A little extra weight in the beginning.

[Darrel Conger]

I find that I still like having a couple of extra pounds at this early point in my diving. It may stem from doing the deep dive in my AOW class a couple of dives after the peak performance buoyancy dive. They took enough weight off me on the peak dive that I was struggling to stay at the safety stop by the bottle. I had twisted turned and got all the air out of my bc as far as I could tell and was still buoyant. Luckily the instructor has big 5 pound clip weight on him that he pinned to me. Most of my diving here in Texas is shallow and limited to about 30 feet so its not much of a problem.

So when doing a deeper dive does anyone keep a little extra weight on them? How do you find the magic mix between less weight and safety?

 

[electrix]

Everybody is different you will decide what your best weight is, you have discovered that too little weight makes it difficult to do a safety stop and with out a line to hang on to, it can be impossible.

 

[DukeAMO]

Yeah, I also had an instructor get me down to 16 lbs of weight, which was fine for most of the dive, but I was finning down constantly to hold the safety stop. He thought I should stay with 16 lbs, but I added two and used 18 lbs after that, and I was happier just relaxing at the safety stop. Some people are just a little over-zealous about dropping weight, IMHO. My only suggestion is to adjust your weight in small increments, not 5-6 lbs at a time.

BTW, the most accurate way to do a weight check that I've learned is right at the end of a dive, with about 500 PSI in the tank, right after the safety stop. Let all of the air out of your BC. If you sink, try a little less weight next time. If all of the air was already out of your BC and you were holding your safety stop without finning down, your weighting is just about perfect.

 

[redacted]

I don't understand why a deep dive would have any effect on the weight required to comfortably make a safety stop at the end of any dive.

 

[DukeAMO]

I don't understand why a deep dive would have any effect on the weight required to comfortably make a safety stop at the end of any dive.

I think his point is that it's more important to hold the safety stop on a deeper dive, right?

 

[ScubaSteve]

Experience. Dive more = learn if you can take weight off.

A safety stop is still just a safety stop whether it is a deep or shallow recreational profile dive.

Depth really has nothing to do with the amount of air that you carry unless you are unable to control the air in your BC/wing/lungs. The OP claimed that he had issues at the safety stop.....15-20 feet.......this means at depths greater than that he would have had no issue because he would have been less buoyant as any air in his BC compressed.

If the instructor took too much weight off on your PPB dive, then add a couple back. Don't go overboard. Try adding back 2 or maybe 4 pounds and do your dive and check your weighting at the end of the dive. I know how not fun a dive can be when underweighted BUT, overweighted can be dangerous as well. The main thing is most divers (not all) are overweighted on purpose early on and it is up to them to determine if they can safely take weight off. Some person on the internet cannot tell you (in most cases) if you are over or underweighted for sure.

 

[Darrel Conger]

AWAP, I agree that maybe the depth shouldn't make a difference but it seems to be a pretty common experience. Like I said before I had done both my back dump valves and my shoulder multiple times but I think its harder to get all the air out of a wing like my Zeagle Brigade than a jacket type. Of course now I am trying to get everything weight balanced with a Zeagle Express pony bottle, SMB, knife, shears, light and a camera.

I did think it noticeable that both the AOW instructor and his DM both had these 5 pound clip weights that look like giant fishing weights on them just in case. Must be a common tool for instructors.

 

[TMHeimer]

I had the same problem with the safety stop at first. Once I found the correct weight I have not had to change it in my 7 years. Haven't even bothered with doing a new weight check once in a while (as you are supposed to do). Of course, switching exposure suit, tank type, other new equipment will mean different weighting.

 

[Doppler]

It's also important to take into consideration that at the end of a dive, your gear will have less mass because of the gas you've consumed during your dive... certainly a potential factor for sport divers with a single cylinder, but potentially much more so when the volume of gas consumed can be several thousand litres.

 

[TSandM]

First of all, I agree with you; I think some people taking minimizing the carried weight to an extreme, and I'd personally rather be a couple pounds heavy than at all light.

Where it gets dicey is that, for a new diver, it can be hard to figure out whether the problem is too little weight, or just bad buoyancy control. I know that, on one of my first dives after certification, I went out with an experienced buddy, and I couldn't hold a stop. Her solution was to add five pounds to me, but the problem was poor breath control, and I was already overweighted, so adding weight didn't make anything better.

The bottom line is that a proper, formal weight check at the END of a dive is what you need to do. That will tell you precisely how much weight you need to remain underwater with a near-empty tank. If you are diving a dry suit and like to stay warmer, you may want to add a couple of pounds. If you sometimes shoot a bag at the end of the dive, you may want to add a couple of pounds, so you can pull down on the line and make the bag stand up. 2 pounds is not going to make anybody's buoyancy problematic -- UNLESS you're adding it to an already overweighted diver.