Weight Problems, I may not have enough

[scubadude223]

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to give me a hand with an issue I am having.

I have recently started using new dive Gear. I have been having an issue with my weights. I think I have enough compared with others, but, I do find myself even with the weight that I have starting to ascend when I breath in deeply or bump the bottom.


I currently am diving with:

6LB Stainless Steel BackPlate
6LB Single Tank Adaptor
Tank Trim pocket where I have put in two 2 1/2 LB Lead Weights for 4 1/2 in each trim pocket for a total of 9 LB total on the tanks
Ditch able Halcyon weights pockets where I have a 3 LB Soft Weight and a 2 1/2 LB Bullet Weigh in Each pocket (11LB Total) in the front pockets

The total weight that I have is 32 Pounds

I am Wearing a Trilaminate Drysuit
UnderGarmet
Aluminum Tank
Halcyon Backplate Single Tank

Am I doing anything wrong why I am having a difficult time staying on the bottom.


Thanks

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

Depending on the thickness of your undergarment and how much air you keep in your suit, 32lbs doesn't seem too far off. Most often weighting issues are resolved with relaxing in the water, proper use of the dry suit, and good trim. Have you taken a dry suit course or had an instructor in the water with you to help troubleshoot?

 

[scubadude223]

I weight 186 pounds and dive in cold salt water

 

[redacted]

Simple answer is to add a couple more pounds and see if that helps.

 

[Roman_66]

Just be aware that air going out from dry suit VERY-VERY slow, especially if you use thick undergarment.
Sometime when I going from 9m to 6m too fast, air is not leaving dry suit so fast and it is difficult to keep myself on 6m.
Try to ascend very slow with raised left arm.
First sign that no unnecessary air in dry suit is your feeling wringing out in around leg.
And of cause do once proper weight check at the end of the dive with all this equipment and mostly empty dry suit.

 

[KevinNM]

You should start to ascend when you breath in deeply. Not rocket to the surface ascend, but you should start to slowly drift up, and when you exhale deeply you should start to slowly sink.

Have you done a weight check with your current set of gear? How did you do that?

Once you get that set you should also check your buoyancy with the tank mostly empty like it is at the end of a dive, typically with something like 500 psi in the tank, and see if you can hover at 10 feet with an empty or nearly empty BC and no movement.

 

[TSandM]

As Kevin says, the only way to know for sure that you are properly weighted, is to do a formal weight check. But 32 pounds with an aluminum tank seems in a reasonable ballpark, although a lot depends on the undergarment you are using. I use 31 pounds of ballast with a steel tank, but I also use very thick undergarments, and I personally float like a cork.

However, if I am reading your original post correctly, the problem you are encountering is that, as you breathe in, you float up, and when you exhale, you bump the bottom? That's actually not a problem with underweighting, but it may be a problem with your breathing pattern. If you are taking very slow and very deep breaths, you are going to be experiencing a swing of about 5 to 7 pounds from inhale to exhale. This doesn't matter if your breathing is rhythmic, and you begin exhaling just as you begin to rise, and begin inhaling just as you begin to fall. But if you are holding full lungs too long, you WILL begin to go up. If you are OVERweighted, the air in your dry suit and wing will begin to expand immediately, and continue your ascent. That's why overweighted divers are so unstable in their buoyancy.

If you are underweighted, I would expect you to have a little difficulty descending (or to find yourself descending more slowly than your buddy), not to have too much trouble during the early part of the dive, but to have trouble staying down at the end. Problems you have at the beginning would be due to SEVERE underweighting (which I think is unlikely with the ballast you are using), overweighting (which is possible if you aren't using heavy undergarments), or problems with breathing pattern.

Do a formal weight check, because only that will give you an accurate starting point. And see if you can rent steel tanks -- aluminum in our waters is AWFUL.

 

[LowDrag]

Just for a comparison for you, with my White's Fusion Bullet, SS back plate (6 lbs), STA (~2.5 lbs), and a HP steel 119, I wear 38 lbs of weight distributed across my wing. I weigh in at 236 lbs and I am 6'2".