Apporximately how much weight to add when using a 3mm full suite?

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bill_bain

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Location
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Leaving this weekend for a dive trip to the keys -- I lent my skin to a friend who won't be back before I leave, so I've borrowed a 3mm suit. Can someone give me a rough idea how much extra weight to add to account for the suit?

Thanx!

Bill
 
What type of rig are you diving?
What are your physical characteristics?
How much weight do you use in fresh water and what type exposure suit do you wear . . . etc., etc., etc. . . ad infinitum . . .
 
If you just want to know how much weight to add for this suit, throw it in the tub, get the air out, fold it up, and see if a 3lb weight will sink it, then try a four, etc. don't forget that you need to subtract from that amount, the weight you have on your belt for your dive skin.

TT ;)
 
Oops, I wasn't clear enough, my mistake. Rig is single AL80, Mares jacket BC, I usually dive in a skin in salt water with 6 lbs, but this time I'm using the 3mm jumpsuit instead of a skin.

Just trying to get a feel for an approximate answer when I get asked on the dive boat, 'How much weight do you need?" since I've not used a wetsuit since my youth diving in New England. Those 3/8" farmer johns took a whole bunch of weght to offset their buoyancy, I remember that!
 
For L or XL size wetsuits I use just under 3 pounds per mm for a full suit.

Assuming the skin has no buoyancy, I'd start by adding 10 pounds for the 3mm full assuming you are L or XL size. This might be a couple of pounds too much, but heavy 2 or 3 pounds is a lot better than light by 2 or 3.

TwoTanks has an excellent suggestion above, although when I tried a similar measurement the results were way high, probably because either the suit wasn't fully wetted or had trapped some air.
 
WEll, I *used to be* a medium, now I'm a large. :-( Thanx. It's probably going to take a dive or so to get dialed in, but that gives me a range to work in.
 
bill_bain:
Leaving this weekend for a dive trip to the keys -- I lent my skin to a friend who won't be back before I leave, so I've borrowed a 3mm suit. Can someone give me a rough idea how much extra weight to add to account for the suit?

Thanx!

Bill

Bill,

I weigh 215lbs and dive with a vest-style BC, single AL80 tank and a 3/2mm Bare fullsuit. I use 3 Kg (approximately 7 lbs) of weight unless I'm going to be diving in a shallow area where I expect a lot of surge when I bump it up to 4 Kg (approximately 9 lbs).

Rickg
 

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