Weight Question

[Barnaby'sDad]

OP, I'm in roughly the same boat as you. 6'3" 330 lbs. I have a similar setup with 5mm wetsuit, boots, gloves, and hood. I need 20lbs in freshwater with that setup. Before I added the gloves and hood, I was at 18.

I used 24lbs of weight in brackish water and that worked for me. Salt water...I'm sure that I'd be looking at the 25-30 lb range that the above posted threw out there.

I just swapped out my soft back plate (BP/W) to a stainless steel back plate. I'm hoping to get to the pool this weekend to do a weight check and see how much I can take off the belt.

Good luck with your trip. I'll be headed down there next week...my first dive trip, as well.

 

[ScubaSquatch]

OP, I'm in roughly the same boat as you. 6'3" 330 lbs. I have a similar setup with 5mm wetsuit, boots, gloves, and hood. I need 20lbs in freshwater with that setup. Before I added the gloves and hood, I was at 18.

I used 24lbs of weight in brackish water and that worked for me. Salt water...I'm sure that I'd be looking at the 25-30 lb range that the above posted threw out there.

I just swapped out my soft back plate (BP/W) to a stainless steel back plate. I'm hoping to get to the pool this weekend to do a weight check and see how much I can take off the belt.

Good luck with your trip. I'll be headed down there next week...my first dive trip, as well.

Awesome! Thanks! Who are you diving with when you go down there?

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

Awesome! Thanks! Who are you diving with when you go down there?

My brother is bringing his boat. I'll be diving with him during most of my time down there. I'm curious to see how it goes...it's not a "dive" boat, but a boat that we'll be using to dive from. ex. Will probably have to do the remove gear in water, tie it up, and retrieve it once on the boat thing.

 

[The Chairman]

at the end of this month

I dove the Keys year round with no wetsuit. Most used a 3 mil and a few required a 5. So, be sure you need all of that neoprene before you go. Ask peeps in the Florida Forum the current temps.

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

I dove the Keys year round with no wetsuit. Most used a 3 mil and a few required a 5. So, be sure you need all of that neoprene before you go. Ask peeps in the Florida Forum the current temps.

Yup. I looked up the projected temperatures on the NOAA website a little while back. A good sized guy is most likely not going to NEED a 5mm. I'm just going to be wearing my 5mm because I don't otherwise have a need for a 3mm wetsuit and it'll be within my comfort range, temperature wise.

I got an awesome jellyfish sting when I was a kid (~30 years ago) that I have yet to forget. I'll be wearing a wetsuit of one thickness or another regardless of how warm the ocean gets.

FYI...the NOAA website is currently down due to the government shutdown. I was going to post up a link to the current and projected water temperatures for the area.

 

[Kimela]

@Barnaby'sDad - the amount of lead you'll need will decrease with the number of dive you add to your total. I would expect you'll need 25+ also. The folks at Rainbow Reef are great, but you're not likely to get much of an opportunity for a weight check (the kind you learned about in training) as everyone is getting into the water and descending pretty quickly. If you're underweighted there will be a DM with extra weight, but it's much less anxiety-provoking to have too much weight rather than too little at the beginning and end of a dive. You can always add air (and no, I'm not recommending using the BC as an elevator, just trying to take off some pressure to have it all exactly right).

Have fun. The Keys are great, and Rainbow Reef is a good operation.

 

[Esprise Me]

In my very limited experience so far I've found dive shop operators to be uncannily skilled at guessing how much weight I need. Doesn't obviate the need for a bouyancy check, of course, but I'd start with their estimate and go from there. You can also use a calculator like this one to ballpark it and then fine-tune once you're in the water: DiveBuddy
I find this gives me a bit more weight than I need, but maybe it's assuming a brand-new wetsuit instead of the battered old rentals I'm using.

 

[TMHeimer]

@Barnaby'sDad - the amount of lead you'll need will decrease with the number of dive you add to your total. I would expect you'll need 25+ also. The folks at Rainbow Reef are great, but you're not likely to get much of an opportunity for a weight check (the kind you learned about in training) as everyone is getting into the water and descending pretty quickly. If you're underweighted there will be a DM with extra weight, but it's much less anxiety-provoking to have too much weight rather than too little at the beginning and end of a dive. You can always add air (and no, I'm not recommending using the BC as an elevator, just trying to take off some pressure to have it all exactly right).

Have fun. The Keys are great, and Rainbow Reef is a good operation.

Agree with all except possibly dropping weight as you get more dives, which I have heard does normally happen. Not really the case with me. I did start with 42 pounds as a newbie and over 10 or so years was down to 37. But when I got a new (used) wetsuit went back to 42. 37 wasn't even close to enough to get me down. I figure it had to do with the old wetsuit losing "integrity". Who knows for sure.

 

[saxman242]

In my very limited experience so far I've found dive shop operators to be uncannily skilled at guessing how much weight I need. Doesn't obviate the need for a bouyancy check, of course, but I'd start with their estimate and go from there. You can also use a calculator like this one to ballpark it and then fine-tune once you're in the water: DiveBuddy
I find this gives me a bit more weight than I need, but maybe it's assuming a brand-new wetsuit instead of the battered old rentals I'm using.

I use an app called "Lead" on my phone as a quick reference, but it's the same idea as DiveBuddy as a weight calculator. I have found that I generally have to tell the app that I weigh less than I do to get the numbers to work out, but what I do in lead is input a known gear configuration and adjust my bodyweight until it outputs a weight requirement that is consistent with what I know I needed in that configuration. Then I adjust to a new gear configuration and look at what it suggests. In my experience, it'll get me fairly close.

 

[60plus]

My guess is you will need about 28 to 29 lbs lead. Good thing about your BCD is integrated weights. You can put 16 lb or so on your belt then quickly adjust your BCD weights at the surface immediately prior to the dive.