moving weight from ditchable to non-ditchable

[Tagerisatroll]

I recently Got a new 7mm Wet suit Yay me But it's more bouent than my old wetsuit, and it pushed my weight on my belt up to 44lbs, I'm thinking of moving about 19 lbs into non-ditchable tank weight, which would leave me about 25 lbs on my wieght belt which has always been a pretty comfortable weight for me.

I think eventually I'm going to move to a steel tank because i do mostly cold water dives. But my question is 25lbs of ditchable weight still a good safety margin or should I be more conservitive with the non-ditichable weight?

 

[Laser]

Moving to a steel is a smart move. I tend to think you are overweighted in the first place. 44 lbs is a bunch of weight even considering a 7mil.
How are you calculating your weight?

 

[chrisch]

.. is 25lbs of ditchable weight still a good safety margin ..

That much weight is more than enough to keep you bouyant at the surface, which is the only function of ditchable weight. I also agree with Laser - you are probably over-weighted.

Chris

 

[Tagerisatroll]

With a fully deflated BC I float about an inch under water. I get a little heavy at about 20 feet when the poly compresses. My full wetsuit is 7mm semi dry, and a 7mm vest with hood. So I actually have about 14mm on my torso which is why i float so bad But I stay nice and warm

 

[SparticleBrane]

44 pounds is an incredible amount of weight.
When I'm quarry diving in chilly waters I'm in a 6.5mm two-piece I have 12 pounds on my weight belt plus a 6lbs stainless steel backplate = 18 pounds of weight total.

In a 3mm full with the same BC--I sink in the ocean and can maintain a 15-20ft safety stop when the tank is getting low with no weight belt.

So yes, having a thick wetsuit (plus hood and gloves) definitely make a difference--but I seriously doubt they make more than 19-20+ pounds of difference.

Personally I would jump in a pool with all that weight and slowly dump weight until you can't get down. If you can't get down with 44 pounds on a weight belt then there's something wrong--you probably still have plenty of air in your BC that you just aren't getting out.

 

[shark.byte.usa]

44#'s Holy Moly. With a 7mm/hood/gloves, etc & AL80 I use 26#'s [14 ditchable], you must sink like a rock after 15ft or so. How much did you use before this new westsuit?

 

[Kev's First Mate]

Man! And I thought the 22lbs that I use is a lot. Even with the 7mm, how is it that you don't sink like a rock?

 

[Tagerisatroll]

44#'s Holy Moly. With a 7mm/hood/gloves, etc & AL80 I use 26#'s [14 ditchable], you must sink like a rock after 15ft or so. How much did you use before this new westsuit?

Yeah I used to use 34# with my old suit, and I couldn't even get down with that weight, kept bobbing to the surface after swiming down hard for five of six feet. Two five pounders later seemed to fix it. I should lay off the cookies maybe. I defently need to dial this new suit in more. I defently get heavy when it compresses.

 

[SparticleBrane]

Would you mind if we asked height/weight? That would probably help...then again if you don't want to say that's fine.

 

[Tagerisatroll]

Man! And I thought the 22lbs that I use is a lot. Even with the 7mm, how is it that you don't sink like a rock?

During my pool checks I was using a 18lb belt LOL I'm just naturally bouent probably has something to do with my spare tire 6' 4" 285lbs

Would you mind if we asked height/weight? That would probably help...then again if you don't want to say that's fine.

doh probably should have mentioned that it makes a difernce on how big the wetsuits is