How much weight to remove?

Hey everyone, I'm going to Florida next week and will be diving a 3mm full suit instead of my normal 8,7,6,5mm with integrated hood. My question is how much weight should I drop? My wetsuit is the only gear that will be different from my normal diving setup. So any help from those who normally dive in cold water with a 8/7mm and have ventured to warmer waters in a 3mm full suit will be greatly appreciated. I'm not looking for wetsuit or gear advice, I just want to know what the buoyancy differences are between the 2 suits.

Thanks!

Billy

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divermatt:

First, I dove a 3 mil in Key Largo this WINTER. I think you need a 1 mil. "skin" mostly to protect against jellies. And I'd figure you need 5% of your body weight with a skin and a AL80.

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Matt, please read my post carefully. I'm not looking for gear advice, I only want to know what the buoyancy differences will be.

Thanks,

Billy

Well I can volunteer the following:

I weigh about 200lbs and I used 20-22lbs of lead when diving a full 7 plus hood plus gloves plus booties.

I currently use 10-12lbs when diving my 3/2 Velocity here in Florida.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

-J.-

In SoCal 7mm full hood, gloves and steel 100HP tank, 26 lbs.
In Hawaii 5/3 full, al80 rental tank, 30lbs
I'm a big guy.
Dave

While there is a formula for Bouyancy, it is not that easy to calculate because it relies on two things: Density of water (this is the easy part because it is a constant), and the harder part is your total volume.

So if you displace more water, you will need more weight. That is why bigger guys need more weight.

So there is no one rule for how much weight you need to remove.

When I am wearing my full 7mm wetsuit, hood, gloves, etc. With a steel 120 tank. I need about 27 lbs of weight. I am 220 lbs 6' 2" and wear an XXL wetsuit. I will need more weight than someone 5'8" 165 lbs wearing a Medium wetsuit.

Since my XXL wetsuit displaces more water than someone's Medium wetsuit, I can also take more weight off when I am diving with no wetsuit. Without my wetsuit I can get away with 5 lbs. I use 10 lbs in a bathing suit if I use an AL 80 instead of my Steel 120.

If I was wearing a 3mm suit, I would first try 15 lbs myself. But I am not sure because I have only dove in cold water 7mm or tropical water no wetsuit.

Some place I read that the average adult male wetsuit had about 2 to 3 lbs. of bouyancy per millimeter of thickness. If this is corrrect, going from a 7mm to a 3mm would result in 8 to 12 lbs. less bouyancy. This assumed that everything else was the same including the tank you use.

Thanks everyone for your responses. It seems that I can remove about 10lbs considering I'm roughly the same size as a few of you. I'm 6'1 220lbs. Right now with my current setup, I'm diving with 10lbs. I guess that means I'll be neutral once I hit the water, good thing my safety sausage is also a 50lbs lift bag.

Thanks everyone, if anyone has any other input it's appreciated.

Billy