17 lbs!!!???

[Garrobo]

5mm in the waters off Coz?

 

[NorthWoodsDiver]

I dove a 7mm 2 piece in coz and I live in minnesota where water never gets warmer than 41 degrees on the bottom.

 

[offthewall1]

Where's your 3mm Len? That's all you need in Coz LOL... A Scubapro Steamer? A lot of money to pay for a bobber : )

 

[Jorgy]

All good comments so far...........

My Darling Bride uses 12 lbs with her 5mm............so the log book says...........

On the first day or two of diving in a new area she starts with and extra four lbs.........

We put a 2 lb weight in each pocket.........by the 2nd or 3rd day those are taken out.........

I think it is slight anxiety.........let me explain..........

When it is a new dive island, first dive with a new op and DM, don't know the rest of the folks on the boat, don't know what to expect underwater (easy navigation, current, vis), don't know if the DM is a speed diver or slow crawler, don't know what the dive ladder is like and what to expect getting back out of the water, etc........

Also for her, it is typically the first dive in a few months (we take 2-3 dive trips a year) and she does very little local diving............

So while she is not distressed, she is not as comfortable as on the 2nd or 3rd day........

All of these small items added together, she probably breaths a little deeper and doesn't relax her body fully.............

At some point it all clicks and she will come out of the water and say, I have to much weight and we remove first one then the second weight.............

She always gets back to 12 lbs.............

Hope this helps.............M

 

[fnfalman]

Different dive gears = different dive weights. It's that simple.

 

[Sas]

I'm diving Coz this week in a new 5mm ScubaPro Everflex Steamer full suit. I'm using a rented jacket BC. So here's the crazy thing. I only weigh about 160 and need to use 17 lbs on this trip. Even on my first ocean checkout dives last year in Cancun I used between 12 and 14 lbs in a different 5mm suit. What the heck is up? I simply cannot sink this trip with any less weight. I have to swim down to about 15-20 feet before I finally sink easily. Could this wetsuit be more buoyant than my previous 5mm? The weird thing too is that I'm pretty neutral in the water, and end up with all the air out of my BC to do my safety stop.

Weight requirements changes between different suits and other types of gear. Simple as that. Do a proper weight check and wear what you need.

I definitely want to reduce the weight (I have some pride)...Any ideas?

What the hell does pride have to do with how much weight you require?

 

[akbpilot]

The current you are dealing with in Cozumel will also add a few pounds.

 

[dkktsunami]

A new wet suit will be more buoyant and takes a little time to "train". Also I am same weight, 160 lbs., and use 15lbs. in a 5mm so you aren't far off. When you start your dive make certain that all the air is out of your suit - get vertical on the surface and pull out waist belt and neck to allow any trapped air to escape.

 

[TSandM]

If you are doing good weight checks and coming up with 17 lbs, then that's what it takes. There's no shame in properly weighting yourself. I use 31 lbs of ballast with a steel 95 in Puget Sound, because I wear a ton of insulation. I don't LIKE carrying all that weight, but I'm not ashamed of it.

 

[sam1]

A couple of posters have mentioned water temperature as a possible cause of the increased lead due to the effect of temperature on water density. But this effect is small, holding thermal protection constant. For example, using the graph from the link below (and assuming a salinity of 33.5 ppt), a change in temperature from 14 degrees Celsius (about 57F) to 24C (about 75F) changes water density from 1.0250 to 1.0230, a change of about 0.2%. For a diver with a total weight of, say, 250 pounds, this difference amounts to about 1/2 pound difference in lead required. (Far more important would be the change in thermal protection that such a change in temperature would require.)

http://www.msc.ucla.edu/oceanglobe/pdf/temp_densal_chart.pdf