Dry suit weight starting point

[Octopusprime]

For those of you who use plates - when answering questions such as this, does the weight you state include the weight of the plate or is it additional to the plate?

when referring to weight it is just lead weight, not including the gear.

---------- Post added January 17th, 2015 at 08:07 PM ----------

I will dive dry this weekkend for the first time. If I use 30lbs with a 7mm semidry suit, I'll need about 40lbs dry. Does that sound right?

it will depend on how much undergarment you will need, but 10lbs extra a good start... But have some extra just in case

 

[buddhasummer]

I dive a Santi emotion suit with a new BZ400 heated suit. I dove the combination for the first time yesterday. I'm very lean. In a two piece 7mm, steel tank, a 2.8kg plate and can light I require no additional lead to sink. In the Drysuit yesterday I used a steel tank, 5.1kg plate, 2.7kg weighted STA, 3kgs in cam band pockets, 4kgs on weight belt and suit battery, total, not including tank, around 34lbs. I was possibly a kilo or two over. I'm 173cm and 52kgs. Good luck getting it sorted it takes some time to get it dialed properly.

 

[gcarter]

when referring to weight it is just lead weight, not including the gear.

When discussing weighting, I would think that this is important to state. Saying I use 6lbs on a belt with my 7mm is quite different than saying I use 6lbs with a 6lb plate and a steel tank when the default for many is a BCD and an aluminum tank.

With the same wetsuit I have a 10lb swing depending on whether I use my BP/W and HP100s or my SeaQuest Balance and AL80s.

---------- Post added January 17th, 2015 at 11:07 PM ----------

I dive a Santi emotion suit with a new BZ400 heated suit. I dove the combination for the first time yesterday. I'm very lean. In a two piece 7mm, steel tank, a 2.8kg plate and can light I require no additional lead to sink. In the Drysuit yesterday I used a steel tank, 5.1kg plate, 2.7kg weighted STA, 3kgs in cam band pockets, 4kgs on weight belt and suit battery, total, not including tank, around 34lbs. I was possibly a kilo or two over. I'm 173cm and 52kgs. Good luck getting it sorted it takes some time to get it dialed properly.

Now that's a good answer with all the required context.

 

[buddhasummer]

When discussing weighting, I would think that this is important to state. Saying I use 6lbs on a belt with my 7mm is quite different than saying I use 6lbs with a 6lb plate and a steel tank when the default for many is a BCD and an aluminum tank.

With the same wetsuit I have a 10lb swing depending on whether I use my BP/W and HP100s or my SeaQuest Balance and AL80s.

---------- Post added January 17th, 2015 at 11:07 PM ----------



Now that's a good answer with all the required context.

Cheers, I too am often a little unsure as to what people are calculating as weight unless specifically itemized. I think it's definately more helpful to list as many contributors as possible. Maybe it's obvious to most I'm not sure.

 

[NAM001]

When i did my weighting for my tls350. i went in a pool with nothing on but the suit and undies. it took 38# to et me down. ihad on a polortech power stretch 300 set of undies. i then went to a set of 100g undies adn it took 19#. Now that is with no gear on at all. mysteel bp/w with 8# weight plates took care of 14 of the19 and teh tank with regs did the rest. for the 300 g undies i needed 19# more than that. weight pout in weight system adn hip belt.

 

[tennjay]

I will dive dry this weekkend for the first time. If I use 30lbs with a 7mm semidry suit, I'll need about 40lbs dry. Does that sound right?

I used my lp95 with 40lbs and was too heavy. I ended up diving 36 lbs, but was a little heavy still. Probably 34# would have been better. 40# would be close with an al80.
I am 6'1'' 240 and was using a bcd, Whites Fusion drysuit, Whites undergarment, 3mm neoprene socks underneath the skin and 7mm boots on the outside, plus 7mm gloves and hood.


Hopefully this info might help others. This thread help me quite a bit.

 

[jake11]

As much extra weight as you can bring would be a good idea. I normally dive wet in a 7mm with 18 and used around 25 in my dry suit!

 

[HungoverDiver]

As it was, there is no way I could have ever used the wing for buoyancy because I could never really get all of the squeeze relieved. I would have been more comfortable and warmer if I could have added a bit more.

So I suspect that this may be why I hear dry suit divers using as much lead as they do.

I had a similar experience this weekend as well with my new TLS350. I would wear 16lbs (6lbs backplate + 10lbs lead) when I dive my 7mm suit, and then added 4lbs when I added a hooded vest (20lbs total, 6lbs backplate + 14lbs lead).

Now for the drysuit (TLS350 with 250g undergarment), my instructor put me at 28lbs for dive one (6lb BP, 22 lead), and then 26lbs for dive two (6lbs BP, 20lbs lead). This weekend I tried 24lbs (6lbs BP, 18lbs lead) and that worked as well, with no trouble holding safety stop.

Any of those weightings seemed pretty good, but I still didn't feel like I could get all the squeeze out of my suit. Should I be adding more weight so that I can add more loft to drysuit? I honestly don't mind a little squeeze, since I find it kinda comforting, but maybe that is dangerous?