Weighting

jesstotheocean · Jul 8, 2005

I am diving tomorrow with a 5mm long & a 3mm shorty ontop in a local Quarry in Ohio. I am wondering what to start my weights at? (just bought all my gear and this is my first time out hear after my OW). I am 5' 6" & 123 lbs.

The Kraken · Jul 8, 2005

What comprises rest of your rig?
Aluminum 80 or steel?
Conventional B/C or B/P-wing?

Any other pertinent information would be helpful.

the K

jesstotheocean · Jul 8, 2005

The Kraken:
What comprises rest of your rig?
Aluminum 80 or steel?
Conventional B/C or B/P-wing?

Any other pertinent information would be helpful.

the K

I have a conventional B/C (an integrated Seaquest Diva)
And I have a 63 CF tank (I'm pretty sure it's steel, but I don't know) Note: just picked up the equipment

ClevelandDiver · Jul 8, 2005

jesstotheocean:
I am diving tomorrow with a 5mm long & a 3mm shorty ontop in a local Quarry in Ohio. I am wondering what to start my weights at? (just bought all my gear and this is my first time out hear after my OW). I am 5' 6" & 123 lbs.

Hey Jess,

Are you heading up to Whitestar? If so let me know, I will be up there tomorrow around 8:30 am- 1:00pm. Going up with anywhere from 1 to 3 other divers.

BTW, are you still planning on going up on the 16th?

Mike

jesstotheocean · Jul 13, 2005

Well I did my 4 dives this past weekend and I just had to play around with the weights.

1st dive: 18 lbs way to much
2nd dive: 16lbs still to much, especially because i lost one of my weight pouches and didn't go shooting up. (somebody actually did find it and turn it in

)
3rd dive: 14 lbs
4th dive: 14 lbs - I still think it's too much weight because I had to put too much air in my bcd. Going to the shop today to purchase 2 1 lbs. (I only have them in 4,3 & 2).

Warren_L · Jul 13, 2005

jesstotheocean:
Well I did my 4 dives this past weekend and I just had to play around with the weights.

1st dive: 18 lbs way to much
2nd dive: 16lbs still to much, especially because i lost one of my weight pouches and didn't go shooting up. (somebody actually did find it and turn it in )
3rd dive: 14 lbs
4th dive: 14 lbs - I still think it's too much weight because I had to put too much air in my bcd. Going to the shop today to purchase 2 1 lbs. (I only have them in 4,3 & 2).

Sounds like you are still overweighted a bit. On your second dive you comment that you lost a weight pouch and you didn't go shooting up would indicate you were still overwieghted. Probably true, but becareful of drawing such conclusions based on the fact that you didn't go shooting up. There are a number of factors involved that you need to consider in that particular scenario when you lost the weight pouch. Remember that at depth, your neoprene compresses and loses buoyancy, the amount of loss depends on the depth. Losing a weight pouch of a few pounds at a deeper depth where your suit has lost most of its buoyancy may have little or no effect on whether you become positively buoyant at that time or not. The scenario might be quite a bit different if the same were to happen to you at a much shallower depth.

Remember, weights are required to overcome the initial positive buoyancy of your gear (especially when using neoprene) and once at depth, you need to compensate for the loss of buoyancy with adding air to your BC.

jesstotheocean · Jul 13, 2005

Warren_L:
Sounds like you are still overweighted a bit. On your second dive you comment that you lost a weight pouch and you didn't go shooting up would indicate you were still overwieghted. Probably true, but becareful of drawing such conclusions based on the fact that you didn't go shooting up. There are a number of factors involved that you need to consider in that particular scenario when you lost the weight pouch. Remember that at depth, your neoprene compresses and loses buoyancy, the amount of loss depends on the depth. Losing a weight pouch of a few pounds at a deeper depth where your suit has lost most of its buoyancy may have little or no effect on whether you become positively buoyant at that time or not. The scenario might be quite a bit different if the same were to happen to you at a much shallower depth.

Remember, weights are required to overcome the initial positive buoyancy of your gear (especially when using neoprene) and once at depth, you need to compensate for the loss of buoyancy with adding air to your BC.

Thank you for all the info, I have to remember about the weighting at different depths and pay attension more to the depths that I'm adding the air at. I'm diving this Saturday so maybe I'll start out at 13 lbs and see if that gets me anywhere.

spectrum · Jul 13, 2005

jesstotheocean:
Thank you for all the info, I have to remember about the weighting at different depths and pay attension more to the depths that I'm adding the air at. I'm diving this Saturday so maybe I'll start out at 13 lbs and see if that gets me anywhere.

Remember the real balance point is at the end of the dive.With a cylinder that's probably about 5 pounds lighter than at the start of the dive you need to be able to be neutral at 15 feet. At that depth your suit has regained most of it's bouyancy. What happens at the beginning of the dive and at depth can give clues, but not the answer.

The common test is at the end of the dive with 500 PSI in your cylinder and an average lung volume and an empty BC you should bob at eye level. With this you should be able to hold a 15' stop and be able to make a controlled final ascent.

Keep any on your trim, where the weigh goes can make a huge difference in your dive. If your feet or head are high you will create upward or downward thrust as you move forward but then drift up or down when at rest.

Pete

jesstotheocean · Jul 13, 2005

spectrum:
Remember the real balance point is at the end of the dive.With a cylinder that's probably about 5 pounds lighter than at the start of the dive you need to be able to be neutral at 15 feet. At that depth your suit has regained most of it's bouyancy. What happens at the beginning of the dive and at depth can give clues, but not the answer.

The common test is at the end of the dive with 500 PSI in your cylinder and an average lung volume and an empty BC you should bob at eye level. With this you should be able to hold a 15' stop and be able to make a controlled final ascent.

Keep any on your trim, where the weigh goes can make a huge difference in your dive. If your feet or head are high you will create upward or downward thrust as you move forward but then drift up or down when at rest.

Pete

I did the bouyancy test at the end of the second dive after I lost one of my weight pouches that had 9 lbs in it (and before I knew I lost it). And I was perfectly weighted at 7 lbs??

Warren_L · Jul 13, 2005

jesstotheocean:
Thank you for all the info, I have to remember about the weighting at different depths and pay attension more to the depths that I'm adding the air at. I'm diving this Saturday so maybe I'll start out at 13 lbs and see if that gets me anywhere.

Keep in mind that your weighting for the dive doesn't really change (unless for whatever reason you end up dropping weights during a dive, but this neither normal nor recommended!!). Your buoyancy is what changes with depth, and as Spectrum rightly points out, the weight of the gas in your cylinder needs to be accounted for. What this means is that you need to be weighted negatively by at least the weight of the gas you will be using during the dive at the surface (at the beginning of your dive) in order for you to ensure that you can control your buoyancy throughout the dive. For an 80 cu ft tank (no difference whether steel or AL) the buoyancy change from full to empty is somewhere around 4 pounds.

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