Undersuit Buoyancy

[Mr Carcharodon]

I have had a drysuit for a couple months and am basically happy with it -- except that I have had to add about 9 pounds to stay neutral. So I was wondering how much weight people typically add for different undergarmet types. I have a 200 gram/m^2 thinsulate undergarmet, under a trilaminate drysuit (DUI TLS-350). I went to DUI demo days last year. The polartech undergarment seemed to cause less shift in buoyancy than thinsulate. Maybe plus 2 pounds.

 

[tedwhiteva]

Three suggestions -
Just as when you started diiving, you'll probably be able to use less as you gain experience with the suit.
Don't use the suit for buoyance control - put just enough air in to eliminate squeze, and use the BC for buyancy control.
Get a stainless steel BP

And enjoy being comfortable

 

[spectrum]

T
Get a stainless steel BP

Or put a 3 pound weight in each BC trim (back) pocket if you have them. This will also put 6 pounds over your lungs. This assumes that you are feet heavy and need to tip your nose down.

Pete

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

Three suggestions -
put just enough air in to eliminate squeze, and use the BC for buyancy control.
Get a stainless steel BP

I am trying to do the first, but my skills may well not be there yet. And I already have a 6 pound backplate.

What I was looking for was more quantitative information on the relative buoyancy of different undergarments. Sure adding more weight is one solution, but it would be better just to get an undergarment that did not have much inherent buoyancy. The manufacturers seem to be singularly uninformative in this regard. Really what I want to know in picking out dry suit insulation is relatively how warm I will be, and how it will shift my buoyancy. An undergarment that kept me warm but required only 1 pound of added weight would be much better than one that required adding 20 pounds.

 

[PaulChristenson]

I am trying to do the first, but my skills may well not be there yet. And I already have a 6 pound backplate.

What I was looking for was more quantitative information on the relative buoyancy of different undergarments. Sure adding more weight is one solution, but it would be better just to get an undergarment that did not have much inherent buoyancy. The manufacturers seem to be singularly uninformative in this regard. Really what I want to know in picking out dry suit insulation is relatively how warm I will be, and how it will shift my buoyancy. An undergarment that kept me warm but required only 1 pound of added weight would be much better than one that required adding 20 pounds.

You might be putting too much gas in your drysuit...

There are not enough details to give a coherent solution...what did your partners have to say??

Have you read ??
Drysuit Diving - A Guide to Diving Dry

You can get it from DUI...

Pau; in VT