Rimp
Contributor
I rented a drysuit on the weekend and my LDS estimated my weight requirements to be approximately 32 lbs. I hadn't dove dry in a while and had no idea what my weight should be. When I got in the water I discovered there was no way for me to submerge with this much weight, even with all the air out of my BC and suit.
My buddy managed to jam enough rocks into my BC pocket (at my suggestion) to get me under.. just barely. Once submerged it didn't seem to be a problem at all since i became negative as depth increased. The one thing we didn't consider was the effect of weight change as air was used from the tank.
I realize this was pretty stupid now..
At the same time, I had a problem with my Octopus that started freeflowing when I reached 50 feet or so.. This resulted in most of my air being expended from my tank very fast, making me positively buoyant and resulting in an uncontrolled ascent to the surface. At the time I thought it was a problem with my suit not venting fast enough, but on later reflection realized it was a problem with weight. Obviously I didn't check my weights correctly and took a huge risk diving with rocks in my pockets and full tanks.
I pulled my suit collar open halfway up the ascent to the surface to reduce the speed considerably, but I didn't have enough weight to remain under the water once my tank air reached a critical level. I had no problems as a result of the uncontrolled ascent luckily. We were in the water about 25 mins.
I did learn a valuable lesson though, so thought I would pass it on here for everyone to read.
When setting up weight for use with a drysuit, be sure to estimate using an empty tank, not a full one, and if your light on weight, don't just add enough to make you negative with a full tank, you need a few extra pounds to compensate.
I wonder what the weight differential is between a full tank and an empty one and how much extra weight is required to compensate?
Lesson learned.
My LDS has offered a free rental as a result of their weight estimation error. They are guessing now I should have gone out with 40 lbs instead of 32.
My buddy managed to jam enough rocks into my BC pocket (at my suggestion) to get me under.. just barely. Once submerged it didn't seem to be a problem at all since i became negative as depth increased. The one thing we didn't consider was the effect of weight change as air was used from the tank.
I realize this was pretty stupid now..
At the same time, I had a problem with my Octopus that started freeflowing when I reached 50 feet or so.. This resulted in most of my air being expended from my tank very fast, making me positively buoyant and resulting in an uncontrolled ascent to the surface. At the time I thought it was a problem with my suit not venting fast enough, but on later reflection realized it was a problem with weight. Obviously I didn't check my weights correctly and took a huge risk diving with rocks in my pockets and full tanks.
I pulled my suit collar open halfway up the ascent to the surface to reduce the speed considerably, but I didn't have enough weight to remain under the water once my tank air reached a critical level. I had no problems as a result of the uncontrolled ascent luckily. We were in the water about 25 mins.
I did learn a valuable lesson though, so thought I would pass it on here for everyone to read.
When setting up weight for use with a drysuit, be sure to estimate using an empty tank, not a full one, and if your light on weight, don't just add enough to make you negative with a full tank, you need a few extra pounds to compensate.
I wonder what the weight differential is between a full tank and an empty one and how much extra weight is required to compensate?
Lesson learned.
My LDS has offered a free rental as a result of their weight estimation error. They are guessing now I should have gone out with 40 lbs instead of 32.