scubadude223
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I was wondering what the average weight people go diving with is. is 30 pounds average?
Average weight ammounts
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MoonWrasse
Contributor
That's a lot more than I carry. Some divers I've seen only carry 1-2 kilos (2-5 pounds).
However that's in the tropics.
Depends on your exposure suit, water type, etc.
However 30 lbs would seem like it would make it hard to be horizontal in the water, making it more difficult for you to swim (and thus burn more air).
However that's in the tropics.
Depends on your exposure suit, water type, etc.
However 30 lbs would seem like it would make it hard to be horizontal in the water, making it more difficult for you to swim (and thus burn more air).
KzooJason
Registered
It depends on a number of factors, one of the largest being the exposure suit you're wearing. In a 7mm wetsuit diving a single AL80 I wear 16 pounds. In warm water, wearing a dive skin, it would be far less. Of course diving steel tanks or with a steel backplate will also reduce the amount lead you'll need.
Jason
Jason
Since you're from Vancouver, I assume you are diving a dry suit. How much weight you need will depend in large part on how much, and what kind of undergarment you are using, as well as what kind of tanks you have, and how big a person you are.
I am a small person (5'4", 120 lbs) diving a dry suit with a LOT of undergarment, using a LP 95, and I need a total of 28 lbs of weight -- this has been carefully checked by instructors and I am not overweighted. Somebody with higher bone density and less undergarment could dive with less. Somebody new to diving could need even more at first.
Your instructors should have gone through how to determine proper weighting with you during your OW class. It is well worth bleeding a tank down to 500 psi at the end of a dive to double-check your weighting. In the alternative, you can weight yourself neutral at the beginning of the dive with a full tank, and then add enough weight to make up for the air in the tank that you are going to use (which will, of course, depend on the size of the tank you are using).
Asking this general a question will get you a lot of answers which aren't useful, because somebody diving in a T-shirt in the tropics is going to use very different weighting from somebody diving dry with three layers of undergarment
I am a small person (5'4", 120 lbs) diving a dry suit with a LOT of undergarment, using a LP 95, and I need a total of 28 lbs of weight -- this has been carefully checked by instructors and I am not overweighted. Somebody with higher bone density and less undergarment could dive with less. Somebody new to diving could need even more at first.
Your instructors should have gone through how to determine proper weighting with you during your OW class. It is well worth bleeding a tank down to 500 psi at the end of a dive to double-check your weighting. In the alternative, you can weight yourself neutral at the beginning of the dive with a full tank, and then add enough weight to make up for the air in the tank that you are going to use (which will, of course, depend on the size of the tank you are using).
Asking this general a question will get you a lot of answers which aren't useful, because somebody diving in a T-shirt in the tropics is going to use very different weighting from somebody diving dry with three layers of undergarment
ScubaSixString
Contributor
scubadude223:
40 for me. I dive a 7mm farmer john with a 6mm hood with an al80 in salt water.
30 seemed like a lot to me (coming from florida in springs, wearing much less) but my first dive up here, i had 30 lbs and couldn't get beneath the surface.
Iruka
Contributor
As others have indicated, the question is a little too broad to get a good response. Here in the tropics, some people need ZERO weight if they don't wear a wetsuit...body size/type, wetsuit thickness & tank composition (steel, aluminum, etc) & fresh/salt water all have a bearing. But for most of the tourists (usually smaller Japanese people) here in Guam wearing a 3mm wetsuit, 6~10lbs will work for 90% of them. Occassionally I'll get someone (very large) who is well outside the "usual" parameters of my divers here, and it's a challenge to weight them properly, especially if they don't know how much weight they need. For example, we'll sometimes get people used to cold water/thick wetsuit and/or drysuit diving, and they have no idea how much weight they need in 83 degree water. In that case, I take my best guess & then bring along a bunch of extra weights to be added as needed.
Average? For who?
Seriously, not enough information to make a determination if that is the right weight for you.
Things to consider (repeating some of the above info):
Your weight and body make-up i.e. fat Vs muscle
Exposure suit
Cylinder used
Your experience (newer divers tend to need more weight)
Other gear you carry
diving in a lake or the ocean
Seriously, not enough information to make a determination if that is the right weight for you.
Things to consider (repeating some of the above info):
Your weight and body make-up i.e. fat Vs muscle
Exposure suit
Cylinder used
Your experience (newer divers tend to need more weight)
Other gear you carry
diving in a lake or the ocean
Another there is no average answer. I wear anywhere from no extra weight to 16 lbs, depending on exposure suit, fresh water or salt water, where the water is (different salinity, even fresh water can differ depending on the composition), single tank or doubles, etc.
scubadude223:
Depends for me zero - 35LB
What do you really want to know or understand?
Pete
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