NEED HELP 120lb diver with steel 80 tank

[pacchill]

Are you talking about the "compact 80" like a PST or XSscuba (Worthington)... which to me looks a hell of a lot like a PST. It should be a HP. It is a about #9 heavy and the start and about #3 heavy at the end of the dive. You might try tank position. I know some pretty small people diving with these tanks. They all use SS BP, with Halcyon Pioneer wings, even with extra ballast that wing floats them. My Eclipse floats me with EXTRA weight and a HP100 PST. That is with NO wetsuit, or Drysuit and in pool..

I would not say to "add floats" and crap, get a thicker wetsuit if it is in fact too heavy. There has to be more to this. Even though the tank is steel, it's hella light. Or better than getting a more exposure... borrow a BP/W and try it out. SS or AL.
Have fun

 

[skynscuba]

I have no weight on. I have a good bc a scubapro Lady Hawk. I have very low body fat it says around 10 or 11% so i am very lean.

Do you know if there is any extra float things to add to help you add buoyancy?

If your BC is a back inflate one (I think it is), then it will not keep your face out of the water very well on the surface. I have to sort of lay back on the BC with mine. When swimming on the surface, I either snorkle, or swim on my back.

If you are diving without a wetsuit, you probably should not be using a steel tank. If you are diving in fresh water, that is even more true. Your steel tank is probably about 4 pounds less buoyant than an aluminum 80, assuming low pressure steel. If it is high pressure, it is maybe 7 pounds less buoyant.

Adding a wetsuit is not a total fix, either, since it will compress at depth and have less lift. If you have a BC failure at depth, with a full tank and no ditchable weights, you may have problems.

 

[WD8CDH]

If you are still negative with no weight at all, you need to add buoyancy. It's usually not reccomended to have your tank as the only ditchable weight. The worst way to add buoyancy is with a BC because it will change the most with depth and it is gone if your BC fails. Next choice is thicker wetsuit (or a vest under your wetsuit). The wetsuit material compresses less than air in a BC but it still compresses. That leaves either incompressable floats or a less negative tank. Deep sea submersables use incompressable floats.

 

[jefffalcone]

This seems very strange to me. The full tank is 9 or 10 pounds negative. Most people are slightly positive, or neutrally bouyant. Some claim to be negative, but I don't really believe them. Anyway, I have not heard of a BC with less than 20 Lbs of lift. Look up how much lift your BC has. If it is more than 10 Lbs (I suspect it is), you probably just need to relax and shift you weight backwards to keep your face out of the water. Adding more bouyancy will probably cause more problems than it solves.

 

[mfalco]

borrow a BP/W and try it out. SS or AL.
Have fun

And how would this help her problem?

 

[TSandM]

You don't tell us anything about where you are diving. The only place I can imagine you having the degree of difficulty you're talking about would be in sufficiently warm water that you were wearing no exposure protection at all. According to Rodale's review, the Ladyhawk is claimed by SP to have 34 lbs of lift, and their testing showed it was even more by a little. If your full tank is 9 pounds negative, and the BC is a couple of pounds positive (as most of them are) and you are wearing no exposure protection at all and no weight, you'd have to be more than 20 lbs negative to sink the BC. That's essentially impossible.

On the other hand, it is certainly possible that the BC is floating, but you aren't -- In other words, the BC isn't holding you up in the water because it's too loose around your body. This can happen to people with backplate and wing assemblies if they fail to fasten the crotch strap, so I would imagine it could happen with a Ladyhawk, too.

So try fastening the waist strap a lot tighter and see if it helps; if that's not enough, try rigging a sort of temporary crotch strap and see if that changes things.

 

[Reef]

My wife is 120 pounds, uses a Steel 100, and still has 8 pounds of lead in the BC. Her body fat index is in single digits.

I have a simple suggestion. Turn your BC upside down, and see if just maybe there is a few pounds of water in the bladder of the BC.

It happen to my wife, and yes it made a big difference.

Good luck!

 

[pescador775]

Reefwatcher, a woman of normal appearance and weight has about 25% body fat. Single digit body fat might be considered starvation, I'm not sure about that but I'm thinking Somalia. Maybe I don't understand what an index is. Are you talking about that deal where the height and weight are included in some calculation for an index? People are fatter and more buoyant than might be presumed on the face of it or as indicated by an index. The only exceptions are weightlifters or individuals with extremely heavy skeletons. However, most of those died out mysteriously 30,000 years ago. I guess I'm not sure what we're dealing with here but a Ladybug BC or whatever it's called should be plenty buoyant at over +30 lbs.

 

[TSandM]

You can find very low body fat percentages in women who run marathons and do other extremely high fitness sports. Body fat percentages that low, however, are often associated with hormone abnormalities.

 

[spectrum]

I have no weight on. I have a good bc a scubapro Lady Hawk. I have very low body fat it says around 10 or 11% so i am very lean.

Do you know if there is any extra float things to add to help you add buoyancy?

Are you sinking or is it planting your face in the water?

While the tank is negative and as a lean woman you may barely be a sinker I can't imagine how that BC would not keep you afloat. Needing to keep finning to avoid a face plant if you want your head up high and dry is entirely possible.

To alleviate the face plant inflate the BC less. I'd suggest wearing any lead further back on your body but it sounds like you have none.

BTW being lean is great but adding some meat to your profile may help others help you.

Pete