New suit - buoyancy way off!

[Amberjack]

Argh. So, I went to the pool last night for a test drive with my new 7 mil two-piece before my first local dive next weekend. It was my first time in anything thicker than a 3 mil suit, and I found it a bit discouraging.

First of all, wrestling with 24 lbs of weight in fresh water when I was wearing 8 in salt was a pain. And this was without a hood or gloves. Then, I got down and found my feet were floating like crazy. My last few dives, I thought I was beginning to sort out the buoyancy/trim business, and now I feel like I'm starting over from scratch.

I know ankle weights are one option for the floating feet which I'll look into, but does having to add that much weight seem right?

 

[shandajr]

I have to add 26 pounds and let me tell you, it kicked my butt. While diving from shore you need to get all that extra weight to the dive location with the added weight of tank and BC, plus it is more difficult to move with the 7ml suit. I had a problem with my feet floating up also and have thought about ankle weights.

Have fun.

 

[jk47]

That's close to what I dive with in a 7 mil in the ocean...try recomputing a starting 'guesstimate' from scratch and go from there. I have been told never to put weights on my ankles but I'm not sure the rationale for that (I have floaty feet as well). Good luck! You'll get the hang of it soon, and you'll be nice and warm If you are having trouble dealing with the weight on the surface, it may be that dividing it up among a few weighting systems could help - e.g. I use a steel backplate, a steel tank, and then the rest of my weight is in my bc pockets or on a weight belt. I could probably stand to take a couple of the trim weights out of my pockets and put them elsewhere as well to help even things out both under water and on land.

 

[The Kraken]

7mm farmer john/jacket ????
Yep, it does sound about right.

the K

 

[shandajr]

For me...yep, it was the farmer john/or jane, as the case may be.

 

[Amberjack]

Farmer john/jacket for me too. As for redistributing the weight a bit more, that'll be my priority when I buy my own BC, but I'm spacing out the gear purchases, and for the time being, I'm stuck with rental gear, which in this neck of the woods, seems to mean belts. Big, heavy belts.

I did do a weight check when I'd breathed the tank down to 500 psi and 24 lbs kept me floating at eye level with a full breath and empty BC. It just seemed a LOT so I thought (hoped?) I must have messed up somehow. But I guess not. Sigh. But thanks all for the reassurance!

Since I never had the floating feet with full foot fins (say that five times fast) I guess it's the boots that do it. Anything to be done about that other than weights?

 

[jpcpat]

I dive a 7mil farmer John with lots of lead too. You do get used to it.

I'm getting ready for a trip south, so I tried on the old 3/2. It's like wearing nothing at all!!

 

[Amberjack]

Oh, nice - can I come?

 

[Scuba_Steve]

Farmer john/jacket for me too. As for redistributing the weight a bit more, that'll be my priority when I buy my own BC, but I'm spacing out the gear purchases, and for the time being, I'm stuck with rental gear, which in this neck of the woods, seems to mean belts. Big, heavy belts.

I did do a weight check when I'd breathed the tank down to 500 psi and 24 lbs kept me floating at eye level with a full breath and empty BC. It just seemed a LOT so I thought (hoped?) I must have messed up somehow. But I guess not. Sigh. But thanks all for the reassurance!

Since I never had the floating feet with full foot fins (say that five times fast) I guess it's the boots that do it. Anything to be done about that other than weights?

Hello fellow Ontario/cold water diver

Thick wet suits (Or dry suits) and the accompanying weight that goes along with it is a fact of life around here unfortunately.

To attack the floaty feet issues, yes it's because of your boots. I would suggest a different fin. The norm around here are generally jet fins and/or Turtles. They are negatively buoyant and should elliminate the requirement for ankle weights. The bonus is they are also a great fin and I would suspect you'd like how they move you through the water, most likely better than what you have now.

As for the redistribution etc of weight, rental gear etc, that's a bit tougher to deal with maninly because odds are pretty good your rental jacket may be different from day to day.

I would find it hard to do anything else but suggest you buy one of your own as soon as financially possible. It will probably save you a ton of grief in the long run.

I would further suggest you buy a backplate and wing combo vs. a jacket style BCD.

Several reasons really, but a big selling feature for single tank 7mm wet/suit and/or drysuit divers (with ALU80's to boot) is the ability to have a weighted stainless steel backplate, with that weight more centrally located (read ideally positioned) and thusly allows you to remove some of that lead around your hips. It also separates the weighting in the unlikely event that you have to dump your belt, you at least have some non-ditchable weight on you with the hope here that you'd not get into a completely out of control runaway ascent.

The trick is to have a balance of enough ditchable weight, evenly trimmed, and to have it comfortable. I find that most easily done with a BP/Wing.

My wife looks to be your size, and she wears about the same weight as yourself, and she's in a drysuit.

Hope this brief discussion helped. It's not complete, but I think it'll give you a bit to chew on for now.

PM's are always turned on.

Steve R.

 

[Amazon]

I use a 7mil wetsuit, 7 mil boots and Atomic splits fins. Regarding the floaty feet - I had bought 1.5 lb ankle weights, and they were too much. My feet were much too floaty w/o any added weight. I bought a pair of ankle weight pouches from Leisurepro and filled each with 1lb of lead shot. Took them on my next dive, and they were PERFECT. Maybe get something like that so you can play with the amount of weight.

Odd thing is, in the Carib I used a 3 mil shorty with the same boots and fins, and did not need ankle weights. So I think it's the extra layer of neoprene over the ankle that makes my feet so positive.