wetsuit buoyancy

[MT_Dweller]

Greetings all…I’m in the process of calculating the amount of lift I will need from a wing for a cold water bp&w setup. I called Tobin the other day, and the first thing he asked me was the buoyancy of my wetsuit (since I dive wet), I have an XL Aqualung Solafx 8/7 mm. Typically I would go to one of the training sessions run by my local shop at the community swimming pool, throw some weights on a belt, and toss in the pool to get the weight to sink the suit. Unfortunately the shop owner is on a trip, and they will not have the pool session for another two weeks….I have a large selection of weights for weight training, iron and bumper plates in all sizes down to .25 lb fractional plates. I also have a hot tub…so I took the wetsuit, rolled it into a tight ball and hung weights off of it till I sank the suit. I tried to get all air out of the suit, but with it tightly wrapped not sure if I got all of it out. It took about 32 lbs of weight to sink the suit (in 102 F fresh water)…does this seem like a lot of weight for an 8/7 suit? Should I hold off and check again in the pool with a loose suit and lead weights? Or does this sound in the right ball park? The suit is really stretchy and also has a pad on the back that could increase the buoyancy…

 

[tbone1004]

you didn't mention the size but it is possible it took that much especially if it is brand new. unroll it and put it in a mesh bag if you have one or one of the reusable shopping bags that should get a bit more air out of it. 25lbs should be closer to the ballpark but if it is a xxl suit it could very well take 32lbs

 

[MT_Dweller]

Its an XL size, and very new, only used on a couple dives, none to any real depth...I agree the 32 lbs sounded high

 

[NAM001]

Not at all my 3mm farmer john is 19#
Did tobin tell you how what and why he needed the numbers?

Sounds like you will be -25-10-7=-42 heavy at depth with full tank. That means about a 50# wing.

Greetings all…I’m in the process of calculating the amount of lift I will need from a wing for a cold water bp&w setup. I called Tobin the other day, and the first thing he asked me was the buoyancy of my wetsuit (since I dive wet), I have an XL Aqualung Solafx 8/7 mm. Typically I would go to one of the training sessions run by my local shop at the community swimming pool, throw some weights on a belt, and toss in the pool to get the weight to sink the suit. Unfortunately the shop owner is on a trip, and they will not have the pool session for another two weeks….I have a large selection of weights for weight training, iron and bumper plates in all sizes down to .25 lb fractional plates. I also have a hot tub…so I took the wetsuit, rolled it into a tight ball and hung weights off of it till I sank the suit. I tried to get all air out of the suit, but with it tightly wrapped not sure if I got all of it out. It took about 32 lbs of weight to sink the suit (in 102 F fresh water)…does this seem like a lot of weight for an 8/7 suit? Should I hold off and check again in the pool with a loose suit and lead weights? Or does this sound in the right ball park? The suit is really stretchy and also has a pad on the back that could increase the buoyancy…

 

[MT_Dweller]

Finally got to the pool to measure the bouyancy....took 26 lbs to sink it with no air in. I must have trapped a bunch in when I rolled it up to check in the hot tube