Struggling with weighing and dry suit venting

[Jim Lapenta]

Depending on how deep you go and the fact that you have been having issues venting the suit, I would strongly suggest not using the suit to control your buoyancy. The more gas you add to the suit the more you will have to manage on the ascent. You only need enough gas in the suit to take the squeeze off.
A drysuit is not a BC. When I wrote the new SDI Drysuit course that was one of the key concepts of the course.
The fallacy that using the drysuit and the BC is too much task loading needs to go away.

 

[Patoux01]

Second that.

 

[WarrenZ]

One thing that I have noticed is that especially new divers always take a big deep breath right before deflating their bcd and starting their dive then when they decide to let it out they only seem to let out about half of their breath. It seems to be a human nature thing that you get over fairly rapidly if you dive a few times.

The other thing to keep in mind is that bubbles always go up so if your dump for any drysuit or bcd is below the bubble it wont vent I have verified this several times it hasnt changed since I learned that lesson in OW class and with several new divers since.

 

[andrewy]

first u must be sure you are NOT cold. once u cold all hell breaks loose.
second, work your drysuit ahead.. be pro-active. drop left right then legs, move air to torso..
make sure you DONT bend your knees raise your left hand (i assume u have standard valve on left shoulder)
drop your right hand .. how all air should be in you lef t hand, so flex your biceps and it be gone..
one thing to remember valves better be positioned face left or little up when u lay flat. many dry suit make valves face down and it traps air..
u may need to move valve back..
again this is for DIR style of diving, with open valve.
P.S. training does wanders..

 

[Doby45]

Depending on how deep you go and the fact that you have been having issues venting the suit, I would strongly suggest not using the suit to control your buoyancy. The more gas you add to the suit the more you will have to manage on the ascent. You only need enough gas in the suit to take the squeeze off.
A drysuit is not a BC. When I wrote the new SDI Drysuit course that was one of the key concepts of the course.
The fallacy that using the drysuit and the BC is too much task loading needs to go away.

Another reason I am glad to be on the SDI side of the house. I had read about how PADI likes to teach Drysuit and it is a mix of using the suit as a BC.

 

[diver42]

One thing I do when I put on the suit is to get into the water (slowly, if possible), letting the suit compress—first to my legs, then past my hips, then up my torso, and finally to my raised arms (raising your arms may help with mobility). Even an extremely well-fitting suit can end up fitting funny when compressed horizontally from the surface. This mostly prevents having to kneel, etc. It also makes putting on gear easier afterward.

 

[admikar]

Depending on how deep you go and the fact that you have been having issues venting the suit, I would strongly suggest not using the suit to control your buoyancy. The more gas you add to the suit the more you will have to manage on the ascent. You only need enough gas in the suit to take the squeeze off.
A drysuit is not a BC. When I wrote the new SDI Drysuit course that was one of the key concepts of the course.
The fallacy that using the drysuit and the BC is too much task loading needs to go away.

On my drysuit course I was told to use DS for buoyancy to reduce workload. Struggled for 10 minutes, then decided to go to BC for buoyancy and DS for squeeze. I got it right in 1 minute, only thing that needed to change is to abandon butt dumps, since air would transfer to my legs. When I raised inflator hose, put your elbow out and,voila, simultaneous vent from both BC and DS.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

On my drysuit course I was told to use DS for buoyancy to reduce workload. Struggled for 10 minutes, then decided to go to BC for buoyancy and DS for squeeze. I got it right in 1 minute, only thing that needed to change is to abandon butt dumps, since air would transfer to my legs. When I raised inflator hose, put your elbow out and,voila, simultaneous vent from both BC and DS.

That's how I was initially taught as well and soon found, like you, that not only is it more difficult since you have a bigger bubble to manage but the task or workload reduction is nonsense. You already manage two buoyancy control devices - your BC and your lungs. Adding another one is no big deal unless your initial instruction was not very good in the first place.

 

[Storker]

the task or workload reduction is nonsense. You already manage two buoyancy control devices - your BC and your lungs. Adding another one is no big deal unless your initial instruction was not very good in the first place.

I see this argument every once in a while and had even started buying into it since it's been a while and a couple of dives since I certified. I've started to forget how task loaded I was on those course dives and the few half dozen dives after my OWD. Then my youngest son certified. Standard run-of-the-mill PADI OWD with 6 OW dives. Taken in a DS as is standard up here. Taught using the BCD on the surface only, like PADI teaches.

We've had two dives together so far, and even if his progress during just two dives is amazing, I'll still wait a few more dives before I start encouraging him to use his BCD for main buoyancy control. He's still got more than enough to focus on without adding still another thing to control.

 

[admikar]

I see this argument every once in a while and had even started buying into it since it's been a while and a couple of dives since I certified. I've started to forget how task loaded I was on those course dives and the few half dozen dives after my OWD. Then my youngest son certified. Standard run-of-the-mill PADI OWD with 6 OW dives. Taken in a DS as is standard up here. Taught using the BCD on the surface only, like PADI teaches.

We've had two dives together so far, and even if his progress during just two dives is amazing, I'll still wait a few more dives before I start encouraging him to use his BCD for main buoyancy control. He's still got more than enough to focus on without adding still another thing to control.

Difference is, since no wetsuit,your son is taught not to use his BC for control from beginning and now he needs to change his ingrained training. My primary control was BC, so it was easier to fallback to controlling method I already know.