As others have said too much wait for the pool with no wetsuit and its fresh water. Put some wait in the back trim pockets up high will help bring the feet up as well. Hawaii is warmish water and I use a 5mm full suit so I would wear that in the pool and the just compensate for the salt water when you get there. Depending on the time of year you will see guides in 8mm suits with hoods. Temps range from 74 - 82F.
Question Figuring out weight and trim
- Thread starter JPaulH
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The weight you carry is two of these
Standard deviation - Wikipedia
Mean - Wikipedia
if not more
If you're "neutral to very slightly negative with zero air in your BC at the beginning of your dive ", what happens at the end of the dive when you're five pounds lighter from having used most of the gas in your tank?
mcohen1021
Contributor
To be clear, I am slightly negative at the start of a dive, where I need no air in my bc. When I get back to my safety stop, I'm neutral. Sorry for any confusion
It's unclear to me how you can be neutral/slightly negative with no air in your BC at both the beginning and end of your dive if you've used 5 or so pounds of air during the dive. .
Big Dan K
Contributor
Another vote for both less weight and trim weights. I had the same problems when I resumed diving. Try less weight and the trim may clear up. Shift some weight to the trim pockets or tank band if it doesn’t. I have to put 40% of my weights in the trim pockets to hold level naturally. Tell your dive guide you are unsure of proper weighting on your trip. They can bring some clip on weights just in case. Weighting will be different due to the saltwater and exposure suit
DivingLuketw
Registered
I think you need to take buoyancy of different equipment and environment in account, wetsuit/salt water have more positive buoyancy so you carry more weight on you. And as you become more experienced, the weight you need will drop few lbs or so.
FYI, I'm 6'1, weights around 210lbs, at the beginning of my OW course, I use 15 lbs of weight on my waist and shoulder pocket, and my first 15 dives after my certification, I dove in shorty wetsuit and rashguard/short, I'm using 8lbs with those equipment, and now I think I need less than 10lbs in full-length wetsuit.
*FWIW, all of the wetsuits mention above are 3mm, and I dive in tropical area, no pool session in my OW course.
The heavier you weight, the harder you can stay neutral buoyancy, as long as you could sink after releasing air in BC, the lighter the better.
FYI, I'm 6'1, weights around 210lbs, at the beginning of my OW course, I use 15 lbs of weight on my waist and shoulder pocket, and my first 15 dives after my certification, I dove in shorty wetsuit and rashguard/short, I'm using 8lbs with those equipment, and now I think I need less than 10lbs in full-length wetsuit.
*FWIW, all of the wetsuits mention above are 3mm, and I dive in tropical area, no pool session in my OW course.
The heavier you weight, the harder you can stay neutral buoyancy, as long as you could sink after releasing air in BC, the lighter the better.
60plus
Contributor
You must have had a pretty poor OW instructor/ certification body. Your weighting is a long way off and this should have been sorted to within a kilo or two at your first pool training session. The more I see on scubaboard the more I wonder about the quality of (lack of) instruction in America.
Tournesol2000
Contributor
RobPNW
Contributor
Yeah, way too much weight. On my last warm water trip, I was your weight and actually shorter so I was probably more buoyant and I wore a shorty wetsuit. I was able to use 9lbs of weight. And when I wore a 3mm full wetsuit, I was able to get away with 10lbs. In just swim shorts, if I were you, I would try a total of 8 pounds. And since you're feet heavy, I would put 4lbs on the top cam band and 4lbs on the waist belt. Then adjust from there.
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