Buoyancy Rated Gear?

[QKRTHNU]

Why don't manufacturers buoyancy rate gear?

It sure would make things easier. Any time you replace a piece of gear with something new/different you would know what to expect. Especially for those who rent suits.

Wet Suits and anything else compressible would obviously be variable, but they could at least give it a surface water rating (i.e. this wet suit will provide 10lbs additional buoyancy at the surface).

Does anyone else think this would be beneficial?

 

[SA-Diver]

This would be great.

 

[Amanda]

I guess it isn't interesting for them... I mean, you probably wouldn't have bought some of the stuff you have, right ?

 

[Diver0001]

QKRTHNU once bubbled...
Why don't manufacturers buoyancy rate gear?

It sure would make things easier. Any time you replace a piece of gear with something new/different you would know what to expect. Especially for those who rent suits.

Wet Suits and anything else compressible would obviously be variable, but they could at least give it a surface water rating (i.e. this wet suit will provide 10lbs additional buoyancy at the surface).

Does anyone else think this would be beneficial?

It's an interesting idea but it hard to apply in practice, at least in assuming that you want this information for "calculating" how much weight you need. There are far too many variables involved in determining your weight needs, not the least of which are things (in my experience) such as diver experience, musccle tension, stress, individual breathing pattern, body type and trim.

Secondly, some manufacturers of scuba products ( such as BCD's and tanks ) do in fact make statements about the "inherent" buoyancy of their products. Some of those statements, like some statements about maximum lift etc, are also false, which makes using the information difficult.

For tanks the inherent buoyancy can be easily and precisely calculated but I personally haven't had much luck with using the results to calculcate my weight needs when using different sized tanks. The best I can get out of these numbers is "it will be more" or "it will be less" with an initial starting point for a buoyancy check. Probably this happens because it's only one element in a system and just changing your tank changes more than just the required kilo's.

And finally when it comes to suits don't forget that a suit is part of the system too. A dry suit will trap some air and using the same dry suit one diver might be able to vent it more completely than another. Knowing the inherent buoyancy of the suit isn't going to help either of them really determine their weight needs without a buoyancy check anyway.

R..

 

[Rick Murchison]

Many pieces of dive gear have set buoyancy - a dive light, for example, while many vary with time (wetsuits lose inherent buoyancy with continued use, for example) or configuration (drysuits vary with the underwear you wear, for example).
So a "buoyancy rating" wouldn't be useless, but it may not be nearly as useful as one might imagine at first blush, either.
I just take each new piece of gear to the pool and see what it takes to sink it or float it and write that down on my weighting list in my logbook - then I can algebraically add up all the stuff I'm wearing/carrying (applying the salt water correction factor if diving in the sea) and know precisely how much weight I'll need. I recheck wetsuits every couple of years, because they do lose buoyancy with repeated crushing at depth.
Rick

 

[Big-t-2538]

What he says is very true...some things do lose buoyancy over time...and others do not. The best way would be to calculate it for yourself as part of your diving set-up. As for the mfr. stating the "surface" buoyancy rating, I don't see it being very helpful other than providing info as to wether something is pos. or neg. buoyant

 

[gzscuba]

And then there's the salt vs. fresh water problem. Better to teach the diver to weight him/herself properly.

Course I guess it would be nice to know the buoyancy characteristics of the $1000 digital camera and housing, before it sinks or floats away from you.:mean: