7mm 20lb buoyant?

[RonMurray]

How much buoyancy do you find a 7mm full suit provides? I am wearing a Medium and I have tested buoyancy with the 7mm in a swimming pool wearing a full Steel 72 cylinder and find neutral / no air in bladder with the following:

Steel 72 (full): -11 lb (-6 lb empty)
Weight in pouches: -4 lb

If I allow -4 lb for fresh water I assume that puts the suit at +19 lb in saltwater? does that seem reasonable?

If the suit is 19 lbs buoyant, and I allow for 2 lbs of buoyancy for the near empty AL80 I will probably be renting - I'm over 20 lbs.

Are you folks carrying that much weight?

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Yup. I carry more (32 with a 7mm/AL80, am XL 220lbs). I think -5 on the AL80 instead of -2 is more reasonable as they are real floaters when empty. I calculate my 7MM as 22lbs (size XL), but there are variances based on age, make, size, etc...

 

[spectrum]

How much buoyancy do you find a 7mm full suit provides? I am wearing a Medium and I have tested buoyancy with the 7mm in a swimming pool wearing a full Steel 72 cylinder and find neutral / no air in bladder with the following:

Steel 72 (full): -11 lb (-6 lb empty)
Weight in pouches: -4 lb

If I allow -4 lb for fresh water I assume that puts the suit at +19 lb in saltwater? does that seem reasonable?

If the suit is 19 lbs buoyant, and I allow for 2 lbs of buoyancy for the near empty AL80 I will probably be renting - I'm over 20 lbs.

Are you folks carrying that much weight?

Yes.

I can tell you that my Bare 7mm step-in hooded vest represents 11 pounds in freshwater. This was from a mesh bag test done after saturating the suit during a dive. Based on that 20 pounds for a 7mm suit is right in the ballpark.

Do not confuse the actual suit buoyancy with your freshwater/saltwater adjustment.

With that Vest, and a 7mm Arctic in Salt water with an E7-80 26 pounds is just right for me.

Being a medium you will wear less rubber, don't mention a vest and have less personal displacement (I'm an XL) but the AL80 will work against you. Your estimate of 20+ makes as much sense as anythng.

Pete

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Sounds accurate to me. We just did a weight check in the pool with a student in a semi-dry 7mm with 500psi in an AL80, he wore about 27 pounds and was only slightly deeper than the "float at eye level" recommendation.

I'm 5'7" and 130 pounds and I wear anywhere from 16-20 pounds in my heavier wetsuits (my newer suit needs more lead)
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[cfelliot]

I went in a pool this summer with my 7mm and my steel 80HP and a bunch of 2lb weights.

I got the tank down to 700psi and played with the weights until I felt perfect at 12' - very close to a SS depth. 10 lbs was perfect (I have a ss plate too).

I came home put all the equipment(including me) on the scale and did the math for conversion to salt water = +10 lbs.

This has been the ideal weight for me. Worth the pool trip.

 

[miketsp]

With my Seac-Sub 7mm semi dry, if I use 14kg = 30.86lb I can just hold a 3m stop at the end of the dive with no air in my BC.

Note that is 14kg real measured weight. Nominally I carry 15kg of weights as bought in the shop but they're all underweight when I put them on a precision balance.

 

[wxboy911]

When I dive an AL80 with my Tilos 7/5 semi dry I take 20lbs with me-Just last night I took my new faber 100 to the Y pool with 250 psi and it took 8lbs for me to sink. Keep in mind that a two piece suit is more boyany than a one piece-more neoprene.

 

[HateCheese]

Your weighting sounds about right. Like another poster said, maybe a little off on an empty Al80.

For the first time last weekend I dove a 6.5mm 2 piece, no hood or vest. Dove in freshwater instead of salt, and was amazed how much lead I needed. Got in the water, bobbed like a cork when trying to decend. got out and added more weight. was 18 lbs by the time I got done adding weight.

I can't imagine how much lead I'll need when diving this in salt water. I think I'll just buy an anchor.....

 

[Ber Rabbit]

I can't imagine how much lead I'll need when diving this in salt water. I think I'll just buy an anchor.....

Try a drysuit in salt water I did my first salt water drysuit dive this year and needed 32 pounds :11: That's a lot of lead for a little thing but I wear so many undies I can't stay under with less. One of my dive buddies is 315 pounds and wears 5 pounds less lead than I do in fresh water in a drysuit (I'm 130 pounds and need 28 pounds of lead). Hi! My name is Ber and I'm an anchor
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[Gombessa]

A 7mm john wetsuit will be about 20-24lb in salt water so that's right on the money imo. In a drysuit, I need exactly 32lb with a steel tank too (ugh) and I'm a pretty skinny guy to boot. So that ends up being: 12lb on the plate and sta, and 20lb on a belt.