one.
 

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