I am looking for a basic chart for lead weight recommendations based on salt vs fresh with various suit specs according to body size. Anyone know where to find this info?? I've got the basics for our area (upstate NY, 7mm suit) but can't even begin to guess salt water, T-shirt or 3mm shortie etc. Thanks
weights
- Thread starter jezboog
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scubatim2004
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try the Padi aow book
jezboog:
Total dry diver weight, you and all of your gear, multiply by .026 and add the product.
This is just the specific gravity difference of seawater, 1.026 where fresh water is considered 1.000.
Expect to add 5-6 pounds for most divers going to salt water. This assumes identical gear and a good fresh water baseline.
If you don't have a baseline then any chart will be a shot in the dark. Suits, divers and gear vary way too much.
Pete
JacobK
Registered
jezboog:
Wear what you plan on wearing in salt water (3mm shortie or what ever) in a pool or fresh water lake (this includes ALL of your gear). Once you find the weight you need to make yourself netural buoyant, get out of the pool and step on a scale. Get your total weight, add 1 pound of lead for every 40 pounds you weigh.
So.. if you step on a scale with ALL of your gear and equipment and you weight 200 pounds, add 5 pounds of lead. This should bring you very close to what you need in salt water.
Also... this does not account for the tank and how much air is in your tank. I would recommend doing the exercise with the type of tank you are going to use at 500 PSI. If you do it with an AL 80 at 3000 PSI, you are going to have to add about 5 more pounds to make your safety stop at a neturally buoyant state.
JacobK:
I don't think so since the tank dynamincs are already reflected in the fresh water base line, which should be based on 500 PSI. At worse it would be 5LB of air times .026 (or 1/40) the result of which is trivial. We're only talking about the buoyancy shift due to the water change.
Pete
The formulae are, at best, guidelines. Without wishing to show off... If I dive without a suit I am still negatively buoyant without weights. 3mm shorty = 2lbs, I have very little body fat so I do not fit into any formula that I have come across. What you need to try and do when you get to a new destination is find an instructor and ask them. Also, a shop should not have a problem with you grabbing a tank that has 500psi and jumping in the pool with all of your gear before you go out for your first dive to work it out. An extra 2lbs for salt is often enough but make sure that you make your first ascent near a line that you can grab at safety stop level should the need arise.
JacobK
Registered
spectrum:
Your are probably right.
I did my test in the pool with a tank with 500 PSI. If you do not have a pool, establish a good relationship with a LDS and you should not have any problems testing out your equipment to find the weight you need for certain setup.
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