proper weighting

[Les]

I am curious as to the proper weighting procedure that one uses to tell if needing more/less weight. I am getting a new rig and not sure how to tell for the first few dives how much weight to be bring. I have heard that one should be neutral with 500psi. Is that true? I am upgrading to a larger BC bladder and steel tanks with a weighted back plate.Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Les
The urge to submerge

 

[scubasean]

I am curious as to the proper weighting procedure that one uses to tell if needing more/less weight. I am getting a new rig and not sure how to tell for the first few dives how much weight to be bring. I have heard that one should be neutral with 500psi. Is that true? I am upgrading to a larger BC bladder and steel tanks with a weighted back plate.Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Les
The urge to submerge

You have it quite close...

I like to be roughly neutral at ten to fifteen feet with 500psi or so in your tank. I err on being a pound heavy, rather than a pound light.

Scubaboard has seen this subject a number of times...there is probably lots of info available which you can find using the search tool.

Good luck!

 

[OneBrightGator]

At the surface, with a full breath and 500 psi (or less) you should float at eye level. If you have a problem going down adding a pound or two shouldn't hurt, although keep in mind a full tank will add a few pounds too.

When balancing your weight between ditchable and non-ditchable, it's a good idea to use only enough ditchable weight to make yourself slightly buoyant at your heaviest point (i.e. with a full tank at depth, accounting for exposure suit compression).

Making yourself neutral at 15 ft. will leave you buoyant for your ascent from your safety stop, not a good place to be.

In all honesty, exact weighting is difficult and most people, myself included, never get it "spot on", but the closer you are the more enjoyable your diving will be.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Gator has it right, you want to be neutral at the surface not at 15 ft. With 300-500 psi in the tank and full lungs you should float about eye level and sink when you fully exhale.

I think where some of the confusion results with the neutral at 15 ft school of thought is that if you are floating at eye level at he surface with full lungs you will also be pretty close to neutral at 15 ft with full lungs.

The critical thing is that you want to be neutral all the way up from 15 ft so you can take at least 30-60 seconds to ascend that last 15 ft.

I also agree you want to err on the side of caution and being a 1/2 pound too negative is preferable to being a 1/2 pound too positive. Getting back to the ladder with 500 psi is a good practice, but not if you have to cut a safety stop short to do it. I'd prefer to make a longer stop and surface with maybe 200psi in the tank and you want t weight yourself accordingly.

 

[Les]

I am curious as to the proper weighting procedure that one uses to tell if needing more/less weight. I am getting a new rig and not sure how to tell for the first few dives how much weight to be bring. I have heard that one should be neutral with 500psi. Is that true? I am upgrading to a larger BC bladder and steel tanks with a weighted back plate.Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Les
The urge to submerge

Thanks everyone.Great feedback.I will try and let you know.
Thanks again

 

[Scubaguy62]

I tried the neutral at 15 fsw with 200 psi in my AL80 and I was slightly negative. Have not heard of floating at eye level with 500 psi or less in the tank, always heard about it with at full tank, but I guess I can try that. In theory, I don't see how you can sink with 500 psi or less in your tank. I believe your body mass might just displace too much water to allow sinking...guess I'll have to try it, so go ahead and say I'm from Missouri on that.

I can vouch, however, for what D A says about being neutral all the way from 15 fsw. I've seen divers get a case of the bends because they shot up from 15 fsw after a 3 min safety stop. It can, and it does happen. In fact ascending the last 15 feet should be the slowest ascent you do.

 

[herman]

Good advise here but one thing I see missing is to make sure you BC has ALL the air out of it when doing the weight check. I prefer to do them at the end of a dive when all the air has been forced out of my wetsuit.

The reason it's done with an almost empty tank it to account for the weight lost during the dive due to air usage. Properly weighted, you actually start a dive about 4 to 5 lbs overweighted and end the dive neutral with no air in your BC. If you set your weights based on a full tank, you end the dive 4 or 5 lbs light making a safety stop a pain. The 4 to 5 lbs is based on an 80 cf tank, larger tanks will have a bigger weight swing.