bgbill
Registered
0
How many weights do you use?
- Thread starter orca
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
OK,
I'm a new diver but here's what I learned last week in G. Cayman (first "real" dives!) The North Wall by the way was intense! Hope this helps.......
I'm male weighing in @ 220 lbs. Some muscle, some flab
Cert. dives in cold freshwater quarry:
7 mil full wetsuit
7 mil hood
5 mil gloves
5 mil booties
Jet Fins (negative)
Rental Jacket style BC
28 lbs. on the belt, tried diving 24 lbs. but when down to 1000 psi I could not re-decend. Went back to 28#. The extra weight was needed for the hood, gloves, BC etc. Trim was horrible!
I decided to get the weight on my back and off the belt so I went out and got a FredT SS 9# backplate with his 2# STA's. There's 11# off the belt. I paired this up with an Oxycheq 45# wing (thank you SB!) and I'm sure I lost 2 or 3 lbs. "hidden" buoyancy going with the BP/W over the Jacket style. I did not get to dive this new rig yet in cold freshwater with same wetsuit etc. for direct comparison but will do so in the spring.
OK- Grand Cayman!
3 mil shortie (2# per mil so roughly 8# off the belt?)
Going fresh to salt (UP another 2#)
NO hood (some weight)
NO gloves (some weight)
NO jacket BC but 9# backplate, 2# STA's, Oxycheq 45# wing
Jet Fins
Rough calcs:
10% of 220# = 22#
- 11# rig = 11#
+ 2 Fw to Sw = 13#
- 2# hidden BC buoyancy = 11#
- 8# (7 mil to 3 mil = 4 mil x 2# = 8#
= 3# on the belt!
Almost forgot, diving Aluminum Tanks both instances. I'm guessing when I go back to my cold water config with a 10# P-Weight I'll be diving 5# on the belt. Or 15# with out the extra PWeight on the BP. Still, much better than 28#! So if I went with a steel tank I could actually dive this rig with NO weight and still be slightly heavy in seawater!
I wish I broke this out like this BEFORE I went to Cayman! I did some calcs using my freshwater 28# as a benchmark, wrong.....
I started out with 15# on the belt. WAY too much! To make a long story short my last 2 days I was diving 3# on the belt and using NO air in the wing, only lung volume! I attained neutral buoyancy throughout the dive! My hang was fine with 400-500 psi. When I was fine tuning I dropped my 6# belt at the line, did the dive with no weight and grabbed it on the way back up the line, a little light at 500 psi. (belt in my hand on the line so I was still diving no weight) Went back to 3#. Maybe a tweak of 1# in either direction but I'm there.
Thanks SB!
I'm a new diver but here's what I learned last week in G. Cayman (first "real" dives!) The North Wall by the way was intense! Hope this helps.......
I'm male weighing in @ 220 lbs. Some muscle, some flab
Cert. dives in cold freshwater quarry:
7 mil full wetsuit
7 mil hood
5 mil gloves
5 mil booties
Jet Fins (negative)
Rental Jacket style BC
28 lbs. on the belt, tried diving 24 lbs. but when down to 1000 psi I could not re-decend. Went back to 28#. The extra weight was needed for the hood, gloves, BC etc. Trim was horrible!
I decided to get the weight on my back and off the belt so I went out and got a FredT SS 9# backplate with his 2# STA's. There's 11# off the belt. I paired this up with an Oxycheq 45# wing (thank you SB!) and I'm sure I lost 2 or 3 lbs. "hidden" buoyancy going with the BP/W over the Jacket style. I did not get to dive this new rig yet in cold freshwater with same wetsuit etc. for direct comparison but will do so in the spring.
OK- Grand Cayman!
3 mil shortie (2# per mil so roughly 8# off the belt?)
Going fresh to salt (UP another 2#)
NO hood (some weight)
NO gloves (some weight)
NO jacket BC but 9# backplate, 2# STA's, Oxycheq 45# wing
Jet Fins
Rough calcs:
10% of 220# = 22#
- 11# rig = 11#
+ 2 Fw to Sw = 13#
- 2# hidden BC buoyancy = 11#
- 8# (7 mil to 3 mil = 4 mil x 2# = 8#
= 3# on the belt!
