Dealing with floaty feet

[mwpowell]

I'm not familiar with your BC, but you have the right idea in moving your center of mass toward your butt. You might think that the weight of the tank is negligible, but keep in mind that the tank neck, valve, and reg are all located near your head and provide a lever force that pushes your head down. So, try a combination of weight belt and moving the tank down a bit, and see if that works for you. Also, >30lbs sounds like a lot to me even for cold water/Al tank. Make sure that you are not overweighted. Perhaps you could shed some lead.

Mike

 

[Scuba Monster]

I have the floaty feet problem too. I've been told by other divers that women are prone to have floaty feet over men ... it has to do with muscle mass. I've been told to use ankle weights. Then I was told by a dive instructor, who spotted my floaty feet problem, not to use ankle weights and don't listen to anyone who told me to do so. His words stuck with me and I've never tried ankle weights. I've been told it is my fins, my dive booties, my new wetsuit. However, I realized that I was carrying too much weight and compensating by adding too much air in my bc. Since, I dive with less weight. If my feet start floating, I make sure there is no air trapped in the bc (back inflation style) by releasing the back valve ... floaty feet problem solved. Hope you find the right solution for you!

 

[almitywife]

hi, my name is almitywife and ive been using ankle weights for 10yrs now

and its not a problem, its only 1lbs each fin so dont let the anti ankle-weighters scare you off trying them to see if they can assist.

cheers

 

[halocline]

Aside from moving weight around, if you have big booties and positive fins that's part of the problem. Its amazing what a pair of negative fins, like jetfins, and ankle height booties rather than ones that come halfway up your shin will do. Think about it, if there's extra neoprene around your ankles/shins and your fins float, you could need ankle weights just to get your feet back to neutral.

 

[Rob9000]

I'm not familiar with your BC, but you have the right idea in moving your center of mass toward your butt. You might think that the weight of the tank is negligible, but keep in mind that the tank neck, valve, and reg are all located near your head and provide a lever force that pushes your head down. So, try a combination of weight belt and moving the tank down a bit, and see if that works for you. Also, >30lbs sounds like a lot to me even for cold water/Al tank. Make sure that you are not overweighted. Perhaps you could shed some lead.

Mike

Yeah another thing I was thinking is my ballast pockets in the BC are pretty high up on the BC...I was thinking of how something could be glued on lower as weight pockets. Of course the risk there is if the glue fails on a dive then there goes some weight that I need for a safety stop. Any suggestions on a good glue for use to marry neoprene to nylon of nylon to nylon....of perhaps the outside of the BC is polyester? Probably a good question for the manufacturer.

As for the amount of lead - I am wearing a XXXL wetsuit with enough insulation for 55 F water...and some bio-prene around the waist. I have become more conscience of being overweighted...if I aim for a slow decent after dumping air, exhaling and sucking in my gut. I notice other divers dropping faster than me, and I am not sculling with my hands or fins.

My fins are just slightly negative and I wear 5mm booties.

I am liking the idea of the DUI wet belt harness system thing and then using ankle weights if additional trim is necessary.

 

[jefffalcone]

I dive with a Seaquest Balance. I was having "floaty feet" problems because the waist strap was too loose, so the BC would ride up on me. When the waist strap is around my waist, no problem. When it moves up around my belly, floaty feet. I got a crotch strap to keep the BC where it belongs, and I no longer have any problems. I suspect that if you move your bc down so that the waist strap is actually around your waist, your problem will disappear.

 

[jefffalcone]

Another thought - Why bother with the ballast pockets? As I understand, the whole point of them is to move some weight up if you need to. Since your weight is too high already, why not carry all of your weight in the regular weight pockets?

 

[Web Monkey]

Don't use glue. If it lets go and you lose enough weight, a safety stop will be the least of your worries. An uncontrolled ascent from a long, moderately deep dive could easily be fatal.

Just spend the $100 (approx) on the harness and be done with it.

Terry

Yeah another thing I was thinking is my ballast pockets in the BC are pretty high up on the BC...I was thinking of how something could be glued on lower as weight pockets. Of course the risk there is if the glue fails on a dive then there goes some weight that I need for a safety stop. Any suggestions on a good glue for use to marry neoprene to nylon of nylon to nylon....of perhaps the outside of the BC is polyester? Probably a good question for the manufacturer.

As for the amount of lead - I am wearing a XXXL wetsuit with enough insulation for 55 F water...and some bio-prene around the waist. I have become more conscience of being overweighted...if I aim for a slow decent after dumping air, exhaling and sucking in my gut. I notice other divers dropping faster than me, and I am not sculling with my hands or fins.

My fins are just slightly negative and I wear 5mm booties.

I am liking the idea of the DUI wet belt harness system thing and then using ankle weights if additional trim is necessary.

 

[Dirkadiver]

When I first purchased my drysuit, I wore ankle weights due to the "upside down diver" scenario you hear so much about w/ drysuits. The ankle weights, no matter what weight, will increase your air consumption & will slow you down. It's a double negative. What type of boots & fins do you use? Thicker neoprene boots tend to lift your feet. Try a true boot & as mentioned maybe a heavier fin like a jetfin. I am 6'2" & have no problem w/ my feet floating. There's some good advice here. Ankle weights should be a very last resort. Try any & everything else first.

 

[JodiBB]

I've used ankle weights as well when using my 7mm suit. Recently, I tried warm-water diving for the first time and after the first dive, I ditched the ankle weights. I may try w/o on my first 7mm dive and see what happens, as I found I didn't need them in the warm water.