buoyancy characteristics of hard sole boots

[Dave_lucas]

Hi All,

Looking for some hard sole boots for my wife and I for warm water shore diving on ironshore and was wondering about the buoyancy of different brands.

Are some brands / models more or less buoyant than others? I am trying to avoid wasting money on purchasing ones that are positively buoyant for my wife (more so than her current booties) since she has floaty feet and we are starting to get her trim dialed in.

Basically do not want to waste money like we did with her first set of fins to just buy something else and some of the boots look like they would float like balloons.

Her current booties
Superzip Ergo Elite

Looking at the following but open to others as well.


Bare 3mm HD tropic boot
Dive - Products - Accessories - Boots - 3mm HD Tropic Boot

Akona 3.5 mm low cut molded sole boot
Akona Adventure Gear | BOOTS | 3.5mm Low-Cut Molded Sole Boot

Seasoft sunray
SEASOFT SUNRAY? 3 mm Half Top Booties - Booties

 

[TONY CHANEY]

Just a few thoughts...if diving on coral reef (i.e. Okinawa) stay away from rubber sole booties. You will bust you ars. The felt bottom soles work best and I have never had an urchin spine get thru them. Converse High tops cost less and have do not float but if diving wet, no thermal protection. OBTW, they come in great colors. There are threads on here about them.

 

[uncfnp]

But if you are thinking of the ironshore of Bonaire you are on the right track. I honestly can't give buoyancy statics of the various shoes but I can almost guarantee she will not notice much difference in trim between her current shoes and the ones you linked. As you have noticed, fins and weight distribution will impact her more as well changes in exposure protection.

The Seasoft boots have a very good reputation. And I love my Mares Trilastic Boots.

Mares Trilastic 5mm Dive Boots

One word of warning though. The thicker soles may or may not fit the foot pocket of your current fins.

 

[decompression]

There could be more of a weight, tank placement issue than a mere 1 or 2 lbs of buoyancy of a 3mm booty. It's not as fun as buying new gear but I'd suggest some dive time to try some things. Women do tend to be feet light, so certainly avoid thick booties (as you know), I love Chuck Taylor's, get the trim weights low as possible, a more neg fin, even a cam band with a 4# weight on the bottom of a tank can help.

Best of luck.


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[uncfnp]

There could be more of a weight, tank placement issue than a mere 1 or 2 lbs of buoyancy of a 3mm booty. It's not as fun as buying new gear but I'd suggest some dive time to try some things. Women do tend to be feet light, so certainly avoid thick booties (as you know), I love Chuck Taylor's, get the trim weights low as possible, a more neg fin, even a cam band with a 4# weight on the bottom of a tank can help.

Best of luck.


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Her current boots linked are 5mm high tops. The proposed new boots are 3 and mostly low tops. I really don't expect them to notice an difference between the brands.

 

[Dave_lucas]

Thanks for the info.

We have her trim pretty well sorted just trying to do my research and not waste money on something to find out that there was a different product that would have been a better fit.