Buoyancy help...

[jepuskar]

Hi,

I need some pointers on my buoyancy. Let me know where I can improve... thanks in advance.

-- I wear about 10lbs more lead then necessary...this is because I have a fear of shooting to the surface. I distribute it evenly though. I wear 2lbs on each ankle using ankle weights. I put 2 more lbs on each knee using knee weights. The remaining 2lb weight is kind of tricky. Here I take two 1lbs ankle weights and join them together...then I put this over my neck so its like a neck weight. Pretty clever uhh? This helps keep me in a head down position.

-- The beginning of the dive during descent I have no buoyancy issues..I sink like a rock.

-- Once at my planned depth, ok sometimes I miss that mark by 20-30ft, I hit my inflator button until I start to rise up quickly. Once I rise up a few feet I hit the deflator until I sink a few feet back to my original starting point. From here once I get dialed in I just hit the inflator and deflator the rest of the dive in the same sequence.

Give or take 10-20 feet I think my buoyancy is spot on. Sometimes its really hard to get a good pic of a seahorse or other delicate creature. So what I do here is let all the air out of my BC and then grab a hold of some dead rock that has these stupid looking colorful things on em. They get in the way so I just scrap them off with my trusty dive knife. Once I am happy I can hold onto the rock firmly I break out my UW disposable camera. If the creature cant be reached for a nice pic...I'll gently manuever it so it takes a friendly pic. Oops sorry, got side tracked.

Let me know where I can improve. I've been doing this for 5 years now and have only been bent 6 times. I got some down time as the tingling on the right side of my body should go away within the next 6 months. I cant wait for my next trip to the Galapagos.

J

 

[Ben_ca]

Dude?

 

[dannobee]

Man, you got it all wrong. Leave your fins on the boat and just walk along the ocean floor. Climb up rocks and pinnacles when you need to.

Just before you run out of air, inflate your BC and drysuit at depth and pop up to the surface like those Penguins on the Discovery Channel. With a little luck you can pop up high enough to clear the side of the boat and flop right in, saving time not waiting in line at that pesky boarding ladder.

Let us know how this works for you.

 

[irishsquid]

Man, you got it all wrong. Leave your fins on the boat and just walk along the ocean floor. Climb up rocks and pinnacles when you need to.

Just before you run out of air, inflate your BC and drysuit at depth and pop up to the surface like those Penguins on the Discovery Channel. With a little luck you can pop up high enough to clear the side of the boat and flop right in, saving time not waiting in line at that pesky boarding ladder.

Let us know how this works for you.

Or: Get an anchor so you can drop like a greased crowbar. Run a really long chain to the burner of a hot air balloon to use as a power inflator. The balloon can also second as your SMB, and if you want to be creative; have the dive flags attached to the basket so your're legal.

 

[irishsquid]

I just noticed the time on the OP. You must've got some slowww...... chemicals kickin' in there.
Liquor's quicker!!!

 

[divenutny]

Wow, I think we dove together in Cozumel last winter. The pink ankle weights around the neck was the give away.

Glad to see you are well and recovered from revisiting the chamber. BTW - Do you a frequent member discount? Just wondering . .

 

[Scubakevdm]

I have found that a leading cause of my poor buoyancy is actually diet-related. I'm still trying to figure out the specifics but here's what I have so far:
If I eat Taco Bell the night before a dive, or drink milk the morning of the dive, I'm light. What makes this even more interesting is that depending on whether I'm diving wet or dry Taco Bell and/or milk actually affect my propulsion. It's weird, in a wetsuit I tend to swim faster on this diet, but in a drysuit I make much less progress, and sometimes even end up backing!

 

[Rick Inman]

You posted at 1:15am.

Got it.

Look, you can't learn this stuff on the internet. Take the PADI Ankle-Tank-Knee-Integrated Weighting Specialty class.

 

[ToddK]

The problem is that your legs are overweighted...add a wing to each leg and you should be good to go. I'd recommend the 100lb size.

 

[reefduffer]

Hi,
... The remaining 2lb weight is kind of tricky. Here I take two 1lbs ankle weights and join them together...then I put this over my neck so its like a neck weight. Pretty clever uhh? This helps keep me in a head down position.

You mean you tie the weights to your backup reg bungee? Cool!

... and then grab a hold of some dead rock that has these stupid looking colorful things on em. They get in the way so I just scrap them off with my trusty dive knife.

Dude, that's what the orange shovel's for!
That will dull your knife, and you never know when the sharks will show up.