Surface Buoyancy

[jaymal]

I am interested in the mobility of the Fusion dry suit but am curious as to how buoyant it is at the surface. I like to kayak dive but am often very cold toward the end of the dive and usually cut the dive short long before my air goes low. The Fusion offers me the mobility to paddle the kayak and the front zipper makes it easier to zip up from a sitting position. This means I can leave the dry suit unzipped for ventilation while paddling.

The problem is once I get to the dive site I lift the B/P & Wing into the water, don the rest of the gear and gut my weight belt on. Then slide into the water. Currently I wear 6lbs of weight on my wetsuit. I won't sink with this amount of weight but it is enough once I get the B/P & Wing on.

I have been told that I might need 4lbs of weight for the drysuit. Will I still float on the surface in the Fusion with 10 lbs of lead? I don't want to be struggling to remain on the surface while I get the rest of the gear on.

Thanks!

Jeremy

 

[DA Aquamaster]

The end result with either suit is the same - neutral buoyancy. If you are weighted so that you are neutral in the water with all your stuff on in your current suit, the Fusion will provide exactly the smae amount of surface buoyancy when you are wearing the weaight required to be neutral in all the rst of your gear as the negative buoyancy of your other gear is unchanged.

Also an advantage with any dry suit is that you an close the dump valve and add air to increase buoyancy.

 

[jaymal]

I am not neutrally buoyant at the surface in just the wetsuit. Nor do I want to be. Same with the drysuit. I do not want to be neutrally buoyant at the surface if I were just in the dry suit.

What I really don't want to be doing is expending energy kicking at the surface while I get the BC on. Once I have the BC on it doesn't matter. The bladder will keep me afloat.

All I really need to know is how buoyant the dry suit is at the surface.

And yes, I realize I can pump air into the dry suit but I am thinking more about the stage before I get the BC on and the hose hooked to the dry suit.

Thanks!

Jeremy

 

[WHITES Justin]

Hi Jeremy,

The Fusion itself is constructed of a 200 weight, military grade Bi-Lam material with a 1mm neoprene skin in the Tech version. The suit itself is not overly buoyant, and you will find that the biggest changes in the buoyancy properties comes from the style of undergarments that you wear underneath.

For example, divers who upgrades to the MK3 undergarment from the MK2 generally adds another 4-6lbs of weight to offset the incresed buoyancy of the thicker MK3. So the style of undergarment that you wear is going to affect your buoyancy.

Neutral buoyancy at the surface with all your scuba gear on is what you should strive for as the previous person suggested. If you are neutrally buoyant and float at eye level while holding a normal breath with an empty BCD and all your gear on, you should find yourself more buoyant in the water with just your Fusion and weight belt on. I say this becasue it takes the added weight of your back plate to make you neutrally buoyant if you set your weighting for neutral buoyancy with your back plate on.

Cheers,

 

[DA Aquamaster]

You are missing the point. If you are currently neutrally buoyant with everything on in what ever sut you currently wear and are positively bouyant in what ever suit you wear and your weight belt, you can add whatever weight is needed with the Fusion and be just as buoyant at the surface, since that positive buoyancy is = to the negative buoyancy of the rest of your stuff attached to the tank/BC.

In other words, if the Fusion needs 4 more pounds to achieve the same degree of positive buoyancy you have in your current suit with 6 lbs of weight, it is still exactly the same degree of positve bouyancy you have now.

The only thing you have to figure out is how much weight you need to be neutral with all your other stuff on, just like in your other suit - the actual amount of weight requires does not matter a bit as long as you do a bouyancy check to ensure you are properly weighted.