New wetsuit. How much weight?

[trailblazer1229]

I just purchased a new 2/3 wetsuit. My old is the same. Same make, NeoSport, different model, XSPAN.
I glued pockets on each thigh. I am not worried too much about the extra neoprene backing on the pockets, but my old suit was well...old.
I lost some of the material in the shoulders and I know I had lost some buoyancy in the suit.
Assuming my set up is the same and and I switched to the new suit, how much weight would one add? Would you add any weight as well for the pockets?
I currently dive with 13 lbs.
Al 80's, in salt.

( I have used the calculations recommended by PADI, but although primarily a benchmark for newer divers, I have found it not all that applicable currently when taking my load out (camera, smb, light, etc.) into consideration.)

 

[g1138]

I need a pound or two extra between my old 4/3 and my new 4/3 when doing a skin D&R at 8ft.
Without the extra pound I'm just a little too floaty for my liking.

My old 4/3 was a 2 year old surf suit that got crushed to about a 2mm suit by the end of it's life. It had 13 dives to 90ft over the summer, plus multiple school quarters of pool dives for Basic OW.
With a diving suit, I would expect it to be even less, since the neoprene rebounds better.

 

[261311]

Given it's essentially a copy of your old suit as claimed would it be cliche to just suggest jumping in the water and doing a weight check? Just come prepared to either ditch or add a couple weights- shouldn't take long because you should still be relatively close already. If your old suit was missing a bit of material you might need 1-2lbs just for your new suit. It really depends on how much material got sheered off from use of your old one, if it's just aesthetic you may not need any.

 

[trailblazer1229]

Given it's essentially a copy of your old suit as claimed would it be cliche to just suggest jumping in the water and doing a weight check? Just come prepared to either ditch or add a couple weights- shouldn't take long because you should still be relatively close already. If your old suit was missing a bit of material you might need 1-2lbs just for your new suit. It really depends on how much material got sheered off from use of your old one, if it's just aesthetic you may not need any.

I suppose I could/should do a weight check but we mostly do shore diving and it is quite a hike back up to the cars. If I have to add or ditch weight I don't want to leave them on the beach because that is the last I will see of them. Maybe I should just head out a bit early and do a check. Thought I would be lazy and try the board first.

 

[00wabbit]

Put your old suit in the bathtub and put weights on it until it sinks. Then do the same with your new suit. The difference should give you an idea of how much weight to add.

 

[Steve_C]

Simple suggestion. Since you had a weight you liked with the old suit, just add a couple of pounds. Do a dive. If at the end of the dive with used tank you think you were a tad heavy, then take off pound or two.

 

[TMHeimer]

Possibility: Take above advice and add a little more weight than you think you need. If you find you're working the LPI more than normally needed, drop a little weight the next time you dive. Each time do a weight check. I hear ya about not leaving anything on the shore. Last month I dropped a fin in current and had to do a search using one fin and put my dive flag on shore. 2 little girls took it way down the beach to play with it.

 

[spectrum]

I'd add 2 or 3 pounds and make a dive . Put the weight someplace accessible. Make a dive and do a weight check at the end in the shallows.

Pete

 

[261311]

You're a diver and you want to leave weight on the beach? Be inventive and bury it in a familiar location 10 feet down nothing overly wrong with being lazy, it's just that we can only estimate while only a weight check will actually "solve" this if you're looking for precision. There's no workable formula that suits everyone for calculating weight because each of us is different, even if it's in the slightest which will throw our buoyancy comparisons off.