Experience from first Monterey dives last weekend

[flyandive]

Well, normally 20-30lbs is not over weight if you have a really really thick wetsuit or a drysuit with multiple layers of insulation. Obviously with your wetsuit, steel tank and your experience 24lbs was too much. For me that's about right but I wear a drysuit with two layers of insulation. I would guess with a 10mm wetsuit and a BP/W 12-15lbs would be about right.

My guess is the shop was underestimating your experience and didn't want you coming back claiming you didn't have enough lead. I've seen shops put that much lead on open water students in a 70F pool with BC and 3mm wetsuit.

 

[3D diver]

Weight requirement is proportional to insulation, the thicker your insulation (wet suit,or drysuit undies) the more weight you need to compensate for the extra bouyancy. Sounds like the dive shop misjudged what you needed & you made the mistake of following their advice.

When I find myself facing a new bouyancy situation---new gear, travel situation with different temperatures and/or rental gear, etc.---I log what I'm wearing, the temperature (if I know), the weight carried, etc. so the next time I have a clue how to weight myself.

Chalk it up to experience.

 

[neve]

Oh well, silly me then. I didn't want them canceling my dive, so I went along with the excessive lead. My mistake. Thanks all for the input.