Proper Weighting

[LeFlaneur]

Hi all,

This is a fairly basic newbie weighting question. I'm sure there is a simple scale for figuring out proper weighting based on body weight and wetsuit thickness, but I've forgotten it.

I read somwhere that proper weighting is 10% of your body weight + 5-7 pounds. To me that seems really high. (But it may have been in reference to a very heavy wetsuit). Even on my very first dives in salt water I wore only about 8% of my body weight with a 3mm.

Starting from a base of no wetsuit at all.... how many pounds should one figure... and how much weight should one add per additional millimeter of wetsuit.

Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere and I missed it.

 

[fan(t)a(s)tic]

try this thread, it's just about the same question.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Dear Cranky,

The best advice I can give is:

The goal is to be neutral at the surface with little or no air in your BC. Once you "pike" and swim down 10-15 ft your wetsuit will loose enough buoyancy to make you negative.

Becareful of alum tanks which can be positively buoyant at the end of the dive, making it potentially difficult to make a shallow safety stop. In this case a few lbs additional maybe called for.

Cheers,

ch

 

[HammerNoMore]

I read somwhere that proper weighting is 10% of your body weight + 5-7 pounds. To me that seems really high.

It's a general rule of thumb used by some to start at 10%. It is usually very high but, depending on exposure protection, but it's a starting point.

Your weight reqirements will change from one envornment to another depending on salt/fresh, exposure protection, etc. Whenever you dive in a new configuation, take your best guess based on experience you have in other configurations then do a weight check.

Check here for info on how to do a weight check:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=549599&postcount=6

 

[String]

That "general rule of thumb" is a complete and utter myth and holds no basis in fact or reality what so ever.

The only real way to weight yourself properly is with all your kit, near empty tank.

 

[WreckWriter]

That "general rule of thumb" is a complete and utter myth and holds no basis in fact or reality what so ever.

The only real way to weight yourself properly is with all your kit, near empty tank.

String is correct. 10% will be too much weight on nearly everyone, certainly everyone who is using proper technique.

WW

 

[aviddiver(him)]

To LeFlaneur - Yes, the question of proper weighting has been asked before - but not by you.

So here’s my honest opinion.

PERFECT weighting changes from dive to dive. Even an experienced diver won’t know exactly. Submerging successively on a multi-dive day trip will compress wetsuits, everything else being the same; and this will slightly change weighting. If your equipment configuration changes at all, your PERFECT weighting would change also: adding, subtracting, changing from steel to aluminum tanks, bulky coldwater wetsuit to warm water skins, etc impacts PERFECT weighting. Sometimes even the BCD padding has sponge like inner material that when dry traps lots of air, then after your first dive, will cause you to be way too heavy. Therefore don’t expect ONE weighting to cover all. Or even dive to dive - slight changes may be necessary.

That being said, PROPER weighting I have found (after hundreds of logged dives) pretty much seems to be what PADI teaches in Open Water Class:

With a FULL tank, an EMPTY bcd, holding a MODERATE breath - when you are at EYE LEVEL with the water (your head half submerged), exhale and if you slowly sink - then you are PROPERLY weighted.

Rules of thumb do a disservice to new divers.

Your ultimate goal IMHO should be to be slightly negative when you end your safety stop in 15fsw with 500psi left with an “empty” BCD. Remember though, your BCD isn’t really empty; significant expansion will occur ascending even in those last 15ft due to Boyles Law.

So finally to answer your question, try not to be the first one down to the bottom on your next LDS trip. Instead you and your buddy take a half hour to an hour and adjust your weighting. Start LIGHT with not near enough weight to submerge you. Put various pounds of weights in a dive inner-tube, inflate your BDC half way, jump into the water, and add a few weights at a time to your BCD pockets until you are PROPERLY weighted. You each take turns. Now get out of the water and add these weights to your weight belt or your integrated BC weighting system.

If you are wearing a thick cold water wet suit start testing with 15 pounds of weight; if you are diving warm water thermal protection start with 5 pounds. Add from there.

Go have fun diving. When you do your safety stop, check each other to see if your BCD’s are empty and you are slightly negative?

If you change wetsuits, tank types, add or subtract stuff - it’s back to the drawing board.

So much fun and so little time to do it in.

All the best.

 

[DBailey]

In one of my books, it does list the 10% + 5 to 7 lbs. as the approximate weight needed in a 7mil two piece wetsuit with an aluminum tank.

If you have no idea how much weight you need in the 7 mil two piece with an aluminum tank, you need to start somewhere and that equation is pretty close for most people. Use the equation to pick up some weight, then get in the water an alter it as others have suggested.

 

[donacheson]

Hi all,

This is a fairly basic newbie weighting question. I'm sure there is a simple scale for figuring out proper weighting based on body weight and wetsuit thickness, but I've forgotten it.

I read somwhere that proper weighting is 10% of your body weight + 5-7 pounds. To me that seems really high. (But it may have been in reference to a very heavy wetsuit). Even on my very first dives in salt water I wore only about 8% of my body weight with a 3mm.

Starting from a base of no wetsuit at all.... how many pounds should one figure... and how much weight should one add per additional millimeter of wetsuit.

Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere and I missed it.

In one sentence: With all your gear on and breathing normally, you should neutral with a near-empty tank and empty BC just below the surface.

This will ensure that you can be neutral throughout the dive and in full control of your ascent to the surface.

 

[The Kraken]

Just for observation sake I am:

5'8'' Tall
167 Lbs.

Exposure Suit: 6.5 mm FJ/Jacket, Hood, Gloves
Weight Required Fresh H2-O: 24 Lbs.

That pretty much follows the 10% + 5/7 Lbs.