To weight or not to weight

[cindycycle]

Thanks for posting this. I have about a dozen or so dives under my belt. I am having to work harder on buoyancy now because I am diving a small lake where I hover a lot in shallow water. It is great practice! And I agree I have been overweighted the last few times. Today I went down to 12 lbs. (from 16) and it seemed like a big improvement. Thanks for the tips!

 

[atrawick]

Great write-up! I read all 15 pages! Loads of info that has helped me out. I am a newbie too and have a weight problem myself. I am to lite and just heavy enough to descend. When I start getting close 1000 of air I find myself bumping all the air out of my bc and exhaling more than needed to stay down. Right now I have 18lds of weight on my belt for freshwater. I have a 5mm full wet suite. I have been thinking of going to a steel tank and dropping weight. I think 20lds of weight is to much to carry.

 

[drgaiger]

I think we need to improve our buoyancy with practice, I am newbie too and now I have 20lbs in my belt and for now I feel comfortable with that but I know that I need to less the weight slowly and get a better breathing control

 

[Jonathan Allyn]

wow, great thread. I have 16 dives logged now and my wife is getting certified this week before we head out to T&C. I am always working on proper weighting and got some really good suggestions here. Thanks for all the useful information!

 

[nhebrant]

Nice post dude! You def got the thinking there and it will pay off.

Did your instructor not show you how to do buoyancy check? After a dive with your reserve left (aprox 50 bar of air) take a normal breath (not deep) and empty all air from your BCD. With proper weighting you should end with the water at your eye level. If you go under means too much, if eyes and nose above the water than not enough.

If your adding extra weights to compensate for your breathing - VERY BAD HABIT!!! Weight yourself properly and go with buddy who's fine weight and buoyancy wise. Give him an extra weight that he can give back to you underwater in case (ask him to stay close also). This way you force yourself to manage your breathing and practice.

Ankle weights - IMO are not good - good luck trying to dump those quickly!

Finally if all else fails then do a Peak Performance Buoyancy Dive (PADI - not sure what other cert agencies call em) and spend time with an instructor coaching you.

Hope that helps - if you have any questions dont hesitate to ping me

rgds

Scuba Diving Thailand - PADI Courses & Certifications in English, French & Spanish
Scuba Diving Instructor Nicolas Hebrant | Scuba Diving Adventures & Photography

 

[Turtlesong]

Thanks for the insight. My first 3m in salt water was last weekend. I had used 12 pounds in fresh and was fine. I tried 14 pounds and could not get down, didn't think to do the horizontal. I went up to 16 and pushed myself down, once down I was ok. Someone on the boat suggested I try 18 and I had no problem getting down but sure felt it by adding air once I was down there.

Your post was helpful.

Will be Australia in a few weeks, wondering what weight I should try. May need my 7m too.

 

[abraunscheidel]

Hey Betty. Nice post. I am an inexperienced diver ~ 10 dives in fresh water. But, I love the sport already. Anyway, this past summer I took a river dive in a new 7 mil suit and really had trouble weighting properly. I had dove in 7 mil suits previously and had no trouble getting down (duck dive) with 12lbs. But, this time it was impossible to descend. Wondering if "new suits" take time to break-in? In other words, after some use, will this new suit require as much weight? Anyone?

 

[TSandM]

Yes, new neoprene is much floatier than well-used neoprene! That's why, when you get a new suit, it's important to do a formal weight check to make sure you are carrying enough. And over time, you will need less.

 

[thkhoo]

Betty (OP), good post! Very useful for all new divers.

As a new diver myself (certified about 6 months ago, ~40 dives so far), I've had the same concerns. I started out WAY overweighted, carrying something like 17lb of lead when I first did my Open Water (3mm full wetsuit, Al 80)!! I've got that down to 6lb of lead now (3mm full wetsuit, 0.5mm/2mm hooded vest, Al 80) and I've even done a few on 4lb but it gets a wee dodgy towards the very end of the dive.

I suspect a fair bit of that is due to my wetsuit getting less buoyant over time but also, learning to relax underwater has made a HUGE difference to my enjoyment of diving (plus my air consumption improved immeasurably).

The key to all of this was, of course, buoyancy control; Using breathing to control buoyancy instead of constantly inflating/deflating the BC. Unless I'm going deeper than 25m, I find I don't even need to inflate my BC (which makes me suspect I'm still overweighted somewhat?). And having now gone on a few rec dives with some Tec-divers, I'm more focused than ever on achieving good buoyancy control!

 

[Black Water Diver]

BettyRubble, well said and thought out. i am printing your thoughts off and using them on my students. You are correct on all accounts. As an instructor it is always important for us to remeber what it was like on our first days, or we will not be great instructors. I rember when i struggled and mostl because I forgot, it isn't a race, the rules are their we just need to use them.

Obviously you paid attention to remember all this informaiton this well. Good students make great instructors!