weighting with a 7 mil suit

Hi All,

I am in the process of buying a 7mil Full wetsuit. I currently dive with NO Wetsuit, a Back Plate, and am using about 14 lbs to get neturaln in freshwater. With this New Wetsuit, how much more weight will i need????? I am 6'3, 300 lbs ( No i am not overweight, I am just short for my weight)....

Also, I am Planning a Dive in Grand Cayman, Rotan and Cozumel this November. with a 7 mil suit, will it be Far too hot???? I am from Canada and the 7 mil is so I can dive the deeper thermalclines. \

I think for Salt water, someone told me to take my weight 300 x .10 then add 4 lbs... that would mean that i need 34 lbs to dive my 7 mil in Salt water..... does that sound right???????????

I personally like my Bare Arctic 7mm. However, at your size, you may have difficulty finding something off the rack. And forget finding a rental that fits, naturally.

A 7 mil sounds really hot for the vacation spots you mention. You might prefer to look into a drysuit, so that you can change the undergarments to match the type of diving you do - especially if you're going back and forth from the cold Canadian waters to the caribbean.

Any Advise on the Weight differential from nothing to 7 mil and 7 Mil salt to 7 mil fresh?

I did my check-out dives in Cozumel (84F) in a 7mm wetsuit. I'm here to tell you that you cannot get too hot in a wetsuit....if you ever feel warm, just flush water through your suit. However, you can get too cold in a wetsuit....

Here's my opinion....you live in Canada....it's cold in Canada....if you want to dive in Canada, you should really consider a drysuit. There's very little that's worse than being cold and miserable on a dive....one thing that's worse is being cold and miserable on a surface interval and then trying to do a second dive. A drysuit, with proper undergarments, alleviates this issue. If you want to do multiple dives in a day, or go deep, you will be more comfortable in a drysuit.

FWIW, if you save the money you'd spend on a 7mm wetsuit (~$500), you're half way to a drysuit. There are good deals to be had, both new and used. With a drysuit, you could then buy a less expensive 3mm wetsuit for your tropical diving (it will probably be adequate, but that will depend on your tolerance to cold as well).

i am 6'2" 200 lbs and in a 7mill fresh water i use 18 to 20 lbs to be nutral with an 80 aluminum tank. in salt water with a 5 mill suit i use 18lbs. my best advice is that you should dive with the suit once or twice before you you dive on vacation with it. a new suit is more buoyant then after you dive a few times with it.

Take a look at this post for lift and weight calculations:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bu...ems/158370-ultimate-wing-lift-calculator.html

I recently purchased both a drysuit and a BP/W so I haven't dove the wetsuit and BP/W yet but I was using 22 pounds with my 7 mm and a jacket style BC. You could back weight away from that depending on whether you have an aluminum or SS backplate.

tporritt:

Hi All,

I am in the process of buying a 7mil Full wetsuit. I currently dive with NO Wetsuit, a Back Plate, and am using about 14 lbs to get neturaln in freshwater. With this New Wetsuit, how much more weight will i need????? I am 6'3, 300 lbs ( No i am not overweight, I am just short for my weight)....

Also, I am Planning a Dive in Grand Cayman, Rotan and Cozumel this November. with a 7 mil suit, will it be Far too hot???? I am from Canada and the 7 mil is so I can dive the deeper thermalclines. \

I think for Salt water, someone told me to take my weight 300 x .10 then add 4 lbs... that would mean that i need 34 lbs to dive my 7 mil in Salt water..... does that sound right???????????

Click to expand...

I just returned from Cozumel last week and had a fantastic time!! The water temp was 79 degrees average and 73 degrees on the night dives. I am partial to my Pinnacle wetsuit with the Merino lining. I took my 3 mm and was just fine. I tend to get cold easily but this was perfect. I was ridiculously positively buoyant though. In addition to diving in salt water, I was also using an AL tank and I usually dive with my steel. I had on 18lbs of lead and was still slightly positive. I would anticipate an increase in the amount of weight you need vs what have been using diving without a wet suit. Adding a 7mm wetsuit and diving in salt water will be cause a BIG change with regard to your buoyancy. Be prepared for it and make the adjustments as needed. The 7 mm might be hot during the Cozumel dive, but you can always flood the suit by breaking the neck seal to cool off. You can do the dives, just be wary of overheating and overexertion in the suit. Once out of the water I would get out of at least half the suit. The air temp was in the high 90's. Have a great time diving. I am planning to do a live aboard in Roatan in November myself .

you gonna burn up in that 7 mil IMO....water temps will run from 80 to 84 probably ie 'winter' will not have made it there then........

-----sometimes the same coat for Canada is not good for the southern US(or the Caribbean)....

tporritt:

Hi All,

I am in the process of buying a 7mil Full wetsuit. I currently dive with NO Wetsuit, a Back Plate, and am using about 14 lbs to get neturaln in freshwater. With this New Wetsuit, how much more weight will i need????? I am 6'3, 300 lbs ( No i am not overweight, I am just short for my weight)....

Also, I am Planning a Dive in Grand Cayman, Rotan and Cozumel this November. with a 7 mil suit, will it be Far too hot???? I am from Canada and the 7 mil is so I can dive the deeper thermalclines. \

I think for Salt water, someone told me to take my weight 300 x .10 then add 4 lbs... that would mean that i need 34 lbs to dive my 7 mil in Salt water..... does that sound right???????????

Click to expand...

Have you got it yet ? If no consider a dry suit, it's the best for our area. If you cannot afford a good one at this time get the one that simpler and cheaper like Bare NextGen.

I'm 6'3", 245lbs (yes I'm slightly fat)...

With my 7mm WetSuit (AquaLung Quantum Stretch) I currently use 22lbs of weight with my Pony Bottle. This weekend I'll test my weighting with the Pony, I expect that I'll be able to remove 2 lbs.