How to trim weight with DDs

[Midget]

Hey ladies

I bobble around in the water a bit too much for my liking.
I wonder if this is because I don't have my weight trimmed appropriately for my extra up front buoyancy.
I'm sure that women's BCDs are designed to help deal with this, but I dive with a man's.

Can someone give me some tips on correcting the matter? I've never tried putting weight in my shoulders. Would that help?

I'm seriously thinking about a reduction since the dang things are just a nuisance in general!

Thanks, in advance, for any advice.

 

[Jax]

I could not trim horizontal in a jacket-style BCD - the inherent buoyancy of the jacket kept me in a 30* pitch. I experimented with weights and finally got it trim, and yes, it took two 2-lb pieces in the upper back pockets and moving all the weight from my belt into the integrated pockets. I did not like all the weight on my shoulders.

I went to an SS BP/W, and trimmed out nicely with some heavier fins (try them before you buy them, if possible). YMMV

You could get (borrow?) some 1 to 2 lb ankle weights, and a good friend, who will hang them various places (do this in a pool) until you are trimmed where you wish to be.

 

[Midget]

How compact does your SS BP/W get for packing?

Don't ankle weights goof up your pitch in the water?

 

[TSandM]

Well, the first key to stability is posture. If you go look at the 5thD-X videos on YouTube, you'll see the body position -- head up, body flat, knees slightly higher than the hips, knees a little bit bent (angle of the knees depends on weight balance). If you tend to dive with your hips bent and your legs bicycling, that will drop your legs and make you less stable as well.

Once you have the posture close, you can get in the water with a friend, get horizontal (have your friend confirm this) and then STOP. See where you rotate. If you rotate feet down, you need to move weight up on your rig. If you go head down, you need to move weight down.

Once you know where you need to put the weight, you can start to explore options on how to get it there. Moving weight up tends to be easy -- move the tank up until your head hits the first stage. Put a tank weight around the tank neck. Put weight on the cambands. Moving weight down can be a little more difficult, because you don't want to move the tank down past where you can reach the valve. And for us ladies, a weight belt around the waist is pretty much AT our center of gravity. But a weight harness may allow the weight to go lower (and integrate weight pockets are often below the waist), and a switch to heavier fins can help, too.

The two horizontal trim articles on THIS site are excellent.

Edited to add: A SS backplate and wing packs up much smaller than a jacket BC, because you can disassemble the whole thing if you want to (I generally just take the cambands off). Ankle weights won't cause problems, if you have done the things I described above to figure out if you really need them.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

I'm not built the same way you are, but I did have some challenges in getting trimmed out. I also found that the instructors/DMs who made suggestions.... well, it's not that they were not trying to be helpful, but sometimes the suggestions didn't really work for me as a female.

For me the main two problems were BCs (vest or backplate) that didn't fit because I'm short waisted, and the fact that I was head-heavy/butt-light. I got those two things squared away with some thinking/experimenting, and some gear and weighting changes (for me, went to a small backplate and wing, and also put weight around the base of the tank on aluminum tanks).

Can you explain a little more about the symptoms of your buoyancy problem? Unsteady how? Do you consistently pitch forward? Backward? Does your BC fit you? When I was using one(s) that did not fit, the BC/tank shifted around a lot and I just could not "sit still" in the water.

Blue Sparkle

PS: Oh, I just realized my avatar is a scene now and not a photo of me, but I'm female.

 

[Midget]

I'm really short! Hence, the Midget!
I've only had the buoyancy problems on my last trip since I put on weight (most of which is in my chest!) and got the travel light jacket BCD. My body wants to rotate around underwater even though I have all the weight in the front on my belt. The BCD doesn't move around on my body.

I will spend some time in the pool experimenting with trim weights. If I can't get it dialed in, I will look at a BP/W set up.

You ladies are amazing! What a great resource!

(and I still want a reduction! brutal surgery though)

 

[mselenaous]

+1 on TSand M's comments.
It's been challenging for me as well. Alot of it cleared up when I changed to a steel BP/W and steel tanks for cold water (7mm or drysuit). Generally spreading the weight across my torso not just in my pockets on my hips. When I do dive AL80s, I add 2x2# ankle weights around the AL tank valve which helps shift the weight and accounts for the positive bouyancy of the AL tank without having to change anything else in my configuration. IMO, I find the BP/W do fold up flater than a jacket BCD for travel, YMMV.
I too am short-waisted. FYI There are three manufacturers that actually make short backplates: dive-rite, oxycheq, deep sea supply.
SCUBA Diving Equipment for Technical, Sidemount, Rebreather, Wreck and Cave Diving: Dive Rite, Inc - Product Catalog - Short Aluminum Backplate
https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?product=4
Backplate Aluminum Powder Coated *Small - Lollypop Blue* : OxyCheq - DiveOps, Analyzers and Scuba Diving Equipment (these come in colors like, blue, red, and yes...pink!)

:gr1: I've met many well endowed lady divers, so surgery:shocked2: need not be your solution. Keep practicing, try the various suggestions and you'll soon figure out the combination that works best for you.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

Here's one thing you might try, which sounds counterintuitive but might help:

I was consistently wearing a couple of larger weights on the front of my weight belt (amount depending on exposure protection of course), one on each side but around front toward the buckle. Then a couple more weights on the tank base (keeps me level fore-and-aft). With this I was feeling reasonably solid in salt water.

Then on this last trip I dived in fresh water for the first time... what a difference! Of course I used less weight - that was no surprise - but (at least for me) the quality of the buoyancy changed too, which did surprise me.

First of all, I did not get the head-heavy problem (which now believe is really just more buoyancy affecting my hip area in salt water with certain tanks), so I shifted the weights off my tank base. Then I was level, but I was still all "bobbly" and could not keep still. Not a great feeling!

I was taking a one-day class, and the instructor (to whom I was thinking "No, really, I could hold still before today") suggested that I move the weights that were on the front of my belt to the back of it - to right over my kidneys (so slightly to the sides but on the back).

Well I did that and, voila!, much more stable. I had been thinking that having the weight lower (as defined when I was horizontal) would keep me more steady, but it was just the opposite. Since then I have kept the belt weights over my kidneys even in salt water (although there I did not notice it as much when they were in front).

I still use weight around the base of the tank in salt water with aluminum tanks. I did find that when I used a steel LP95 in salt water I did not need that, and was able to trim fore-and-aft with just my weight-belt weights.

I can't really compare fairly between the vest type BC and the backplate, because I could not find a vest to fit me, and so I never dived with a vest that was "right." I can say I really like the backplate though. It fits (yes!), and I like that it is uncluttered on the front and sides. It also gives me the feeling that - because it is so "plain" - when I experiment I am able to directly feel the results.

Blue Sparkle

PS: I just read your reply mselenaous. I'll just mention that Halcyon and Agir-Brokk are two other companies that I know of that make small backplates. Although they only make two sizes, and both of their smalls are around 14" (whereas DSS's small is around 13"). I don't know exactly how the Oxycheq or DiveRites measure up.

 

[Midget]

I want surgery for a hundred reasons. The gals I talk to that had reductions are happy they did, but all say it was a miserable month of recovery.

Absolutely excellent recommendations that I couldn't have gotten anywhere else but here on SB!! Thank you. Thank you.

 

[Midget]

I'm poking around on the internet and don't see any ultralight bp/w for < 5'3"