No ditchable weight

[flots am]

are there any other concerns i should take into account with not having ditch able weights?

Only the obvious, that if you need to become positively buoyant by ditching weights, you can't.

This means that the last-ditch "I hope this works or I'm gonna die" weight ditching procedure is no longer possible.

What that means to you is your call.

OTOH, you could just put a couple of 2s or 3s on a weightbelt and call it a day.

flots

 

[phoenix31tt]

Ok no worries guys I did some dives over the weekend and good news, I seem to be trimmed with 4lbs on the waist, at worst I'll be good with 2lbs waist 2lbs tank so I'll always have some ditchable weight

 

[chrpai]

How are the water temps there? Would it make sense to wear a wetsuit? You are blessed with your body type but a thinner wetsuit would give you a little extra buoyancy at the surface and a few more lbs on your belt. Not much... you could still swim it up but if you ever had to you could ditch weight or your entire rig at the surface and be comfortably floaty.

 

[phoenix31tt]

Water temps are relatively warm no lower than 77, I wear a 3mm full with gloves and boots and I'm close to neutrally buoyant in my fully soaked wetsuit with no weight, I only really get cold on the 3rd dive of the day but only when its overcast.. So not sure I can increase wetsuit thickness

 

[chrpai]

I know Jamaican DMs that wear 3mil on every dive. Anyways just a thought.

 

[phoenix31tt]

I know Jamaican DMs that wear 3mil on every dive. Anyways just a thought.

not sure I follow, are u thinking to increase from a 3mil? Cuz I'm at 3mil now

 

[chrpai]

I'm not trying to suggest what you should or shouldn't do, I was just thinking through their thought process on their choices.

It sounds like what you are doing now works. But it also sounds that *maybe* you are concerned about having enough buoyancy at the surface and that you sometimes (frequently?) get cold after a third dive. You could consider a new or thicker 3mm (they aren't all the same) or even a 5mm.

There are trade off's off course. The annoyance of putting a suit on at the surface, having more weight so more air in your wing at depth and so on. The benefit would be warmer at the end of dives and if you for some reason got lost by a boat you'd be floaty and warm for hours.

Only you can list your issues in order of importance and then decide what, if anything, to do about it. Otherwise it sounds like your doing OK as is.

 

[phoenix31tt]

ah ok got ya...

yea i'll be more than floaty enough with a failed wing minus the 4lbs on the waist so may not have a problem there but i can only make that assessment after some more dives...

regarding the coldness after repetitive dives, it isn't that bad but a hood has been recommended (guys who use it here says it makes a huge difference) so i'll be looking into that

thanks for the thoughts!

 

[rongoodman]

Water temps are relatively warm no lower than 77, I wear a 3mm full with gloves and boots and I'm close to neutrally buoyant in my fully soaked wetsuit with no weight, I only really get cold on the 3rd dive of the day but only when its overcast.. So not sure I can increase wetsuit thickness

If you're getting cold on the third dive, it sounds like you need more exposure protection.

 

[chrpai]

regarding the coldness after repetitive dives, it isn't that bad but a hood has been recommended (guys who use it here says it makes a huge difference) so i'll be looking into that

Absolutely, it should have been said in your O/W course that 40% of your heat loss is through your blood rich head. I've dove with a hood on 99% of my dives and only remove it when the water is really, really warm. Lake Travis is frequently really cold below the thermocline and really warm above it. I wear my mask strap inside the hood and pull the hood back near the end of the dive when I need to cool off.