How Much Lead Does Your Drysuit Take?

[Benthos]

What kind of suit?
Whats your size?
How much lead?

The reason I ask is I'm buying a new drysuit. I had a poor fitting trilam once and it took me 32lbs. to get down. In my neoprene drysuits I wear only 20lbs. I don't belive the age old neoprene suit take more lead thing because of past expierences. Maybe I was just using too much insulaton or something. What are other people getting down on?

Thanks
Rich

 

[Scottri]

Well, my suit itself doesn't take any weight But I use 27 lbs + 1.5 pound ankle weights. The only difference between my wet suit and my drysuit is the ankle weights. My suit is a Bi-Lam shell suit similar to a tri-lam suit.



Scott

 

[Laser]

Depends on the undies doesn't it?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

It does depend on the underwear. You only need enough air in the suit to avoid a squeeze and provide the room for the insulation to do it's thing and this can vary with the type of insulation used. The diver should weight himself accordingly and be pretty vigilant about not overweighting.

Many dry suit divers in my opinion use to much weight and consequently too much air in the suit which leads to the concerns for shifting air etc. It also appears that this is leading to the recommendation that the BC be used for bouyancy control. Based on my experience I agree and disagree with this depending on the situation.

But for an OW diver if you keep the minimum amount of air in the suit to avoid a squeeze and weight yourself accordingly, you will not really need to use the BC for bouyancy control as any suit compression with depth will result in a squeeze that needs to be corrected with air which will at the same time neutralize your bouyancy.

So if the dry suit diver is properly weighted and uses good technique, I don't really see a big role for a BC in bouyancy control unless you are using stage bottles or something else that would require additional bouyancy from the BC or wing.

 

[bwerb]

DA Aquamaster once bubbled...
Many dry suit divers in my opinion use to much weight and consequently too much air in the suit which leads to the concerns for shifting air etc. It also appears that this is leading to the recommendation that the BC be used for bouyancy control. Based on my experience I agree and disagree with this depending on the situation.

But for an OW diver if you keep the minimum amount of air in the suit to avoid a squeeze and weight yourself accordingly, you will not really need to use the BC for bouyancy control as any suit compression with depth will result in a squeeze that needs to be corrected with air which will at the same time neutralize your bouyancy.

So if the dry suit diver is properly weighted and uses good technique, I don't really see a big role for a BC in bouyancy control unless you are using stage bottles or something else that would require additional bouyancy from the BC or wing.

I don't think overweighted divers in drysuits are the reason for recommending using the BC for bouyancy. It's recommended because that's it's job description. OTOH...the drysuit is supposed to keep you dry and warm...that is it's job description.

I agree that many divers are very overweighted but even with correct weighting, I don't think using the suit for bouyancy is the answer.

If I used my suit for bouyancy, I'd have a huge bubble of air moving around...and I'm correctly weighted (400g undergarments, trilam suit, 36# SS Halcyon BP/Wing, 16#lead.) I do use my BC for bouyancy and it's no problem at all. I put tiny tiny bursts into my suit on the way down but keep it very snug. It is way more trouble dumping air out the shoulder than just tugging on the quick-dump on the wing or using the deflator.

Again, I think the reason using the suit is taught is part of the lowest common denominator dive training...since some people can't handle more than one inflate/deflate at once, better only teach them to use the suit.

 

[TRIG]

Whites bi-lam suit (Medium), diveware that came with it;

Aluminium BP with 27 lift wing, 95CF steel / 2400 PSI tank,
a little air in suit. I use BC for control and 8LB of soft wieght .

Out of the water, the 95 steel weighs about 10LB more
than an AL 80CF, and the AL back plate adds a couple of LBs,
so with jacket BC and AL tank, would need about 20LB.

When I`ve worn a 7MM wetsuit with jacket BC and AL 80,
required about 30LB to get down. I use the DUI weight harness, as it is easy to add/subtract weights and nice distribution.

I have only eight dives , and am looking forward to more reseach in this area along with everything else, fascinating stuff.

Trig

 

[TwoBitTxn]

Trig touched on it...

I have been reading people's posts about weighting.

Please specify Steel or Al tank It makes a huge difference.

BC for bouyancy.. dry suit to stay warm and...dry.

5'9" 175lbs. Fairly trim.

Whites catalyst. Farmer john and jacket undies. No hood.

33lbs total weight. I may be able to trim a little off this once I get more comfortable. I only place enough air in suit to relieve the squeeze. I only dive Al 80's at this time.

TwoBit

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Well maybe it's just me....SS backplate, a pair of steel 71.2's and 12 lbs weight. I really don't have a need to put air anywhere but in the suit even with a hood and dry gloves. If the water is really cold (ie mid 30's) I add another 4 lbs to get a little more warmth in the suit. It works for me so I'll keep doing it.

 

[matt t.]

DUI Clx 450 (stock Large) I'm 6' 188 lbs
Softwear 300 gr fleece underwear
Hp 120 steel tank/30 cu ft Al pony
SS backplate & STA (9lbs)
6 lbs on belt
3lbs ankle weights

*Total of 18 lbs

 

[matt t.]

DUI Clx 450
Softwear 300 gr fleece underwear
Hp 120 steel tank/30 cu ft Al pony
SS backplate & STA (9lbs)
6 lbs on belt
3lbs ankle weights

*Total of 18 lbs