Buoyancy & Trim problems..and ideas?

[Beck-Miester]

I am a 245lbs ex-weight-lifter/power lifter who recently started diving. One issue that I have been having has been with trim. I have heavily muscled legs which are considerably heavier than the rest of my body, and I find that even when I get myself at neutral boyancy, my legs always end up swinging underneath me. It's no so much a problem when I am going down, but when I am trying to hover above the bottom, it makes it hard.I usually end up with the tips of my fins on the bottom....

I am wearing 7mm Neoprene (with a 7mm hooded vest), but do I look at adding something to my ankles or legs to increase their boyancy?

Beck

 

[D_B]

thick wetsuit boots, and neutral fins might help.
also, move some of your weight up towards your shoulders and/or putting trim weights high on your body

 

[RJP]

Try sliding your tank up first...

 

[boulderjohn]

I agree with the trim weights high on the body, to begin with.

Part of your problem is your 7 mm suit. It compresses mightily as you descend. The weight you need when you are descending or doing your safety stop is too much when you are at depth, because of the compression of the suit. You will need to add a lot of air to your BCD to compensate. You can't avoid that unless you go to a dry suit. If your weight is all on your waist on a weight belt, it will be like having a big kid on one end of the see saw and a tiny kid on the other. If you have trim pockets on your BCD, fill them. You can also try various other ways to add weight higher on your body.

Next, try swimming in a horizontal position with your knees bent and your fin tips pointing up. It will feel funny at first, but once you are used to it you will be fine.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

There are many things to try. Most of the changes involve moving weight away from your feet and towards your head. This can be accomplished by:

• Mounting the tank so that it's higher up relative to your BCD. (RJP is correct. You should try this first.)
• Shifting lead towards your head, e.g., moving some weight from your BCD weight-integrated pockets on your hip to trim weight pockets or pockets mounted on the upper tank camband. Some people might suggest using an ankle weight around the tank valve.
• Body positioning. I won't go into detail on this because the topic is covered very well by ae3753 on his personal website. Here are links to Horizontal Trim - Uses and Horizontal Trim 101 - Levers.

This is kind of a common sense thing but I'll mention it anyway since you are a newer diver. When people are suggesting that you "put weight in your trim pockets" or "put weights on your tank camband" or "put weight on your tank valve," they are trying to get you to shift weight from your hips to those locations. For every pound that you put into a trim pocket, you should take one pound out of your weight-integrated pockets on your hips. This, of course, assumes that are correctly weighted right now. If you aren't sure whether you are optimally weighted, then by all means do a weight check.

You'll achieve proper horizontal trim more quickly if you get help from an experienced diver or instructor.

 

[spectrum]

All the right advice from what I read. Just visualize your body as a see saw and start moving things up your body.

If you have some ankle weight available throw them around the crown of your cylinder as an experiment. Remember to remove the corresponding amount of weight from below. I would not go out and buy weights for this but it may be a quick way to put your pulse on what you are trying to achieve.

Pete

 

[Beck-Miester]

Much obliged, guys. Right now (with all that neoprene) I have 20lbs in my integrated weights, and another 8 lbs around my waist. I am using a Steel HP 130 for my tank and I have it hoisted up as high as the BC will allow, so I will try moving some weights up to the top of my cylinder and see if that helps a bit. I chose the steel 130 for it's neutral boyancy characteristics when empty, but perhaps a couple of pounds near the top will make the needed difference.....

Chris

 

[RJP]

Much obliged, guys. Right now (with all that neoprene) I have 20lbs in my integrated weights, and another 8 lbs around my waist. I am using a Steel HP 130 for my tank and I have it hoisted up as high as the BC will allow, so I will try moving some weights up to the top of my cylinder and see if that helps a bit. I chose the steel 130 for it's neutral boyancy characteristics when empty, but perhaps a couple of pounds near the top will make the needed difference.....

Chris

Does your BCD have any trim pockets in addition to the integrated pockets? On many/most BCDs you can put 5lbs in each of two pockets in are up around the middle of your back. You could then move the 8lbs off the weight belt and into the integrated pockets. Net result would be shifting a full 18lbs a little "further north" on you rig.

 

[spectrum]

Beck-Miester,

The 130 is a nice cylinder but tis' also a fairly long one. It may be as high as it can go however the butt end is still low on your person. Use what you have available to simulate a permanent fix on the cheap. Use trim pockets as to the max as RJP mentioned.

In the past I have taken a pair of weights, like 2 or 3 pounders. using double tie raps attach a bolt snap to each and clip one to each shoulder D ring. that gives you a pair of temporary clip-on weights.

Once you see a prototype solution it will easier and cheaper to create along term configuration. With any luck you are just moving existing stuff around.

Pete

 

[R2K2]

Much obliged, guys. Right now (with all that neoprene) I have 20lbs in my integrated weights, and another 8 lbs around my waist. I am using a Steel HP 130 for my tank and I have it hoisted up as high as the BC will allow, so I will try moving some weights up to the top of my cylinder and see if that helps a bit. I chose the steel 130 for it's neutral boyancy characteristics when empty, but perhaps a couple of pounds near the top will make the needed difference.....

Chris

Hi Chris,

Im built similar and had the exact same problem as you did with heavy legs, HP100 tank moved fully forward, Trim pockets on BC not high enough. so I purchased a pair of XS scuba pouches ($8 from LDS) and put them on my upper tank band and balance them on each side of the tank as close to you back as possible. I moved the 6lbs from my waist and walla. you may need to experiment with the amount you need.