Drysuit Weight Question

[Teller]

I am new to drysuit diving and I do plan on taking a class but in the mean time I have been doing some shallow dives just to try out my drysuit and try to get my weight right. Today I went down to the lake with what I thought would be more than enough weight but I ended up needing all 31 lbs. My drysuit and BCD were both deflated. I know some people may say that sounds right but I am woundering why I need so much weight. I only weight 150 lbs and I use an 80AL tank. I have the DUI TLS350 drysuit. Some of my buddies that are bigger than me are using around 22 lbs. I did wear some thin under garmets but should I need so much weight? Am I doing something wrong.

[amascuba]

There are a lot of factors that go into weighting, especially with a drysuit.

Some of the factors are:

* Individual muscle to fat ratio
* Drysuit undergarment
* Tank
* Drysuit type
* In water comfort
* buoyancy factors of other gear such as fins, bcd, etc

Without a lot more information and probably just diving with you, it would be hard to say why you need so much weight. A lot of it is going to be due to the factors listed above.

[BuoyantC]

That does seem like a lot of weight, especially in fresh water. Switching to a steel tank will knock off a few lbs. right away, but I would suspect the fit of the suit and under garment is holding more air than you think. Be patient and working with some experienced drysuit divers should help you dial in.

[boulderjohn]

As James (Amascuba) said, we are all different, and it is hard to tell without seeing you. As BuoyantC said, it does seem like a lot of weight. If put my 200+ pound body into a dry suit with an AL 80 (Whites Fusion) and a standard BCD in fresh water, I will usually use 20 pounds, and I could probably get by with less.

I suggest you get someone who really knows what he or she is doing to work with you on this. It could be any number of things, such as not getting rid of all the air in your BCD while testing. You need a knowledgeable person looking at you to tell. Make sure it is someone who really knows what he or she is doing. Sometimes it is really hard to tell the difference between a good Mentor and a blowhard.

[msg]

I dive with a Viking X-treme, comfort plus undergarment. Steel 95cft tank with about 26 to 30#'s in my bcd (sp glide), depending on the amount of air I keep in the suit. I weigh about 210#.

My question would be whether or not you in fact have all the air out of your bcd and to what point are you letting the air out of your suit. I doesn't take a lot of air to affect the buoyancy in the suit.

The main thing is that you have enough air in the suit to keep the squeeze off of you. Weight yourself accordingly, then as you get more comfortable in that suit, your breathing will improve, which will also help with your buoyancy.
Good luck and happy diving.

[mark01]

When I began diving with my drysuit, I think I had close to 36# on me. I worked that down to 22# after about 25 dives. It just took time, patience, and a willingness to stick with it, despite some "interesting and exciting" experiences along the way. One of the things that really helped me was reading every thread I could find on this board about drysuit diving. I'm still working on this and other skills, but unless I'm in 80 degree water, I'll not be going back to diving wet.

FWIW

Mark

[dave4868]

I have the DUI TLS350 drysuit. Some of my buddies that are bigger than me are using around 22 lbs. I did wear some thin under garmets but should I need so much weight? Am I doing something wrong.

Can you describe your undergarments? Some undergarments trap more air than others. Was the undergarment a loose fit creating some folds?

For the sake of experiment, did you try getting vertical to vent more air out of the suit? Did you give it a few seconds?

Did you have enough depth to increase the squeeze?

At 190 lbs, I'm bigger than you, but I need at least 30 lbs when I'm wearing Polartec 300 and polypropylene long underwear (in a DUI TLS 350 with steel HP 120). I usually add about 10% more than the minimum on top of that, for extra warmth and to make it easy to get negative in a hurry in shallow water, like when I hear an outboard motor heading my way.... :D

Maybe you're not overweighted! :)

IMHO, needing a low amount of weight is not the badge of honor some people think it is. ;)

Dave C

[Crush]

Hi,

I have a TLS 350. I use a variety of different tops and bottoms as undergarments, some for wicking, some for insulation. In short - it is tough to equate with standard measures, but I carry the equivalent of about a polartec 350 with me in the DUI. I am also 6 feet tall and about 225 lbs, some of it muscle, some of it "internal insulation." I carry at most 30 lbs weight when diving. FYI - in a 350 I can be in 4 C water for 40 minutes before getting chilled, so I am pretty well-insulated.

Here is my question: is it possible that you are 150 lbs and very fat-free, therefore requiring more external insulation than me (since some of mine is internal)? In this case, you will likely need the same sum total insulation as I do, therefore you may need to haul the same amount of lead...

BTW, I would pay attention to those who have previously suggested, explicitly or implicitly, that you evaluate your situation at depth so as to ensure that your BC is entirely vented (it may take several seconds and require a perfectly vertical posture) and to determine that you are not holding too much air in your suit.

30 lbs sounds a bit on the high side, but it is not entirely unreasonable.

Sweet suit, isn't it? :)

[David_57]

I am 6'1" 210Lbs I use a 4mil neoprene dry thick under garments with a steel 100HP use 16lbs of weight more than enough to get me down, when I dive doubles I use no weight.

[cardinal_112]

Did you burp your drysuit meaning getting all the air out of the suit.....

[Teller]

I did burp the drysuit before I entered the water and my under garmets are the DUI Action Wear. If it it matters I only went about 15 feet and my 80AL only had about 800 PSI left.

[BuoyantC]

Well an AL80 that near empty is probably about 4-5lbs positive, so that isn't a help! I have a rather poorly fitted shell suit, and a mix of fleece undergarments. I weigh about 240 and sadly not all is muscle, but with an HP80 steel tank I get by with about 24# in fresh water. And that's with a Zeagle BC and not a metal bp/wing setup. SS plates, steel tanks and so forth can take weight off a belt, but they don't change the total math. I still bet getting in some dive time will get you comfortable and reduce your total carried weight.

[TSandM]

In cold water, I use 31 pounds of ballast in salt water. That would probably translate to about 26 pounds in fresh. But I also use a steel tank (add 5 pounds) and a BP/W (add 2 to 3 pounds). I'm 5'4" and 120 lbs. With your tank and with a standard BC, and with my Fusion drysuit and Mk3 undergarment, I'd be using almost 35 pounds in fresh water (ugh!)

And yes, that has been formally and carefully weight checked.

People simply differ. My Fundies instructor, when he found out how much weight I carry, smiled indulgently and said, "Well, we'll take some of that off tomorrow." He tried; he couldn't. Some of us float.

[dave4868]

DUI's website provides an excellent overview of insulation and weighting:

DUI Thermal Guides for Dry Suit Diving / SCUBA (http://www.dui-online.com/tech_thermal_guidelines.htm)

Unless I'm reading it wrong, they suggest an initial freshwater weight estimate of 16 to 22 lbs for a person weighing 140-160 lbs and wearing Actionwear 300, and then they add 4 lbs for using an aluminum 80 which would bring the range up to 26 lbs.

I wouldn't get too excited about your present weighting of 31 lbs unless the air bubble creates problems for you....

Give yourself some time to get your weighting adjusted.... and don't worry how the final number compares to someone else. Determining what's right for you is what counts. :)

Dave C