too heavy...or too light?

[Salty Diver]

I should of said that I guess...I was just assuming that he was using a ALM 80 tank.

I am just trying to make it as eay as I can for him.

You can breath for awhile with 300psi @ 10 feet.

Thank you for clearing that up....

 

[cummings66]

OK, so on dive #7 (2nd dive in cold salt water) I had 30# total- 18 on a weight belt and 12 in my integrated, with a 7mm FJ & jacket. I really noticed

I may be in left field here, but what you describe is a problem controlling your bouyancy and that is something you just need to dive more frequently in order to master. I.e. you've been certified since July of last year and are just now getting dive number 7 in. I'm sure in that time you've got rusty, so dive more.

What I'm saying is that what you describe happens quite often to new divers, i.e. you sometimes go up, sometimes down. All with the same weight. Without seeing you in action it's hard to judge what's wrong and if you can drop or add weight. The best that can be said has been, and that is to get your weighting correct by testing it at the beginning of a dive and then adding 5 or 6 lbs of lead to what it took to get neutral. You can refine it after the dive ends. You will do that nearly every dive you make by the way.

For myself, once I'm near 10 feet my wing has so little air in it a fly would sufficate, but I can hold the depth easily. If you have a lot of air in your wing at 10 feet I'd say you have too much weight. The trick is to keep on top of dumping the air as you ascend, you can't just wait and then do it or you'll find yourself coming up too fast and no way to stop if you wait too long.

That said, I don't think being heavy is your problem. I think you're waiting too long to react to the changes occuring and more diving is how you'll fix that.