Question Do you ever practice dropping weights and handling the unexpected ascent?

[johndiver999]

No, my earlier comment was completely accurate. That's not a good reason to carry extra ditchable weight (although I'm aware that some divers do it). As I already pointed out in an earlier comment, if your wetsuit is thick enough to cause a problem getting up with a failed wing then the correct solution is to use a proper shell drysuit rather than carrying extra ditchable weight. This is part of having a balanced rig.

Did you go through the attachment he provided? It provides the basis for how someone (who may choose to use a thick wetsuit) might arrive at the optimal amount of ditchable lead.

I don't think anyone has advocated for carrying more lead than necessary - just so it can be ditched. The question is rather, what portion of the diver's ballast ( primarily lead) can/should be ditchable and this obviously pertains primarily to recreational - no deco profiles.

 

[Nick_Radov]

Did you go through the attachment he provided? It provides the basis for how someone (who may choose to use a thick wetsuit) might arrive at the optimal amount of ditchable lead.

I don't think anyone has advocated for carrying more lead than necessary - just so it can be ditched. The question is rather, what portion of the diver's ballast ( primarily lead) can/should be ditchable and this obviously pertains primarily to recreational - no deco profiles.

I'm not going to waste my time going through a spreadsheet to address your misunderstanding of the balanced rig concept. Thick wetsuits aren't a good idea from a buoyancy management perspective, as I already explained above. If you're going to wear a thick wetsuit on deep dives then you can maybe sort of compensate for that bad decision by carrying extra ditchable weight (at least for recreational dives), but it's obviously not an optimal solution. Instead of creating unnecessary problems for yourself just avoid the problem by wearing a proper shell drysuit. This is very simple and doesn't require any clever spreadsheet formulas.

 

[inquis]

Did you go through the attachment he provided? It provides the basis for how someone (who may choose to use a thick wetsuit) might arrive at the optimal amount of ditchable lead.

One of the stated primary goals when creating said attachment was to illustrate the very issues @Nick_Radov has pointed out. The key phrases on the wetsuit tab as you adjust the amount of ditchable lead:

• "CAN YOU SWIM THESE WEIGHTS OFF THE BOTTOM?"
• "THIS IS THE MAX BUOYANCY YOU MIGHT BE FIGHTING AT THE END OF YOUR ASCENT"

The tool clearly illustrates that IN SOME CASES, a drysuit is simply a better choice.

 

[johndiver999]

One of the stated primary goals when creating said attachment was to illustrate the very issues @Nick_Radov has pointed out. The key phrases on the wetsuit tab as you adjust the amount of ditchable lead:

• "CAN YOU SWIM THESE WEIGHTS OFF THE BOTTOM?"
• "THIS IS THE MAX BUOYANCY YOU MIGHT BE FIGHTING AT THE END OF YOUR ASCENT"

The tool clearly illustrates that IN SOME CASES, a drysuit is simply a better choice.

I would not argue against dry suits, but how many 7 mm suits do you think are sold per year? More than dry suits perhaps?

It is not an invalid question to ask, what is a reasonable or best way to dive these (wet) suits?