Buoyance and Wetsuit

[Ronniemu]

I am a new diver and had purchased some of my own equipment and want to try it out in my pool. I normal used 14 lbs of intergrated weights with a 5 mil wetsuiit. Can someone give me some idea how much less weight I would use if I omit wearing the wetsuit. Thanks for your Help!


Ronnie

 

[chrispete]

Since you have a pool, here's a way to find out exactly how much weight to use. Put on around 10# or so in 1-2 lb weights (or whatever it takes to get you to the bottom of the pool) and breathe the tank down to 500-800 PSI. At this point start dropping weight a couple of pounds at a time until you cannot simply hover at the bottom of the pool anymore. This will give you how much weight you will need to keep you at your safety stop at the end of a dive and should be the proper amount of weight.

 

[spectrum]

I am a new diver and had purchased some of my own equipment and want to try it out in my pool. I normal used 14 lbs of intergrated weights with a 5 mil wetsuiit. Can someone give me some idea how much less weight I would use if I omit wearing the wetsuit. Thanks for your Help!


Ronnie

There's no real answer since suit sizes any bouyancies varry but....

Based on my difference between 5 and 7 mm being about 4 pounds you could estimate 2LB/mm meaning try diving with 4.

Depending on you and your gear that may be since I do hear of divers in that range w/o wetsuits. Be prepared to experiment. You won't know for sure until you try to stay down with a near empty tank.

Pete

 

[Kim]

I am a new diver and had purchased some of my own equipment and want to try it out in my pool. I normal used 14 lbs of intergrated weights with a 5 mil wetsuiit. Can someone give me some idea how much less weight I would use if I omit wearing the wetsuit. Thanks for your Help!


Ronnie

Personally I would still use the wetsuit even if you don't need it in the pool. I would want to practice with the same gear that I actually used for dives to make sure I was used to it.

 

[Charlie99]

And if your 14 pounds with 5mm was in saltwater, then you will drop about 6 more pounds in a freshwater pool, so you aren't going to need much lead, if any.

 

[Rookie_J]

Personally I would still use the wetsuit even if you don't need it in the pool. I would want to practice with the same gear that I actually used for dives to make sure I was used to it.

yep... diving without the wetsuit in a pool is kind of counter productive...

like stated above, i would dive with the 5mil and mess around working on trim and possibly dropping weight?

 

[Ronniemu]

I should have made myself clear. I had just purchased a regulator, tank, BCD and a computer. I have recently been certified and wanted to try the gear in my pool. This way I would become familiar with the new equipment and do some practice before more OW dives. However, I did not purchase a wetsuit as I was not sure which one to buy. Thanks everyone for their input as I have learn alot in such a short time from people like you. Regards Ronnie

 

[pasley]

For a 5mm wetsuit as someone else has stated, figure 2 pounds of lead for each pound of wetsuit weight. For a 7mm go with 3 punds of lead per pound of wetsuit.

 

[derwoodwithasherwood]

Since you have a pool, here's a way to find out exactly how much weight to use. Put on around 10# or so in 1-2 lb weights (or whatever it takes to get you to the bottom of the pool) and breathe the tank down to 500-800 PSI. At this point start dropping weight a couple of pounds at a time until you cannot simply hover at the bottom of the pool anymore. This will give you how much weight you will need to keep you at your safety stop at the end of a dive and should be the proper amount of weight.

I've seen this and similar advice before*. Is there any reason you can't do it with a full cylinder and add the weight of the air? Eg, if the difference between a full cylinder and 500 psi is 5lbs, and if you find you need, say, 10 lbs weight when it is full, can you not leap to the conclusion that you will eventually need 15 lbs? Or am I missing something here?

(*Personally, I like the one where you remove the belt underwater, lay it on the bottom and then lift it up. The weights you can pick up are needed. The ones left lying on the bottom as you pull yourself down are not.)

 

[spectrum]

I've seen this and similar advice before*. Is there any reason you can't do it with a full cylinder and add the weight of the air? Eg, if the difference between a full cylinder and 500 psi is 5lbs, and if you find you need, say, 10 lbs weight when it is full, can you not leap to the conclusion that you will eventually need 15 lbs? Or am I missing something here?

(*Personally, I like the one where you remove the belt underwater, lay it on the bottom and then lift it up. The weights you can pick up are needed. The ones left lying on the bottom as you pull yourself down are not.)

It worked for us.... more or less.

We got neutral in a pool with esentially full tanks and all gear. We then did the math to acco**** for the shift to salt water & air depletion and came out with reasonable and workable weights for our first ocean dives. Any time you extrapolate something will be lost but we're talking about divable starting points here. The other thing that may shift a bit is the effect on your trim so be obsevant to help plan your next dive. Another benefit of doing it at the end of the dive is that your gear is entirely soaked and trapped air is gone, this can give present as pseudo bouyancy in a quick pool test. After 5 dives we found we can each drop 6 pounds! Be sure to do a quick test at the end of any dive where air supply and water conditions are right.

Pete