DELIBERATELY overweighting students doing OW training

[Eric Sedletzky]

Also the problem is instructors never undo the overweighting training and OW divers typically think that's the way it's supposed to be.
They can dive for years that way and never know why they have such a hard time.

 

[RJP]

On a boat in the Channel Islands of California I once heard an instructor talking to a student about weighting on the previous dive: "I could tell I was overweighted on that dive... because I crashed into the bottom a lot harder than usual."

Oh, I see! How hard do you USUALLY crash into the bottom?

 

[boulderjohn]

It's one thing to have a couple extra pounds for the pool sessions and maybe even the first check out dive. It's quite another to be 6-8, even 10 lbs over.

For those of you using the imperial system, every pound of unnecessary weight requires nearly 2 cups of air volume in the BCD to compensate.

For those of you in the metric system, every unnecessary kilo requires about a liter of air in the BCD to compensate.

What's the harm in this? The more air in the BCD, the more the diver is affected to changing volume while changing depth. It makes it harder to fine tune the buoyancy using the lungs.

 

[Kharon]

It's one thing to have a couple extra pounds for the pool sessions and maybe even the first check out dive. It's quite another to be 6-8, even 10 lbs over.

The reality is that many OW students will require slightly more weight during their check out dives than they would with the same exposure protection after, say, 50 dives. The key word is 'slightly' not 'double'!

I was actually 14# overweighted given the proper weighting I achieved after certification. During the cert dives I told the "instructor" that I had way too much weight and he denied it and said if I wanted to continue just shut up about it.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

For those of you using the imperial system, every pound of unnecessary weight requires nearly 2 cups of air volume in the BCD to compensate.

For those of you in the metric system, every unnecessary kilo requires about a liter of air in the BCD to compensate.

What's the harm in this? The more air in the BCD, the more the diver is affected to changing volume while changing depth. It makes it harder to fine tune the buoyancy using the lungs.

And to take this one step further, which also ties into why people should have an empty BC and 500 PSI in their tanks for the 15 foot stop:
Because ANY air in your BC at the most critical depth of pressure changes (15 feet) is like trying to balance standing on a ball.
A little bit up and the bubble expands, a little bit down and the bubble pressurizes causing the diver to constantly inflate and dump trying to hold a stop, especially when the swells are running.
No air in BC at 15 feet properly weighted and you sit there.

 

[boulderjohn]

One of my technical diving instructors told me an interesting story from the early days of his diving. (This was quite a while ago, at least a couple of decades.) He was a new diver in a resort area, renting equipment. The DM told him how much weight to use and put it on the weight belt for him. The buckle of the belt was broken, so the DM tied the ends together. He then discovered that his SPG was not working, either. No problem, said the DM. Enjoy your dive.

He entered the water and sank like a stone. While he was lying on the bottom, the DM had to deal with some kind of problem with one of the other divers. He watched the DM deal with that problem for a while and then decided that he should get buoyant. He added air to his BCD, discovering that he was so overweighted he could not add enough to get buoyant. That was when he ran out of air. Through a supreme muscular effort he was able to get to the surface and get a hold of the boat.

At least no one here seems to have had such an experience.

 

[Frosty]

John--and yet he carried on diving--holey cow

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I was actually 14# overweighted given the proper weighting I achieved after certification. During the cert dives I told the "instructor" that I had way too much weight and he denied it and said if I wanted to continue just shut up about it.

That is a dangerous individual that others should be warned about. He's going to hurt or kill somebody someday.