Tropical diving: correct amount of weight versus trim (correct weight distribution)

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@wetb4igetinthewater, I appreciate your efforts to educate the people who may benefit from the discussion of proper distribution of weight. There are people who don't get it and double down on their not getting it.
Center of weight and center of buoyancy are physical concepts of diving. When the centers come together in a relaxed and neutral posture diving becomes effortless and magical.
 
@wetb4igetinthewater, I appreciate your efforts to educate the people who may benefit from the discussion of proper distribution of weight. There are people who don't get it and double down on their not getting it.
Center of weight and center of buoyancy are physical concepts of diving. When the centers come together in a relaxed and neutral posture diving becomes effortless and magical.
If everyone chimed in that they have no problems achieving trim in the configuration I described, I'd be questioning my own sanity.

Before I took GUE fundies, I thought my trim was great. I learned the hard way that I was wrong. And while my trim was spot on as a result of the class, I always question due to degradation of skills from not diving (my daugher is now 3 and my priority) whether I'm in trim when I think I am. Of course, I break trim to look at stuff, but when I fin across the bottom, I expect myself to be horizontal. However, I haven't forgotten my lack of awareness prior to fundies (note: it shouldn't have required this course to get those skills/awareness, but in my case it did), so I always question my abilities. I will always have doubts that are best shed by video work (which I will be doing again soon).

I can watch all sorts of videos from DIR folks with BP/W configurations. Those videos are great for divers. But they are not helpful with inexpensive jacket style BCDs with a single cylinder strap and no trim pockets, shorty/thin full length wetsuit. The moral of the story (for me) is to at least take some bungee, maybe even weight pouches, to move any weight I need farther up if there is a chance I dive. When I travel with my BP, the weight is much farther up. Ideally I would have had my titanium plate and STA with me, as it would have been probably all that I needed on the dives I did with an AL11. But we were traveling in Cuba with minimal luggage.

Diving with bent knee at 90 degrees is a given. Diving with extended arms when I want to take pictures isn't going to work. I get that many photographers plant their fin tips in the bottom when taking pics. I really don't like this practice. I will sacrifice sharpness for staying off the bottom. Keeping a minimal amount of air in my lungs isn't ideal either. I want to breath normally. While I certainly can dive with less gas in my lungs moving my center of mass towards my head, I like breathing normally and not thinking about it.

Years ago, I was in the pool and had read about Pete talking on SB of just using the lungs to descend/ascend. When I dialed in my weight to be able to sink to the bottom and rise to the surface (about 10-12 feet deep, not that much), it was an evrika (eureka) moment on how extensive the use of one's lungs can be for depth control.

I wasn't expecting a bickerfest to ensue here as I didn't feel that this was something all that controversial nor that I was missing anything big. So far no one has offered anything I that I didn't try while down there. I do want to turn this into a blog post that I will submit to SDI. As I said in my opening post: trim doesn't get the focus it should in open water. I think just discussing center of mass and center of displacement would be beneficial to students for understanding weight distribution and achieving better trim. The other videos have good points to share, but steer people towards BP&W which the industry by in large doesn't use in open water courses.

I do know one dive center in La Paz, Mexico, that only provides BP&W. I had a chat about this with the owner, and he said most people don't know the difference, so there is no resistance to using one. I hope to have the same success when I open my dive center in Greece, however I think I will be guiding more than teaching. So we will see.

I don't think I'm crazy, but crazy people generally don't think they are either.
 
when people use 18l steels with nx for a long cave dives with 1or more stages, the tanks go from very butt heavy to very butt light. That's a trim shift of several kg.
No, it's a reduction in the mass when that air is removed (breathed). Associated with that, however, is a reduction of lift as you vent the wing. Because of the close proximity of the wing and gas, the centers of mass and buoyancy retain their relative alignment in spite of the fact that they both shift.

(Incidentally, this is also why seahorse trim doesn't fix itself over the course of a dive. The *mis*alignment is retained.)
 
Have you tried lightening your lower half with thicker booties, neoprene wetsuit pants, more buoyant fins, or neoprene tech shorts?
 
No, it's a reduction in the mass when that air is removed (breathed). Associated with that, however, is a reduction of lift as you vent the wing. Because of the close proximity of the wing and gas, the centers of mass and buoyancy retain their relative alignment in spite of the fact that they both shift.

