Weighting without my wetsuit

[Dhboner]

Hi guys,

I am making my first trip to tropical water in January (Punta Cana). It's not a dive trip (30th wedding anniversary) buit I do plan on making a couple of dives while I am there.

I have my buoyancy nailed in fresh water in my 7mm wetsuit (with hood and gloves). I use a total of 22 lbs. I am 5' 9" tall and around 178 lbs (pretty fit so low body fat).

Can anyone offer a starting point for a shorty westsuit in salt water.

Thanks

Bob

 

[SkimFisher]

I've been told that it's 1lb of lead per 1mil of neoprene. Given that it's a shorty you'll be wearing you can probably shave off a tad more and go from there. I'm assuming you don't need help with subtraction.

The starting point for fresh-to-salt is an additional 2.5% of your body weight (some say it should be 2.5% of your total weight - dive gear and all). So, just using your body weight, you would add 5lbs for salt in your 7mm setup. So start at 27lbs and work down from there for the shorty/salt setup.

You'll probably end up diving with much less after a proper check. These guesstimations/formulas usually always end with you being overweighted.

 

[Garrobo]

I'm 5'9" and 180# with some body fat. In salt water I use 14 pounds of lead with a 2mm shorty, 80 AL tank, no hood or booties and neutral fins. At this rate I sometimes have a problem staying down during either a mid-water safety stop or towards the end of diving a shallow reef. No bigee but annoying.