I, too, would be feet-heavy with an Al 80 if I placed my 4 lbs. of lead any lower than the upper camband. I don't think it's so unusual. When working out my optimal trim, my instructor had me put the 4 lbs. on my upper camband. Voila.
Trim
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I, too, would be feet-heavy with an Al 80 if I placed my 4 lbs. of lead any lower than the upper camband. I don't think it's so unusual. When working out my optimal trim, my instructor had me put the 4 lbs. on my upper camband. Voila.
I have to ask this..
What water are you diving in (salt or fresh), and what thermal protection are you wearing that you feel you need 4# of lead while using a stainless steel backplate?
I'm betting the weight on your hips is part of the problem, but I'm not entirely sure you need weight on your hips.
You can see that there are a lot of variables. Body posture is the central one, because you can cause yourself to rotate a surprising amount just by changing that.
The best way to get information is to get in the water with a buddy, and have the buddy give you feedback on your posture until you are horizontal with your body flat from shoulders to knees (even if you are swimming a little to do it). Once you have gotten there, stop, and see which way you rotate. Sometimes the results of this test are surprising and counterintuitive.
If you do not want to dive with your body flat, you may or may not be able to move the small amount of weight you are using enough to trim you out -- bending at the hips really makes it difficult.
The best way to get information is to get in the water with a buddy, and have the buddy give you feedback on your posture until you are horizontal with your body flat from shoulders to knees (even if you are swimming a little to do it). Once you have gotten there, stop, and see which way you rotate. Sometimes the results of this test are surprising and counterintuitive.
If you do not want to dive with your body flat, you may or may not be able to move the small amount of weight you are using enough to trim you out -- bending at the hips really makes it difficult.
OP
hedgehog47
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hands out in front of you doesn't necessarily mean far in front of you, but they should be up by your arm pits. I generally dive with my arms crossed, hands in arm pits.
Make sure your waist strap is down to where the bottom of the waist strap is on top of your belt line. With the venture wing it will get the lift down low and help
Make sure your waist strap is down to where the bottom of the waist strap is on top of your belt line. With the venture wing it will get the lift down low and help
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hedgehog47
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wow thats a fantastic picture! thanks for sharing!
You shouldn't have a problem with being trimmed feet down when swimming unless you have an bicycle kick technique.
The techniques described are for when you're static in a hover. When you're swimming, as long as you have a proper kick technique, you should trim out 0.
Having said that, I swim with arms forward, wrist gauges in view; but I don't aim to go very fast.
I usually frog kick or do a modified flutter.
If I need to move with gusto, my arms go to my sides and I go with full flutter kicks; about 1 kick a second.
You'd actually be surprised how much more ground you can cover with ease using a big kick/slow cycle.
What kind of wing? You mentioned shopping for a smaller donut style, and I've seen people struggle quite a bit with 40+# wings on single tank rigs. And to clarify, you're using an aluminum 80 for the tank, and is this fresh or salt water?
Without knowing more about the wing and water density, my gut instinct is that you probably don't need the weight at all, and that because you're overweighting yourself you are over compensating by adding more air than necessary, and are trapping that air in the wing because it's too big. A smaller profile wing and less weight may be the answers you're looking for.
FWIW, at 210# and 5'10" I'm a bit of a fatass, but when I'm in salt water and wearing a 3/2 and diving an aluminum 80, I don't need any weight on my hips with my rig (AL backplate w/5# weight in the single tank adapter). As a point of comparison, the buoyancy of the SS backplate should be about the same as my rig. Even if I add 2x 2# weights (one on each hip) in order to hand off weight to a student that is underweighted, I can maintain trim without difficulty. Because you're rolling and constantly fighting, I'm of the belief you're overweighted to begin with.
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He's got a Dive Rite venture wing in the salt I believe with an AL80. Nothing about that should put him feet down, the wing is 3x as big at the bottom as it is at the top, al80's float butt up, and water density might be hurting him, but I've never had an issue. New diver, need to get skills up 100% before starting a serious rig overhaul.... I agree the wing is too big, but not by enough to start wing hopping this early. The Venture has restraining tabs on the outside at the bottom for sidemount and if he tied those back into the plate it would help drastically
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