Need Weight advice... Im not normal

[7ftDiver]

I have my checkout dives this weekend and i was getting my equiptment together today (i know its just monday but im excited) i was wondering if anyone has a suggestion on how much weight i might need. I had asked my instructor and others at my LDS but im kind of abnormal. Im 7ft tall and weigh about 320lbs. To further complicate the situation i live on Long island NY so ill be using a 7mm suit, gloves, and hood. I used 30 lbs in the pool with my 7mm suit, so i know ill need more...... but how much more? any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[PerroneFord]

I think the ratio is that you use 3-4% more weight in salt water...

 

[carbon]

I used 30 lbs in the pool with my 7mm suit, so i know ill need more...... but how much more? any advice is greatly appreciated.

Hello 7ftDiver,

There are some general recommendations. For a 7mm wetsuit with an aluminum tank in salt water, start with 10% of your body weight plus 3 to 5 pounds. For you this comes to 35 to 37 pounds.

Of course, this number needs adjustment for your individual characteristics. You can also try a buoyancy check at the beginning of your dive. That is float at eye level, with no air in your BC, while holding a normal breath, and then add more weight to compensate for the amount of air you will breathe during the dive (approximately 5 or 6 pounds).

Here's another check, at the end of the dive, see if you need more or less weight to hang at your safety stop with your BC empty.

Carbon

 

[Charlie99]

Im 7ft tall and weigh about 320lbs. To further complicate the situation i live on Long island NY so ill be using a 7mm suit, gloves, and hood. I used 30 lbs in the pool with my 7mm suit, so i know ill need more......

Saltwater is 2.5-3% more dense than freshwater, so take your TOTAL dive weight (you, tank, gear) and add 3% of that weight.

Gear and tank are about 60 pounds, so you should be adding about 11 pounds when using the same wetsuit.

This assumes that your weighting in the pool was correct towards the end of the tank, and that you will also be using the same type of tank in the ocean.

 

[Scubagalpnw]

Up here in the Pacific Northwest our gerneral rule of thumb for salt water and 7mil wetsuits is 10% of your body weight plus 15lbs. That usually gets most students really close with some minor tweaking in some cases, but only by 1 or 2 pounds.

 

[Charlie99]

Up here in the Pacific Northwest our gerneral rule of thumb for salt water and 7mil wetsuits is 10% of your body weight plus 15lbs. That usually gets most students really close with some minor tweaking in some cases, but only by 1 or 2 pounds.

Independent of what tank you use?

The original poster has tried the 7mil in the pool, so he does have a starting point, and just needs to account for fresh to salt conversion.

 

[ChrisA]

I have my checkout dives this weekend and i was getting my equiptment together today (i know its just monday but im excited) i was wondering if anyone has a suggestion on how much weight i might need. I had asked my instructor and others at my LDS but im kind of abnormal. Im 7ft tall and weigh about 320lbs. To further complicate the situation i live on Long island NY so ill be using a 7mm suit, gloves, and hood. I used 30 lbs in the pool with my 7mm suit, so i know ill need more...... but how much more? any advice is greatly appreciated.

10% of body weight plus about 5 pounds is a good startting point. So with you that would be 37 pounds. Beginners sometimes have trouble getting underwater when properly weighted so instructors will may times have students carry extra weight. try 40 lbs for starts
One of the things you will do on the first dive is a "weight check". You might want to bring an extra five pounds for the first dive. Being over weighted is not so bad. You can take off weight two pounds each dive untill you get it right Much better to be over weighted and take two off every could dives then to be under weighted and forced to the surface as your tanks gets lighter.

At your size I suspect you will be looking at a large sized steel tank. These are negative underwater even when empty an let you take 5 pounds off your belt so you'd be at about 32
pounds of lead but you can't know untill you hve done a few dives and get past the begginer stage.

 

[Scubagalpnw]

"Independent of what tank you use?"

That would be using a 7mil wetsuit with a 7mil jacket over the top and an alumimum 80 for the tank. If you don't have a jacket on over the top then you can probably shed 4-5 lbs. That would put you a approx. 42-43 lbs to start. That will be a little bit on the heavy side at first but as you get a few dives under your belt you will be able to drop a pound here and a pound there.

The very first thing you should be doing once you get to the open water is a weight check. You will be able to make minor adjustments at that point to fine tune your starting weight.

 

[divetahoe]

I have my checkout dives this weekend and i was getting my equiptment together today (i know its just monday but im excited) i was wondering if anyone has a suggestion on how much weight i might need. I had asked my instructor and others at my LDS but im kind of abnormal. Im 7ft tall and weigh about 320lbs. To further complicate the situation i live on Long island NY so ill be using a 7mm suit, gloves, and hood. I used 30 lbs in the pool with my 7mm suit, so i know ill need more...... but how much more? any advice is greatly appreciated.

I've found that 12-15% of body weight is usual, unless the student is unusually dense (pun intended!) Students - at least initially - will hold a reserve of air in the lungs making a little more weight necessary. Soon, often even after the first OW dive, they have relaxed a bit, a fair amount of weight is shed. Looking back at my log book, I see that my first OW dive I used 22 pounds with an 80AL tank. Now I use 10 with a 72Steel. Training and comfort changed it all.

I'm curious, where did you find a wetsuit that fits? I'd imagine you had it custom ordered long before you started your classes... Hate to be your partner in the DM classes doing the long tired diver tow...