Dive boat etiquette and buoyancy check

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Alurpal

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Location
Asheville, NC
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I’ve been diving my new gear in freshwater and plan to do a boat dive in Fort Lauderdale in a couple months. All my previous diving has been in saltwater with rental gear on boats and I would purposely overweight but now I’m more concerned with buoyancy and trim.

My question: is it okay to ask the crew if I can do a quick buoyancy check before descending on a dive boat since I’ll be in different density water than I’m used to? Or is this something I should sort out before the dive?

Thanks!
 
Have you considered hirring a private guide and working on buoyancy and trim?
 
What you describe is a very common problem, and I wish I had a good solution for you. In many of the dives in that location, getting a buoyancy check before diving will be difficult. If it makes you feel any better, even divers with a ton of experience have this problem when they are using different equipment combinations than normal.

If you have a pretty good idea of your buoyancy with your new equipment in freshwater, start by adding about 3% more of your total weight for salt water. If you are a few pounds heavier than you need to be, that shouldn't hurt you much. You can take a few off on your second dive.
 
Is this a drift dive? If not a drift dive, where they want you to descend without delay so as to not get separated in the current from your group, sure, it's okay. If it's not a drift dive, you can take all the time you want on the surface to get yourself situated. Letting the crew know in advance why you may take an extra few minutes is a good idea, so they don't think you need assistance. If it is a drift dive, ask the crew before you leave the dock what their recommendation is.
 
Talk with the boat company about it. Maybe hire a DM and then they will work with you.
What others have posted is good advice too
 
You can always just go down to the beach before and work it out there.
The problem is that in most cases, the weights and tanks are supplied on the boat. To check it out before hand, you would essentially have to rent gear for a shore dive.
 
You can always just go down to the beach before and work it out there.

Not a bad idea, though it would entail arriving a day early, renting a tank, etc. It sounds like something I would do. Before a liveboard trip where I would be diving in my drysuit with a single Al 80, a combination new to me, I took a quick road trip to the FL panhandle to figure out the weighting and feel of it.
 
Doing a buoyancy check on the way in is not preferable.

Since you have a baseline that's a few lbs. heaver than necessary, start doing buoyancy checks on your way out of the water and make notes in your log book. Hold your purge until you have 500 psi. left, hand off a pound or two to a buddy, dump BCD and see if you sink. (do not do this repeatedly, once should be fine)

This shouldn't present an issue with the boat since you should be able to do this quickly and board the boat last.

Let the DM know your plan since a reg basting off a few hundred psi of air may cause them to be concerned.
 
You can always just go down to the beach before and work it out there.
I agree-- or use an available (?) swimming pool and add 5-6 pounds for salt water.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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