Warm water trim.

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Skookumchuck

Skookumchuck

Contributor
Messages
489
Reaction score
29
Location
Hope B.C.
# of dives
500 - 999
I'm an experienced cold water diver just returned from a trip to Bonaire. One thing that annoyed me was my poor trim. In my drysuit when I hang motionless I'm horizontal in the water but in Bonaire if I remained compleatly motionless my legs would drop until I was vertical. Are there positively bouyant fins that would prevent the weight of my legs from doing this?
 
Yes, positively buoyant fins might help...a little.

You probably want to reassess where you are positioning your weight. Many jacket BCDs have weight pockets located at the hips. If you place all of your lead in those pockets, you will almost certainly have crappy head-up/feet-down trim. We've all been there.

You can shift your tank higher or put a small weight around the neck of the tank.

Another possible solution is to shift some of your lead to weight pockets on the upper tank camband. This should position the lead near your spine right over your lungs and any air inside your BCD. Bear in mind that this will now be non-ditchable weight. If you're properly weighted, then you really shouldn't need more ditchable weight than the weight of your gas to be able to float at the surface -- for an AL80, that's about 6 lbs.

Yet another possibility is moving to a BP/W setup. I'm sure that others will chime in with more suggestions.
 
Last edited:
a simple weight redistribution can probably take care of it. But if you're diving with heavy fins like jets yes there's lots of fins out there that are lighter and closer to neutral or maybe a little buoyant. On average thermoplastic fins are going to be floatier than hefty rubber fins. Besides helping with the trim issue, if you'll be doing more warm water trips they'll help a bit on the luggage weight. If you poke around in Fins, Masks and Snorkels you'll find some related discussions.
 
I know a number of people who use the OMS Slipstreams for this purpose, but they can be hard to find, especially in some sizes.

I had this problem when I started helping my husband in the pool, and I bought a set of Deep See Pulse fins. They are plastic and neutral or slightly positive, and are stiff enough to do all the kicks. I'm not sure I'd like them for propelling doubles and deco bottles, but for single tank diving, they've been satisfactory. And they're very inexpensive.
 
OMS Slipstreams can be purchased at my favorite online retailer, ScubaToys.

Although changing out the fins will help, I'm going to bet that the OP didn't lug negative fins, such as Scubapro jetfins, to Bonaire. I may be wrong. Perhaps Skookumchuck will let us know what brand/model fins he used on vacation...
 
I'm going to bet that the OP didn't lug negative fins, such as Scubapro jetfins, to Bonaire.
Click to expand...

Why? I take my Jets everywhere. I have my weighting figured out to balance out using them in any configuration I dive.
 
Bubbletrubble:
OMS Slipstreams can be purchased at my favorite online retailer, ScubaToys.

Although changing out the fins will help, I'm going to bet that the OP didn't lug negative fins, such as Scubapro jetfins, to Bonaire. I may be wrong. Perhaps Skookumchuck will let us know what brand/model fins he used on vacation...
Click to expand...

I'm new as well. Why wouldn't you bring Scubapro jetfins to Bonaire? My fiance has the Scubapro twin jet fins is why I ask.
 
Being overweighted also will contribute to negatively buoyant legs. Did you test to see if your weighting was optimum?

Ralph
 
TSandM:
Why? I take my Jets everywhere. I have my weighting figured out to balance out using them in any configuration I dive.
Click to expand...
sdorn:
Why wouldn't you bring Scubapro jetfins to Bonaire?
Click to expand...
Jetfins are heavy. Airlines are charging higher baggage fees nowadays. This is causing many people to re-think the dive gear that they pack on vacation. I leave my Turtle fins at home when I go on a warm water dive vacation. With my gear setup, I don't require any weight on my feet to trim out properly. YMMV.

To clarify, I was only guessing that the OP didn't bring heavy fins to Bonaire. I hope that he posts what fins he's currently using so that we can better tailor our advice for his configuration.
 
I dive Slipstreams instead of Jet fins, but I took my SS plate and weighted STA to Bonaire, and was happy to have them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Kikabock
Trim feedback lower back pain
4 5 6
Replies
51
Views
3,384
brsnow
B
Arkman
Trim Issues
3 4 5
Replies
45
Views
4,074
Arkman
Arkman
the_one_who_waits
DIR- Generic Maintaining NB, trim, stability in wetsuit
2
Replies
10
Views
803
Imla
Imla
D
Drysuit with disabilities
2
Replies
14
Views
953
Dis-enabled
D
oya
Buoyancy and Trim: Are You Game?
2
Replies
11
Views
2,020
SoCal in MI
S

Back
Top Bottom