Balancing Heavy Fins

[awkwarddiver]

I have a pair of Hollis F1 'Batman' fins and find them to be heavier fins. I find that, when I am still, in the horizontal trim, my feet tend to sink more with them than my prior fins, causing me to have to do small adjustments to remain in trim, and was wondering if there is any advice on how to negate that. I know the easy answer is lighter fins, but I really like and am comfortable with them. Would putting more weight on my trim bags, or higher on my sidemount BCD, help or just equally weigh me down?

 

[Landau]

Instead of adding weight, try to move some around sticking with the same total.

You mention sidemount, so it won’t be exactly the same, but for my back mount students I’ll move a couple of pounds from their weight belt to the BCD integrated weight pockets which are a bit higher, then to the trim pockets which are higher yet, and then to an ankle weight clipped around the tank valve.

Some where in that progression they’ll level out.

Or in a dry suit you can often get just the right amount of air in your feet for perfect trim, but that takes more practice and getting the feel of it.

 

[grantctobin]

Wetsuit? Drysuit?
Total lead?
Cylinder type?
Harness type?

Can start w the above questions and maybe there are solutions, but they're not great SM fins.

 

[awkwarddiver]

Instead of adding weight, try to move some around sticking with the same total.

You mention sidemount, so it won’t be exactly the same, but for my back mount students I’ll move a couple of pounds from their weight belt to the BCD integrated weight pockets which are a bit higher, then to the trim pockets which are higher yet, and then to an ankle weight clipped around the tank valve.

Some where in that progression they’ll level out.

Or in a dry suit you can often get just the right amount of air in your feet for perfect trim, but that takes more practice and getting the feel of it.

Good idea. I have the issue in both my SM and BM gear but good idea trying to shift my weight forward. For my BM I have trim weights at the top of my tank and with my SM, I don't carry any weight currently, with my steel tanks keeping me plenty weighted so I may add some weight to the top of my BC. I am just about to receive my new drysuit so I will see if the air in the feet will help stabilize it out.

 

[awkwarddiver]

Wetsuit? Drysuit?
Total lead?
Cylinder type?
Harness type?

Can start w the above questions and maybe there are solutions, but they're not great SM fins.

Wetsuit.
0lbs on my XDeep Stealth 2 and 6lbs (3/3) in my trim pockets at the top of my tanks in my BP/W with a 5lb backplate.
1 or 2 Steel 100's
Backplate and wing and XDeep SM

Why do you feel those are not good for SM? They feel pretty good, to me, for frog kicking which is my primary fin kick. What fins do you find better?

 

[grantctobin]

You’re diving HP100s in a wetsuit. Your trim is going to be **** as they’re the incorrect cylinders for that exposure protection and will be exacerbated when you add a pound of negative buoyancy at the furthest point from your center of gravity.

The F1 is significantly negative in the water (500g each?). The dry suit will fix half or more of this depending on the fit off the leg compartment. If they are snug OR you’re in a position such that the amount of gas needed in the legs is enough to be a pain, you’ll end up with different find.

A majority of competent SM divers and especially those of medium or smaller stature, will end up trimming out best in fins that are closer to neutral. The Deep6 Eddy are one example, the Dive Rite XT another. The old school preference was Mares Quattros.

 

[awkwarddiver]

You’re diving HP100s in a wetsuit. Your trim is going to be **** as they’re the incorrect cylinders for that exposure protection and will be exacerbated when you add a pound of negative buoyancy at the furthest point from your center of gravity.

The F1 is significantly negative in the water (500g each?). The dry suit will fix half or more of this depending on the fit off the leg compartment. If they are snug OR you’re in a position such that the amount of gas needed in the legs is enough to be a pain, you’ll end up with different find.

A majority of competent SM divers and especially those of medium or smaller stature, will end up trimming out best in fins that are closer to neutral. The Deep6 Eddy are one example, the Dive Rite XT another. The old school preference was Mares Quattros.

Jesus Christ, are you always this confrontational when people ask for advice or are you just crabby on a Monday? Despite your assumptions about my sh*t trim, my trim is fine in a 7mm wetsuit and steel 100's and the question wasn't about trim. Just about everyone here dives a 7mm and steel tanks.

Using words like 'competent' when talking about better options is kinda a sh*t way to give advice. No wonder why our sport has such a bad reputation and not considered very inviting. Take a moment to reevaluate the way you answer question people pose.

If you have advice on how to help with offsetting heavier fins, great. If you have advice on better fins, awesome, but keep your unhelpful comments and superior attitude to yourself.

 

[halocline]

I hate to say it, but less negative fins might be the solution. I went through 3-4 pairs of fins (borrowed, thankfully!) when I started sidemount and ended up with deep eddys. They are almost dead neutral. Even the Mares avanti Quattros were too negative.

Of course you can try moving weight up however you can but you want to keep the tanks in optimal position for comfort and tank trim, and once that’s right then the typical next step is to find fins that balance well.

 

[inquis]

Why do you feel those are not good for SM?

Because they're negatively buoyant. (Same thing with similar fins.) Without the mass of a backplate, heads-up trim is often present on SM. This is further exacerbated by a wetsuit (especially for thinner suits) because the displacement (i.e., buoyancy) in the leg area is less than that of the upper body. Also by steel tanks, as the center of mass is lower than AL.

Ultimately, gear configuration comes down to priorities & trade-offs. There are numerous ways to solve your trim issue, but only you can make those decisions.

FYI, a very good neutral fin is the Deep6 Eddys and are my go-to for wetsuit diving. In my experience, they have more power than my F1s for both frog and back kicks.

 

[inquis]

Using words like 'competent' when talking about better options is kinda a sh*t way to give advice.

He didn't say you were incompetent. He just related what works for most of the divers who have this stuff figured out.