Weighty thoughts

[Warhammer]

Always glad to add to the confusion, Butch. LOL! And thanks.

 

[Se7en]

Originally posted by Lost Yooper

DIR says that one should be able to weight themselves in such a way that they are able to swim their gear up without the BC.

wet DIR divers in the warm waters of Florida, using relatively thin wet suits,

Redundant lift isn't the answer as far as DIR is concerned

LY
I started from the viewpoint that there is no significant difference between steel and AL tanks, and found it really depends upon brand.

In doing this, I looked at the compression of wetsuits - and realised that at 30m a Thick 7mm has lost around 15lbs of positive boyancy. (A thin - ie 3mm - is not really an issue as it is not that boyant to start with)That's irrespective of tank configuration. Early in a dive, the problem is worse, as the mass of air is also a concern (obviously the more air, the more weight...)

15lbs is a lot of weight to swim up unassisted. With my normal 100cuft tank, at the start of the dive I can add another 5+ lbs to that for the weight of the air.

This means that in my normal rec rig, if my BC were to fail, I'd be 20+lbs negative at 30m. That's a lot of weight to try and swim up - I've never tried it, but will have a go this weekend.

The situation would be the same in a drysuit. If both drysuit and BC were to fail, the diver would be negative to a similar amount. Actually, a flooded drysuit and empty BC would be worse, as you would be weighted to be neutral at the end of the dive, with a functioning (ie holding some air) drysuit. Again, I have no idea how hard this would be to swim up, and would be really interested if someone has actually tried it.

BTW - I also carry a 50 lbs lift bag on any deeper dive... and would be using that for boyancy before I tried to swim up while 20lbs negative...

ciao
Mike

 

[Lost Yooper]

I'll e-mail ya.

Mike