Almost forgot, diving Aluminum Tanks both instances. I'm guessing when I go back to my cold water config with a 10# P-Weight I'll be diving 5# on the belt. Or 15# with out the extra PWeight on the BP. Still, much better than 28#! So if I went with a steel tank I could actually dive this rig with NO weight and still be slightly heavy in seawater!
I wish I broke this out like this BEFORE I went to Cayman! I did some calcs using my freshwater 28# as a benchmark, wrong.....
I started out with 15# on the belt. WAY too much! To make a long story short my last 2 days I was diving 3# on the belt and using NO air in the wing, only lung volume! I attained neutral buoyancy throughout the dive! My hang was fine with 400-500 psi. When I was fine tuning I dropped my 6# belt at the line, did the dive with no weight and grabbed it on the way back up the line, a little light at 500 psi. (belt in my hand on the line so I was still diving no weight) Went back to 3#. Maybe a tweak of 1# in either direction but I'm there.
Thanks SB!
kingprawn
Contributor
I'm 6'6" 210lb.
Tropics:
1mil full suit
6lb of lead (counters the AL80)
Atlantic:
dry suit, single steel 120
16lb rig+lead
Tropics:
1mil full suit
6lb of lead (counters the AL80)
Atlantic:
dry suit, single steel 120
16lb rig+lead
RiverRat,
10% of body weight is a guestimate at a starting point using a full thickness wet suit. With a three mil that should probably be cut to 5%.
Again it's just a guess at a starting point. The weight really needed depends on the person, equipment and the water you're diving in.
10% of body weight is a guestimate at a starting point using a full thickness wet suit. With a three mil that should probably be cut to 5%.
Again it's just a guess at a starting point. The weight really needed depends on the person, equipment and the water you're diving in.
queentrigger
Guest
- Messages
- 56
- Reaction score
- 0
I used to own an Apollo Prestige. It was excellent; I didnt need ant weights to dive on a 60cu.ft tank. i weigh about 170 ibs. On a Zeagle, I need weights - abt 6ibs
3mm crushed drysuit, Pacific Northwest, Heavy Bare undersuit most of the year, regular al 80 tank. Male 180 34 lb in BC. There are all sorts of way to drop wieght (steel tanks etc.) but that what I normally use.
smrtblnddiver
Guest
In tropical water in a shorty, I use 8 lbs spread among the 4 pockets of my BC. However, 8 lbs was a little light for the full 3 mm I wore at night.
In cold water (the norm), in a shell drysuit with a thick undergarment and steel tanks, I wear 20lbs with my steel 85's and 18-19lbs with my steel 100 (haven't dove with it in a while actually so don't remember).
In cold water (the norm), in a shell drysuit with a thick undergarment and steel tanks, I wear 20lbs with my steel 85's and 18-19lbs with my steel 100 (haven't dove with it in a while actually so don't remember).
I've also noticed people wearing a lot of weight in the tropics, without a corresponding amount of exposure suit. Several of these people I know, and I pestered them about it years ago. Here's the answer i got.
Freedivers wear more weight than normal, as they need to get down rather quickly, and the breath they hold in has significant positive buoyancy. These people usually use the freediving weight belt when scuba diving, and don't go to the trouble of lightening it accordingly.
This makes sense when you see these people switch between scuba and snorkeling multiple times in one day. It's really not worth the hassle of futzing with the weight belt continuously, or having TWO weight belts. They're good enough divers to deal with the extra weight on scuba, needless to say.
As a caveat I also dive with excess weight when I'm with students, so that I can HOLD THEM DOWN.
Freedivers wear more weight than normal, as they need to get down rather quickly, and the breath they hold in has significant positive buoyancy. These people usually use the freediving weight belt when scuba diving, and don't go to the trouble of lightening it accordingly.
This makes sense when you see these people switch between scuba and snorkeling multiple times in one day. It's really not worth the hassle of futzing with the weight belt continuously, or having TWO weight belts. They're good enough divers to deal with the extra weight on scuba, needless to say.
As a caveat I also dive with excess weight when I'm with students, so that I can HOLD THEM DOWN.
Similar threads
