Adjusting Weights

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riffdiver:
Hello,
As everyone here can see, I'm new around here. I started to take a diving course at my LDC. SSI course that is. Three sessions in the pool. 5 hours so far. Still have no concept of proper weighing procedure.

I read about Aluminum tanks and Steel tanks. I can understand the concept of being positive at the end of the dive and the need to compensate for that in the beginning of dive. But how do you calculate, or establish you buoyancy in the first place.

Where can I read about it??? Or, can someone give me an advise.

Maybe I chose wrong LDC.
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I am not quite understanding what you are asking.

Are you asking how to figure out how much weight that you need? If so, this thread already has some decent information in it, and I am sure that it wouldn't be hard to find more of the same with a search.

If you are looking for a formula, something that you can put some numbers into, do some math, and the answer is the perfect weight for you, I don't believe that such a thing exists. Everyone is different, their gear is different, salt water vs fresh water, there are so many variables to be considered.
 
jbd:
I know you have been saying this for a few years now Don. I wonder why so many people, and most importantly instructors, have so much difficulty grasping this concept?:confused:
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I wish I had the answer to your question. I'd like to hear what instructors have to say about it.
 
Mark_J:
Why is there this mindset that says a newly certified diver must be able to dive like Cousteau himself and the inability to do so is the Instructor's fault?
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Because in general people can dive well without a rediculous amount of effort. The instructor is the one teaching people to dive. Most people will step up to the expectations set for them if the standards are set high. They will also step down to those expectations if the standards are set low--sadly this is where the industry as a whole is.
 
jbd:
Because in general people can dive well without a rediculous amount of effort. The instructor is the one teaching people to dive. Most people will step up to the expectations set for them if the standards are set high. They will also step down to those expectations if the standards are set low--sadly this is where the industry as a whole is.
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Diving is an equipment intensive sport and people learning to dive have most likely never seen or handled this equipment before. If what you're saying was true, then you would be able to teach a student everything they need to know to become the best diver in the world without ever needing them to enter the water. Instructors need to teach students how to use the equipment (among other things) but proficiency with the equipment comes from practice in the water NOT from an instructor. I know I would much rather be diving with someone that that had minimal training and 100 dives logged as opposed to someone that had extensive classroom training and never took a breath underwater...
 
Mark_J:
If what you're saying was true, then you would be able to teach a student everything they need to know to become the best diver in the world without ever needing them to enter the water.
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How in the world did you come up with this conclusion?

Mark_J:
Instructors need to teach students how to use the equipment (among other things) but proficiency with the equipment comes from practice in the water NOT from an instructor. I know I would much rather be diving with someone that that had minimal training and 100 dives logged as opposed to someone that had extensive classroom training and never took a breath underwater...
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Under the watchful eye of a knowledgeable and competent instructor the person would and does gain proficiency much quicker than being left to chart their own course of self discovery i.e. essentially re-inventing the process of scuba diving.

I much prefer diving with a well trained person with 10 logged dives than diving with a minimally trained, minimally skilled person with 100 dives.

The students are capable of being either one. Its the instructor that determines which one the student will be.
 
riffdiver:
Hello,
As everyone here can see, I'm new around here. I started to take a diving course at my LDC. SSI course that is. Three sessions in the pool. 5 hours so far. Still have no concept of proper weighing procedure.

I read about Aluminum tanks and Steel tanks. I can understand the concept of being positive at the end of the dive and the need to compensate for that in the beginning of dive. But how do you calculate, or establish you buoyancy in the first place.

Where can I read about it??? Or, can someone give me an advise.

Maybe I chose wrong LDC.
Click to expand...

It's not that complicated, but it does take time and effort.

Keep in mind that minimal weighting means you should be neutral just below the surface with a near-empty tank and empty BC, beathing normally. The minimal amount of lead weight you'll need will vary with your gear, especially your wetsuit since neoprene foam is so buoyant near the surface and your tank since steel/aluminum differences can easily be several pounds.

There are several ways to establish how much lead you need to carry to be minimally weighted.

Certainly one way is to jump into a pool with all your gear and add/drop weights until you can be neutral just beneath the surface with an empty BC and breathing normally. Then, when you finally get neutral, to determine your minimal weight add 1 pound of lead for every 13 cubic feet of air left in your tank (about 500 psi in an Al80) and add 2.5% of your total weight - you plus all gear - if the pool has fresh water in it and you're going to dive in salt water. Remember, however, if you change your gear - especially your wetsuit and your tank - your minimal weight will change. Don't worry about being a pound or two overweighted - it's much better than being underweighted.
 
donacheson:
It's not that complicated, but it does take time and effort.

Keep in mind that minimal weighting means you should be neutral just below the surface with a near-empty tank and empty BC, beathing normally. The minimal amount of lead weight you'll need will vary with your gear, especially your wetsuit since neoprene foam is so buoyant near the surface and your tank since steel/aluminum differences can easily be several pounds.

There are several ways to establish how much lead you need to carry to be minimally weighted.
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Thank you. But I'm still not there. Just yesterday, in the pool:

No suit, empty BC, 1000psi in the tank( steel, 72cf), No weight. Breath-in and I'm at the surface, Breathe-out and I'm on the bottom of the pool ( well, 4 feet depth, but I'm laying flat on the bottom).
What am I doing wrong? Or is it beyond me?
 
riffdiver:
Breath-in and I'm at the surface, Breathe-out and I'm on the bottom of the pool ( well, 4 feet depth, but I'm laying flat on the bottom).
What am I doing wrong? Or is it beyond me?
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You're not doing anything wrong, other than holding your breath for too long. :)
 
Charlie99:
You're not doing anything wrong, other than holding your breath for too long. :)
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Makes sense. A diver's lung capacity varies, but a 4 to 6 liter (8 to 12 pound) swing from empty to full wouldn't surprise me.
 
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