diver 85
Contributor
take your 3 mm shortie & tie 8 lbs onto it---if it sinks, 8 lbs is too much for wetsuit only....
Is it normal to not need ANY weight?
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take your 3 mm shortie & tie 8 lbs onto it---if it sinks, 8 lbs is too much for wetsuit only....
2905luvsbubbles
Contributor
As others have said, you need to do a weight a check. The proper amount of weight will vary as you gain experience and with equipment configuration and conditions. I have known some well padded divers to dive with minimal weight and very thin divers to need a lot of wieght. Each person is unique and requires varying amounts of weight.
It is possible that you are carrying enough weight with your gear.
When I do pool work, I use a full length 3/2 and my Zeagle Stilleto along with a steel 80. That is more than enough weight to make me sink like a rock. If I have to demo weight belt remove and replace, I use a belt with two 1# weights so I'm not extremely overweighted.
When I do pool work, I use a full length 3/2 and my Zeagle Stilleto along with a steel 80. That is more than enough weight to make me sink like a rock. If I have to demo weight belt remove and replace, I use a belt with two 1# weights so I'm not extremely overweighted.
MD_Diver
Guest
In the pool with a full 3/2 wetsuit, an AL80 at 500psi and no air in my BC I still sink with no weight. In the caribbean, I wear 8 lbs and am heavy at the start of the dive but at the safety stop (15ft) with < 1000psi I'm right or just a little heavy. My regular dive buddy who is roughly the same size and weight as me uses 4lbs in the pool and 12 -15 lbs in the ocean. As others have said do a weight check, each divers weight needs are different.
What kind of tanks and BC are you using, does the BC have a back plate? If so, is the back plate steel or aluminum?
I don't use any weights when diving warm fresh water with no wetsuit and 4 lbs in warm salt water.....and I do not use a metal back plate or anything else that adds negative buoyancy except the tank (AL-80s, steels overweight me) and the regulator...for that matter most of the time I don't have a BC either....proper weighting is a wonderful thing.
Not 100% true.
While that is true in most cases, Sherwood does makes an 80 Cubic Foot Aluminum Compact Neutral Tank which is negative 1.4lbs empty.
The fact that an AL tank is more or less positive at when empty does not matter. What matters is that I am properly weighted which means I have taken into consideration the buoyancy characteristics of the tank I am using and the effects of air usage from the tank. As it turns out, my tanks must be close to neutrally buoyant in order for me to properly weight myself, steels being negative will overweight me by way more than I want when diving warm water. Steels require me to wear a BC and to keep air in it, which means I cannot properly weight myself and that is not acceptable to me. When diving with a heavy wetsuit or dry, then steels become an option but ALs are still useable, I just have to add more weight to my weight belt to make up the difference.
In the end, the answer on your question is yes, it is absolutely normal that you sink in the pool without having any weights.
The amount of weights you need depends on many different things such as the density of salt/fresh water, your bodymass, volume of your equipment, experience, and so on.
Most of the things are personal, and it might be that you don't need any weights, especially in the pool.
Even in the ocean, where I wear a full 3/2 wetsuit and an aluminium tank, I do not use any weights at all.
Keep on diving!
The amount of weights you need depends on many different things such as the density of salt/fresh water, your bodymass, volume of your equipment, experience, and so on.
Most of the things are personal, and it might be that you don't need any weights, especially in the pool.
Even in the ocean, where I wear a full 3/2 wetsuit and an aluminium tank, I do not use any weights at all.
Keep on diving!
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