My wife won't sink

[tursiops]

You can literally dive when diving. Empty BC, dive head first, exhale and start kicking.

Why would you want to do this? Isn't that just asking for a problem at the safety stop?

 

[CycleCat]

It isn't a contest, she needs as much lead as she needs. If she still has a lot of gas in her BC at her safety stop then she can think about shedding some weight.

We have been doing the 500 PSI safety stop test and I think she is still over weighted. We probably need to do it some more to be sure.

 

[rick00001967]

some good advice here.

i will add to try getting in the water, pulling the neck away, and allowing the suit to get as wet as possible inside before gearing up.

i personally found when i started diving on vacation with a new 3mm, i needed extra weight the first dive and could shed it on the second. once i started making sure the suit was fully wet inside and out before gearing up, i had no issues.

i can tell you i used to dive once in awhile with a girl at home who always had to start a dive by going head first. she could empty her bcd, exhale, and would not sink. she never had any issues with safety stops. just needed to start her dive her way and she was fine after that.

 

[johndiver999]

women float a lot more than men. That does not sound like too much lead at all.

Another reality check is to put all that lead on a weight belt and have her snorkel with the wetsuit on - start in shallow water. See if that is close to working. If it is way too much lead, it should be pretty obvious, pretty quick. A very simple check.

 

[RobPNW]

Give more time at the surface for water to ingress and push air out of the wetsuit and BC, I've found this often causes problems with initial decent. Breathing normal will allow her to drop on each exhale and will keep her relaxed. Have her cross her ankles to prevent incidental fining. She'll get it figured out as you both dive more often.

If there’s no problem at the safety stop, this seems like the most logical answer.

 

[CuzzA]

Why would you want to do this? Isn't that just asking for a problem at the safety stop?

The op said she's over weight but can't get down. A 7 mil plus likely still holding trapped air before the dive seems like the issue to me is just an initial ascent technique.

Most divers go down feet first finning, have trapped air, breath and start deflating. I'd bet if she's properly weighted she just needs to change her ascent technique. Dive don't float.

 

[CycleCat]

Has she tried inverting on the surface and kicking down that first 10-15 feet while dumping from the rear OPV? It might just be a matter of getting down to the point where all that neoprene starts to compress.

I've thought about suggesting this technique but as @tursiops suggested, I would be concerned she can't hold a safety stop. I just realized we have not done the weight test with 500 PSI at the safety stop WITH THIS BCD. We did it with her Sirene and she was overweighted. My hunch is this SeaQuest Balance is less buoyant because it has less padding but maybe I'm wrong.

 

[scubadada]

It is actually pretty simple. You start off the dive about 5 pounds heavy, the weight of the air you will consume during your dive. You will initially need some gas in your BC to be neutral at the bottom. The proof of correct weighting is to be near neutral at the safety stop with your tank at the reserve volume and no gas in your BC. You also want to be able to make a nice, slow, controlled final ascent to the surface.

I have always found my butt dump the easiest way to get the air out of my BC, descent or ascent.

 

[also_anon_dc]

Has she tried inverting on the surface and kicking down that first 10-15 feet while dumping from the rear OPV?

This is what I (also a woman) have to do and I don't have any issues holding a safety stop.

 

[34109411]

I'm pretty sure she's not a witch. But she has struggled with getting underwater since the beginning. She's a 5'8" runner, about 130+/- pounds, fit, with little fat.

In a 7mm full suit, in fresh water she wears 14 pounds of lead and still struggles getting down that first ten feet underwater. She has worked on buoyancy, I've worked with her on it, we had buoyancy as one of our AOW specialties and spent an entire day working on it, she has continued to work with an instructor with it but still struggles. I on the other hand am 30 pounds overweight and submerge fine in a 5mm with 8# of lead. We'll put more on her because she is getting frustrated but I can't imagine she really needs it. All her instructors believe she has sufficient weight (or too much) and suggest she needs to relax and something about her stance is causing her to have a hard time getting down. Next time we go diving I'm going to see how much lead is required just to sink her wetsuit. Any tips on sinking a buoyant diver without overloading lead?

iam 6.2 230 pound full 7 mm boot, hodd etc. I currently use 12 pound, went down with 10 last dive.

Her problem is with breathing control. Must likely she inhale and exale continuously when going down. with her size i will say she doesn't need more than 10-12 max.

Also like another said a 7 mm is extremely buoyant. At the beginning of the dive you have air pocket all over the place. I always make sure i make a lot of water coming in my wetsuit before going down. I open the sleeve at my wirst and ankles.

So it s not s weight problem but. breathing problem. She need to focus to exaaaaaaaale !

Be safe