How much weight is too much?

[BelchFire]

I've been away from diving for about 12 years and in the interim, many things have changes. If having to add stick-on bi-focals to my mask wasn't enough, I had to buy a new wetsuit; somehow, the old one shrank just hanging in the closet :-0

I used to dive with 14 pounds, but I did a short weight test in a FL spring and found that with a 5mm 2-piece, I needed much more than that to get off the surface. I've also gained about 10 or 15 pounds, so I should expect more. All in all, I'm now diving with 20 pounds, but that seems like an awful lot to me.

I'm about 185 now, with a 5mm 2-piece, and an AL 80. I did the tests with the tank full since I didn't empty the tank on any of the dives.

20 pounds sure seems like an awful lot, is that too much?

 

[Scuba Smitty]

well im 200 pounds i use al 80s and with a 3/2 wetsuit i use 16 pounds but im not sure muscle to fat thingy im at the gym everyday and pretty packed on with muscle

 

[eponym]

A new five-over-five (size XL?) plus boots, hood, and gloves probably provides at least fifteen pounds of buoyancy. So maybe it's not too much, nothing to worry about. See whether your needed weight drops after a couple dozen dives.
-Bryan

 

[The Chairman]

You sound within the norm for the suit you describe. If you are comfortable with it, then cool!

 

[Garrobo]

Try a couple pounds less and either go down on a line or flip over and fin down. It seems like as you decend you need less weight. This could also cause a problem when trying to maintain your position during a deco stop near the surface if you are too light. I had this problem when trying to drop some weight.

 

[Brian Sharpe]

I'm somewhere between 220 and 225 , with a 7mm suit I needed 22lbs (in fresh water) for my OW cert dives. I've been told this should decrease as I gain experience and have more control over my breathing/buoyancy.

 

[Teamcasa]

Sometime we obsess over the amount of weight we carry. So much of your natural body buoyancy is based on your own body type, not just your height and weight. With suits, gear and tanks one can calculate buoyancy accurately but not so with body types.

Besides, there really is no problem diving a little heavy but there can be problems if you are diving light. Start heavy, practice and begin to adjust your weight as needed. Don’t concern yourself with who much or how little others use. Dive and have fun.

 

[BlueC5Kitten]

Sometime we obsess over the amount of weight we carry. So much of your natural body buoyancy is based on your own body type, not just your height and weight. With suits, gear and tanks one can calculate buoyancy accurately but not so with body types.

As a rule of thumb, you may also want to perform a bouyancy test on yourself in the ocean/pool/lake/river/quarry without any gear...to find out where you natural bouyancy lies. I have found that I am neutrally bouyant (eyes at water surface level with exhalation) without the wetsuit, etc in the pool...everyone is more bouyant in saltwater than freshwater. Just dive the weight that will allow you to be negatively bouyant, and you can compensate with positive bouyancy in your BC, if needs be!

 

[BelchFire]

Don’t concern yourself with who much or how little others use. Dive and have fun.

Now that sounds like the best advice ever. I'm very conscious of the proficiency that I display and bagging in a whole lot of excess weight looks like I really don't know what I'm doing. Of course, I've gained a lot of weight since I left diving, but I was using a 5 over 5 then too, but only needed 14 pounds.

I'm happy just to get back into the water, so 20 pounds it is! Thanks everyone for your candid advice and encouragement. ScubaBoard rocks!

 

[TSandM]

Yeah, you need what you need!

When I took my GUE Fundamentals class, the instructor was talking about weighting, and how many people dive seriously overweighted. He looked at me (5'4", 120) and said, "I've seen women your size diving with THIRTY POUNDS of weight!" I replied, "Well, that's just about what I'm using," and he said, "We'll fix that tomorrow."

Well, tomorrow we did a formal weight check, and you know what? He couldn't take any weight off me AT ALL! With the undergarments I use to stay warm, and my own personal buoyancy, I really NEED that much weight to dive properly and safely.

So, to answer your question about how much weight is too much, it's more weight than you need. There is no other answer!