How many weights do you use?

[orca]

Hi everyone

I would like to know how many weights you normally use when diving

I only dive in tropical water with a full 3mm wetsuit, and am using approximately 4lbs of weights (am using a aluminum backplate plus a 2lbs lead weight).

I'm a little surprised when I see a lot of divers (mainly non-Asian) using >20lbs in tropical waters often wearing just a 2~3mm shorty wetsuit.

Do you guys normally wear that many diving in cold water? I guess it has to be in order to compensate the thicker exposure suit you guys are using, but then, at tropical water

I'm too shy the divers I saw that are using that many weights for fear of offending them

 

[Zept]

I wear anything from 2kg (4lbs) to 6kg (12lbs), depending on whether I wearing a 3mm shortie (brr) or a 3mm vest under a 5mm fullsuit.

I have never seen anyone, Asian or otherwise, diving with more than 10kg (20lbs) of weight in tropical waters. Maybe you hang out with some really floaty people! Either that or some really paranoid instructors who are determined to get their students to the bottom.

Z

 

[orca]

I just returned from Phuket, and actually saw a european diver have on him at least 7~8 pieces of 1kg (2.2 lbs) weights on him while wearing only a shortie...

And has seen at numerous occasion divers wearing in excess of 7~8 lead weights ranging from 2 to 2.2 lbs :wacko:

 

[FredT]

Generally it's a symptom of bad buoyancy training and/or poor skills, although sometimes its simply a symptom of stupidity.

NOTE: Stupidity is for life, ignorance can sometimes be corrected.

FT

 

[donacheson]

orca once bubbled...
Hi everyone

I would like to know how many weights you normally use when diving

I only dive in tropical water with a full 3mm wetsuit, and am using approximately 4lbs of weights (am using a aluminum backplate plus a 2lbs lead weight).

I'm a little surprised when I see a lot of divers (mainly non-Asian) using >20lbs in tropical waters often wearing just a 2~3mm shorty wetsuit.

...

One should wear as little as possible - just enough to be neutral at 10 or 15 feet with an empty BC and a near-empty (say 300-500 psi) tank. As for myself, a 240 pounder, that takes about 16 pounds with a 3000 psi Al 80, about 13 pounds with a 3300 psi Al 80., when wearing a minimal wet suit.

 

[scubasean]

donacheson once bubbled...


One should wear as little as possible - just enough to be neutral at 10 or 15 feet with an empty BC and a near-empty (say 300-500 psi) tank. As for myself, a 240 pounder, that takes about 16 pounds with a 3000 psi Al 80, about 13 pounds with a 3300 psi Al 80., when wearing a minimal wet suit.

If you are neutral at 10-15 ft. with a tank that has 500psi, you'll have trouble holding a safety stop with 400 psi....

Seems to me that you'd be better off being neutral (floating horiz at roughly eye level), at the surface,with an empty BC and empty tank...

Folks have recently convinced me that the wetsuit compression will play a role in your scenario, as will the fact that you are neutral with more air in your tank than you might surface with...With less air, you will be lighter and thus possibly unable to stay down...

I wear 26 lbs in a 7mm henderson hyperstretch with a hooded vest....in cold saltwater...(Remember that you need to have folks state the water conditions they are weighted in)

So far, 26 lbs seems to be about right in my new TLS350 drysuit also. Not sure yet.

 

[dmdoug]

When I am trying to figure out what students should wear I ususally use 10% of their body weight plus 5 lbs for use with a 7mm suit in freshwater......

Male 180 lbs will wear approximately 23 lbs (18 +5).

Female 90 lbs will wear 14 lbs.

I have found in the past little while that when doing the buoyancy check quite often the students may only require an extra 2 or so pounds which I keep at the shore if they require it.

Safe diving,

 

[nyresq]

I use 4- 4lb bags and a 5lb in salt water.... in fresh, I loose one of the 4 pounders.

thats with steel doubles and a drysuit.

 

[SOUTH DEVON]

Well I'm using a massive 13 kg (28.6pound) and I only weigh 67 kg, but this is in cold water with a dry suit/under suit/ thick jumper/longsleeve vest/shorts/2 x fleece socks and I still felt a bit chilly after an hour!
oh the joys of diving in cold water!
I would say you're better off being overweighted than under though, I've tried using less but have to keep finning down as my take empties which is bloody hard work!!!!!

 

[redacted]

My 230 lb mass is 8 lb bouyant in SW, zero in FW.