Wing size for 5mm wetsuit aluminum 80

[cool_hardware52]

He said he has a full 5mm wetsuit.

I would bet a dollar that you can remember the least amount of buoyancy you've ever seen from an adult sized 5mm full wetsuit. And that you can remember the most buoyancy you've ever seen from an adult sized 5mm full wetsuit. And you probably even have an idea in your head of what the most common amount of buoyancy you've seen for an adult sized 5mm full wetsuit.

If you give the guy answers based on that data, it might actually be helpful to him. Maybe. Really, only he can make that decision (of whether it's useful to him). In his shoes, I think I would find it helpful.

Er, ah, well wetsuits vary widely depending on the material used, the cut and fit of the suit, and how many times it's been taken deep.

That's one more thing you learn with actual experience.

That aside knowing the actual buoyancy of the suit you plan to use is a very useful thing. It allows not only the proper wing to be selected, but it provides a huge clue as to proper weighting.

Had you understood this concept you might not have tried diving your new doubles 8-10 lbs over weighted.

This is why I constantly stress divers think about why suit buoyancy matters and learn how buoyant *their* suit is.

I could make an educated guess, but that's not really my goal, my goal is help divers learn how to solve their own problems, for example when they don't have internet access and can't get turn to SB for a dozen different "expert" opinions....


Tobin

 

[OldNSalty]

He said he has a full 5mm wetsuit.

I would bet a dollar that you can remember the least amount of buoyancy you've ever seen from an adult sized 5mm full wetsuit. And that you can remember the most buoyancy you've ever seen from an adult sized 5mm full wetsuit. And you probably even have an idea in your head of what the most common amount of buoyancy you've seen for an adult sized 5mm full wetsuit.

If you give the guy answers based on that data, it might actually be helpful to him. Maybe. Really, only he can make that decision (of whether it's useful to him). In his shoes, I think I would find it helpful.

Why guess when someone has already explained how he can get the actual number from a simple test? Estimating when you can get an exact is just silly.

 

[tbone1004]

Why guess when someone has already explained how he can get the actual number from a simple test? Estimating when you can get an exact is just silly.

that's the issue. It takes all of 5 minutes to test a wetsuits buoyancy. Can do it in a rubbermaid bin pretty easily. 5mm wetsuits that we tested during OWT last week for new divers varied from 4lbs to 16lbs because we were going from a used XS for women to a XXL for a pretty big guy. That is the one thing that divers never do, is be proactive and actually measure their suits and rigs to get the real numbers.

 

[stuartv]

Er, ah, well wetsuits vary widely depending on the material used, the cut and fit of the suit, and how many times it's been taken deep.

That's one more thing you learn with actual experience.

Thanks! I had no idea!

Had you understood this concept you might not have tried diving your new doubles 8-10 lbs over weighted.

Measuring the buoyancy of my wet or dry suit did nothing to get my weighting with doubles sorted out. Getting in the water fully geared up and checking to see what weight I needed did.

"Go to a pool and figure out how much weight it takes to sink your wetsuit."

Okay, why not just gear up and get in then see how much weight it takes?

Also, how much weight should one take to test the sinking of one's wetsuit? If you can give a ballpark for that, then doesn't that mean you can give a ball park for how much buoyancy the suit provides?

---------- Post added November 19th, 2015 at 03:59 PM ----------

that's the issue. It takes all of 5 minutes to test a wetsuits buoyancy. Can do it in a rubbermaid bin pretty easily.

I meant to ask this before. Doing it that way or your earlier suggestion of putting it in a mesh bag and weighting that both leave me wondering how do you know you've gotten all the air out?

Why not put it on, get in the water, burp the suit to let any trapped air out, and see how much weight it takes to sink yourself with it on? Won't that then give you a better number because, one, you know you aren't sinking trapped air, and, two, your number implicitly factors in your personal buoyancy, too?

And if you're getting in with the suit to check it, why not get fully geared up? At that point, like Tobin is fond of saying, it's simple arithmetic to work backwards into your suit's buoyancy if you want to. And you are not "estimating" the weight of your rig/pieces/parts.

 

[OldNSalty]

I meant to ask this before. Doing it that way or your earlier suggestion of putting it in a mesh bag and weighting that both leave me wondering how do you know you've gotten all the air out?

Why not put it on, get in the water, burp the suit to let any trapped air out, and see how much weight it takes to sink yourself with it on? Won't that then give you a better number because, one, you know you aren't sinking trapped air, and, two, your number implicitly factors in your personal buoyancy, too?

And if you're getting in with the suit to check it, why not get fully geared up? At that point, like Tobin is fond of saying, it's simple arithmetic to work backwards into your suit's buoyancy if you want to. And you are not "estimating" the weight of your rig/pieces/parts.

Yes, that would work as well. The only advantage to doing it with the suit off is that you could do the test in your apartment if you wanted to.

 

[stuartv]

Yes, that would work as well. The only advantage to doing it with the suit off is that you could do the test in your apartment if you wanted to.

Believe it or not, I am really not trying to be argumentative. I am trying to understand how to do this, as I have considered it and not been able to figure it out.

In order to be sure I don't any air trapped, I figure I need to put a belt or line around the middle of the suit and weight it so that the neck, arms, and legs can all float up, letting all air out - and jigger around with in the water to make sure none is trapped in the shoulder area. And that means that I need water to dunk it in that is a lot deeper than my tub or a regular plastic bin. Maybe a big trash can would work, but I don't keep a clean one of those just laying around, so that would be a big PITA. And since the info isn't going to help me until I go get wet anyway, I have always just waited until I was going to the pool or quarry to experiment like this.

 

[dmaziuk]

I meant to ask this before. Doing it that way or your earlier suggestion of putting it in a mesh bag and weighting that both leave me wondering how do you know you've gotten all the air out?

ICBW but I think a pound of lift takes a couple of cups of air. Are you sure you're going to have that much or more trapped in the folds?

 

[stuartv]

ICBW but I think a pound of lift takes a couple of cups of air. Are you sure you're going to have that much or more trapped in the folds?

I don't know. How would I know unless I do it both ways? In which case, why do it two ways when you know one way that you know won't have air trapped in it?

 

[OldNSalty]

Believe it or not, I am really not trying to be argumentative. I am trying to understand how to do this, as I have considered it and not been able to figure it out.

I am certain you are not. It is the questioning of the answers to questions that keep scubaboard from becoming just a static FAQ database that could have been closed years ago.

In order to be sure I don't any air trapped, I figure I need to put a belt or line around the middle of the suit and weight it so that the neck, arms, and legs can all float up, letting all air out - and jigger around with in the water to make sure none is trapped in the shoulder area. And that means that I need water to dunk it in that is a lot deeper than my tub or a regular plastic bin. Maybe a big trash can would work, but I don't keep a clean one of those just laying around, so that would be a big PITA. And since the info isn't going to help me until I go get wet anyway, I have always just waited until I was going to the pool or quarry to experiment like this.

If you can put it on and get in a pool then clearly that is the best way to do it. I have, in the past, just rolled it up tight, sunk it, turned it a few times and started weighing. Was there a little air in the thing? Maybe but now we are talking a couple of ounces.

 

[tbone1004]

if you do it properly there shouldn't be any air. I actually stuff mine in the bag once under water which helps, but there are a few ways to do it. Issue with putting it on is that you trap air, you will never exhale fully which increases the margin of error, and it takes some time. Other one is like said above, you can't do it at home, need access to a pool or other body of water etc etc.