Setting trim

[Kwbyron]

OK, I have a new rig I tried to dive and my trim was undiveable so heads down I went feet first from 10'... my thoughts, since it's hard to get this right in open water, I know what I need to sink myself, just not where to put it, so could I set trim in a pool where I can easily make adjustments and get it just right, but would be essentially over weighted(dive salt). Thoughts? anyone ever do this? I want to ditch the weight belt(one more thing to mess with) and I dove my rig fresh with 12 lbs(minus STA), and it was awesome, but this time I felt head down, so much so I called the dive. Here is my rig, see what y'all might suggest:
SS backplate-6lbs
STA-4lbs.
two pockets on lower cam straps with 6lbs each(12 total)
two pockets on waist strap with 4lbs each (8 total)

Old rig, which seemed to be just right was a Jacket BC or demo bp/w unweighted and 30lbs on the weight belt (evenly spaced 10lbs weights)

 

[JimC]

What kind of tank, and was it in the same place? Did you change your exposure protection?

 

[countryboy]

When I switched from a jacket to BP I dropped ~ 10 lbs from the total weight..

The jacket will be inherently buoyant (mine was ~ 4 lbs) and you are adding the weight of the plate and STA.

I am thinking you are overweight from the start.. If the exposure protection / tank are the same...

Start with a bare rig (no additional weight) and only add enough until you are neutral with an almost empty tank (400 - 500 psi).

Have fun!

 

[TSandM]

I suspect from your description that you may not be able to weight yourself in balance without a weight belt. You've got an awful lot of weight up high.

I haven't played with salt water weights in a pool, but I don't see any reason why you couldn't do that -- balance is balance.

 

[xiSkiGuy]

I agree with TSandM, you will probably need some weight on a weight belt for balance.

Another thing to consider is that depending on the type of tanks you are using, your trim may change throughout the dive as you consume air. My Catalina AL-80 doubles seem to get head heavy when they are getting low on air.

 

[Kwbyron]

I was diving an SS hp100(might have been 90) which is the usual tank I rent... I used a different drysuit(harvy laminanent instead of my moby bi-lam(i think it's 2 layers), but same undergarment configuration... I wonder if it was the drysuit, and just had air in my feet from the start....I've dove without the weightbelt before in my normal drysuit and it was great... maybe I'll try a gradual thing, move the weights off my lower camstrap down to my belt, that might make a difference.... I think I'll pool it though, I did that with the freshwater dive.... thanks for the tips!
..its' funny, I always read about people having "Floaty feet" and in my old rig, i used a little air in there to maintain trim, but now I see what they mean.... man it's frustrating.

 

[nwbrewer]

Kevin,

I think you need to try a weightbelt agian. From what I could tell, your weighted STA is putting a LOT of wieght up high on ya. See if you can get a weightbelt with some D-rings on it, and try moving around a few clip weights until your balance feels right.

Your wing wasn't overly full, so I don't think you were that overweighted. I believe your issue to mainly be weight placement. The last dive I did with you I had 10 pounds on my upper cam band and kept doing the same thing (feet up attitude), but not as bad. Moved it to the lower cambands for yesterday and my trim felt right. Same weight, just in a different spot. Take some weight off the BP, and try compensating the same amount of weight on some small clip weights and try moving it to different D-rings (Some on a weightbelt.)

Jake