(Incidentally, this is also why seahorse trim doesn't fix itself over the course of the dive.)
It's not just a reduction of weight. It's really not
Have you used large steel tanks as doubles or in SM? An overfilled 18l steel tank is very butt heavy, and kind of like an AL80 gets butt light as you breath them down. You can clearly feel it, even on a single AL80.

Why would seahorse trim fix itself on the dive? That one is not really a trim issue.
In my experience the seahorseing is mostly due to people using too much weight, having more difficulties with buoyancy because of it and then they 'paddle' feet down to hold position.
I can't tell you how many times I had customers back in the day who told me they needed 8 kg or 10 kg (about 16 lbs to 20 lbs), when they really needed 3 oder 4 kg. I'll bet you that 9 out of 10 crap divers you see on a reef are carrying too much weight. I've worked in SE Asia, in Europe and in Africa... it's the same stuff you see over and over again.
 
Have you tried lightening your lower half with thicker booties, neoprene wetsuit pants, more buoyant fins, or neoprene tech shorts?
I could stop weightlifting and go for the chicken-legged look ideal for split fins.

The scenario I'm facing is using all rental equipment (except for mask & dive computer). If I'm using my own gear (SS BP&W + STA), 5 mil wetsuit, Deep 6 Eddy fins, I trim out nicely and don't need any additional weight.

All of what you mention certainly can help a diver trim out, but that would have to be their own gear. The places I went to in Cuba didn't have that.

EDIT: I just thought of something. They only had a couple (2) weight belts on the dive boat, but I wonder if I could have wrapped a weight belt with the 2 1-kg weights tightly at the top of the scuba cylinder. Too bad I'm not in Cuba to try it.

Remember, it's not stupid if it works! :wink:
 
However, I haven't forgotten my lack of awareness prior to fundies (note: it shouldn't have required this course to get those skills/awareness, but in my case it did), so I always question my abilities.
Yeah, I agree, a lot of people think their trim is great when it isn't. What I tell people, and I think it's a surefire way to check, and fix it, is to swimm over a platform or pool floor with an inch or so between the floor and their chest. If their trim is off they either hit their knees in the floor or can't keep their chest within a couple inches from the floor. It gives them direct feedback. IMHO that's better than looking at video some timer later. When do it over and over again they usually develop a good feeling for how it's supposed to feel to stay in trim with the knees up.
 
I could stop weightlifting and go for the chicken-legged look ideal for split fins.

The scenario I'm facing is using all rental equipment (except for mask & dive computer). If I'm using my own gear (SS BP&W + STA), 5 mil wetsuit, Deep 6 Eddy fins, I trim out nicely and don't need any additional weight.

All of what you mention certainly can help a diver trim out, but that would have to be their own gear. The places I went to in Cuba didn't have that.

EDIT: I just thought of something. They only had a couple (2) weight belts on the dive boat, but I wonder if I could have wrapped a weight belt with the 2 1-kg weights tightly at the top of the scuba cylinder. Too bad I'm not in Cuba to try it.

Remember, it's not stupid if it works! :wink:
It sucks you can't bring your own gear. I have worked on packing and can get everything in my carryon bags except for fins. Well not everything, but who needs clothes on a dive trip...
 
It sucks you can't bring your own gear. I have worked on packing and can get everything in my carryon bags except for fins. Well not everything, but who needs clothes on a dive trip...
Normally I do. This is the first time I've ever rented gear, and it was an eye opening experience. As I mentioned earlier, when I head to Panama next year, I'll do my best to bring my own gear, or at least bring bungee/weight pockets.
 
Using lungs to correct trim is not just about the volume of that gas but also about distribution. If you contract your ribs a bit and loosen your diaphragm you move a lot of the volume towards the bottom of your torso, thus making your shoulders denser. After a few dives of practice most people don't even notice doing it.
Centring the weights above your hips also helps as it moves the centre of mass ever higher , closer to the spine allowing more stability.

And true, due to my laziness my trim was not ideal, my knees would often be lower than my hips, making DIR photographers mad and ruining my chances of being the centrefold of GUE monthly, but not affecting drag in any way while in a single tank config. Such is the life of us with kyphosis.
 

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