What's the deal with drysuits and ankle weights?

[Notso_Ken]

What's the deal? Is there some unwritten rule that drysuit diving requires ankle weights?

No, there isn't. It depends on you and your equipment. With my White's Drysuit, I cannot get large volumes of air into my shoes, so I cannot get into a run-away feet-first ascent to the top. So, the inversion issue is not an issue for me.

Also, my feet and fins are naturally negatively buoyant, so I actually could use some feet floaters to help my trim out! Instead, I keep shifting weight up further towards the shoulders.

Do what is right for you, not for somebody's rule of thumb.


Ken

 

[helimvee]

The divers from my former LDS almost all use ankle weights. With my current LDS, I have not seen a single diver using ankle weights.

Why? I don't know. Maybe because they focus on tech diving. Maybe they have a different philosophy when it comes to diving dry. Maybe they don't stock ankle weights.

Personally, I like my feet floating up as it make kicking easier.

I think that if your boots fill up like balloons you have way too much air in your suit or your boots are way too big.

As others have suggested, there are no absolutes. Try diving without them first and then if you feel that you must have them get a set. Remember, diving dry does feel different and it will likely take several dives before you really start to get a feel for what is going on.

Have fun

 

[VooDooGasMan]

paco, you now are in a dry world, you had to add more weight, to ad a little to the ankles is not that bad, are you weight intergrated, a dive belt, dive al, or steels.

I have 14 weight belts, four weight intergrated bc, two bp/w weight intergrated bc, and over a dozen non weight intergrated bc's and bp/w's. I have al 80's that weigh 41# and al 80's that weigh 36# when full, so naturally they are different when expelling them during a dive. and so on with steel tanks.

you will see there is lots of reasons to dive ankle weights! But hey dive how you want and you will adapt. I never dove with a bc until I hit the ocean, aint much current in the great lakes, a litlle under bridge and here and there, no up or down currents.

Happy Diving

 

[Paco II]

To be clear, I am not in any way anti-ankle weights. Who knows, I may end up using them. This thread is really about how surprised I was to find people telling me to 'just use them,' as if they were required gear when using drysuits.

paco, you now are in a dry world, you had to add more weight, to ad a little to the ankles is not that bad...

 

[Jorgy]

I am anti ankle weight......

Go the gym hold your arms in front of you until you get tried.....

The add 2 pounds and do the same.......

Check the difference it time.......

Adding weight ankle weight to overcome trim/technique issues is not the answer....

Just like gaiters are not the answer......

Just wait (no pun intended) until you have to fin hard (current, finning rig/tanks to surface like in out of air, tired diver tow) and decide if it makes sense to add weight to the end of a long lever......

Learn to dive with out them and you will be better off in the long run.....

M

 

[lowviz]

As indicated in other recent posts, I am a new drysuit diver (only 2 dives so far). On my first dive (part of DS cert), I was underweighted. I've since engaged a number of more experienced drysuit divers I know on topic of proper weighting and one thing that keeps coming up over and over is that I am told that I should use ankle weights. .........................What's the deal? Is there some unwritten rule that drysuit diving requires ankle weights?

If I were an instructor (not ever going to happen) I'd be tempted to put a newbie in ankle weights until they could deal with the creepy feeling of going bouyant and inverted.

As newscubamarketing said, this is all about avoiding inversion, not really trim in the traditional sense that we think of it. ..............

Yep.

Cavers and cave instructors tend to hate ankle weights as they wear you out. That is a lot of mass to kick around throughout your dive. Note that cavers don't really care about uncontrolled buoyant ascents.

OW instructors care about liability. I would too.

I had to hook my fingers around one of the platforms at Dutch Springs while my instructor inflated my suit and made me rotate backwards until my tanks slid down. Let go and recover. When you can do this well, you don't need ankle weights. If you have 'floaty feet' use a heavier fin like jetfins, if not, something lighter like slipstreams.

Bottom line:
I use my wings for inflation and actively avoid the 'inversion feeling' long before it becomes an issue.

 

[Paco II]

So the mass use of ankle weights in drysuit diving originates from liability concerns? :cool2:

 

[lowviz]

So the mass use of ankle weights in drysuit diving originates from liability concerns? :cool2:

Nice double entendre on my use of the word 'mass'. In spite of that, I'll answer you straight up:

Short answer, Yes. I believe that strapping on a pair of ankle weights shows 'due diligence'. Good thing to do when you alone have to keep track of more than a few rank novices...

 

[TSandM]

I used ankle weights when I first started diving (I certified in a dry suit). In retrospect, it was necessary because of a combination of things: I had positive fins; I had my weight poorly distributed, and I had no ability to "manage" the bubble in the suit.

I subsequently acquired more negative fins (Jets with spring straps) which provide SOME of the same balance the ankle weights were providing, but the net mass (former fins + weights versus current fins) is less. I balanced my equipment, and I learned to manage the bubble in the suit. I now run MUCH more gas in the suit than I used to, and have no need of ankle weights.

I see no difficulty with using them if your equipment configuration (tanks/weights/exposure protection) requires it, but there are other solutions. The shop where I got certified regarded ankle weights as part of normal procedure; the people with whom I went on to dive regarded them as a discardable crutch, and both were right in their own worlds.

 

[Cave Diver]

As indicated in other recent posts, I am a new drysuit diver (only 2 dives so far). On my first dive (part of DS cert), I was underweighted. I've since engaged a number of more experienced drysuit divers I know on topic of proper weighting and one thing that keeps coming up over and over is that I am told that I should use ankle weights. I've never used ankle weights as a wetsuit diver, and my preference right now is to explore proper weighting without ankle weights first, and see if it is something I actually need. I am amazed at how often I find my 'plan' dismissed and told that I should just start using ankle weights right away.

What's the deal? Is there some unwritten rule that drysuit diving requires ankle weights?

I don't wear them, nor do any of the considerable number of people I know who dive dry. Of course most of us are diving Jet Fins w/springs which are pretty negative.

I can only recall hearing of one very experienced person who couldnt trim out without using them and as I remember, I believe it was a fairly petite lady who didn't have the benefit of longer and larger body mass.

Edit - I see TSandM just posted about that.