If we measured the diver's buoyancy, and their gear's, and their wetsuit's in the pool and all those items weights on the pool deck, and we did the math, how far off could we be? Drysuit in this case. And we had done this with 10 prior students.
Where in God's name did I state that the student's gear and exposure protection should be measured in a pool?
Did I not write how I performed the measures of the scuba kit using a rowboat? When is the last time you've seen a rowboat in a swimming pool? I'll concede that I wasn't as clear about the wetsuit using a mesh bag to contain it and then add weights to an attached weight bag to determine a rough estimation of its buoyancy (which I clearly stated would be a little high). Though now that I think about it, it would be interesting to try the buoyancy of the wetsuit in a pool and see how that works, as the lower density of fresh water would result in a lower number, how this would be offset by the higher number from it not being worn (stretched) and compressed (surface vs 15 feet) would be interesting.
The point is that this only needs to be done
ONCE per wetsuit (though wetsuits from the same manufacturer/size/thickness could be grouped together). Same with the scuba kit. Do it
ONCE with the largest and smallest BCD used at the shop, and use an average for everything in between (though I doubt it will differ by more than a pound).
The number for the scuba kit is spot on as that doesn't' change with depth. The number for the wetsuit determined in salt water will be a tad high. This will be slightly compensated from the measurement to get the student to sink in a pool, as it would be slightly higher in salt water. This should be addressed at the end of the first open water dive. OW2 should be dialed in
Now if the student is in a dry suit, then you don't have the same problem with students getting cold as you do dry suit. There's no excuse for not properly weighting a dry suit student other than laziness or ignorance. When i started teaching, all of our students were in dry suits, but we weighed them without their scuba kit and we were told by "our betters" that the scuba kit with a steel 80 at 500 psi would be neutral (it isn't as I determined later).
Don't you and
@tursiops realize that that I'm trying to address the reality that is industry wide? This isn't PADI specific. Sure, I'm attacking PADI here, but also SSI, NAUI, SDI, heck, even RAID for allowing students to be placed on their knees. This is an industry problem. Full stop.
That's the whole reason why I submitted a blog series on my way for teaching neutrally buoyant and trimmed. There are of course other ways of course. Probably better ways. The only thing that matters is that students have their weights distributed so that they are effortlessly horizontal and that they only have enough weight to keep them at their safety stop with nearly empty cylinder and empty wing/BCD. I don't care how all open water students all over the world get there, just that they do. Maybe I'm unaware of material that your agency provides students with specific advise on how to accomplish proper weighting (including trim). If that is the case, show me, as I'm always listening.
An instructor deals with this a hell of a lot more than I do on a regular basis, so what’s the excuse?
$50 max per student. That's only if the student gets certified (so there is incentive to not be too stringent). That's why they pack them in as much as they can. Get 2 assistants, and you have 12 people. That's $600 for (this is a rough guess for these classes) for 40 hours work (probably more hours). That's $15/hour. Subtract equipment expenses, insurance, wear and tear on your car, agency dues, and the compensation becomes much less.
Now if you have "only" 8 students in your class, that's $400, so $10/hour, minus the same expenses distributed throughout your courses.
Split a class with someone, so you get paid for fewer than 8 students, and you are working for less than minimum wage.
So that's the excuse. No incentive. The only people that go above and beyond don't care about compensation or have goals to open their own dive center. But I have heard more than once that putting in more effort just isn't worth their time due to the low pay.
I've always provided gear to students to compensate for what they received from the shop. From Apollo neck/wrist seals, to semi-dry gloves, to masks, to marigolds. I just tried to make their class as good as I could. Though I remember once class where I gave the student marigolds (pullover rubber gloves). The dry suit leaked really badly, and the only thing that was dry was his hands.
