Added 3 mil shorty. How much Weight ?

I use a Henderson 7mm full suit. I am going to try a 3MM shorty to gain additinal warmth. How much weight should I add to present 34 pounds.

Paul

Wow! 34lbs on a wetsuit?! That is a lot of weight! You are most likely over-weighted.

I dive my 7mm (Henderson Neosport x-span) with 16lbs or 18lbs in salt water.

7mm wetsuit with a 3mm shorty over it? All I can think of is "Michelen Man".

bzbcal:

I use a Henderson 7mm full suit. I am going to try a 3MM shorty to gain additinal warmth. How much weight should I add to present 34 pounds.

Paul

Click to expand...

Do a weight check. 34 lbs in a 7 mil already sounds like way too much. I use 19 in a 7 mil for salt water. Something isn't right here.

Paul, please describe to us how you determined your weighting requirements to be 34 lbs. of lead. In particular, let us know what kind of tank (AL80 or other), whether the tank was full/empty during the weight check, and what kind of BCD you're using. It's possible that 34 pounds might be correct for you. It's also possible that it might be too much. Perhaps we can help you modify your weight check procedure...if that's an issue.

Some people have had success with layering wetsuits like you propose. I might suggest, however, that for best results you consider moving to a true farmer john wetsuit (designed to be layered), a semi-dry wetsuit (designed to be warmer than the typical wetsuit of comparable thickness), or a drysuit. As you can guess, all of these alternatives will cost more money, but it's worth a few bucks to stay comfortably warm in my opinion.

To determine how much extra lead to wear with an additional 3mm shorty, one method is to place the wetsuit in sea water, make sure it's thoroughly wet (no pockets of air being trapped), and then attach a bag to the wetsuit with enough weight to make it neutrally buoyant.

Alternatively, you could just gear up with the extra shorty + all of your other gear and do a proper weight check. There's no substitute for a proper weight check IMO.

Hope this helps...

My XXL 3mm shorty takes 4 additional pounds. Should work for you. But adding the shorty will tend to trap a bit more air so you may have to spend a little extra wiggle time at the beginning of the dive to expell that air so you can submerge.

Better yet, consider a hooded vest rather than the shorty. It should be more effective.