weight question

[caribbean soul]

Leaving for Curacao in 2 weeks.Last year I dived there wearing 14 lbs.of weight and my buoyancy was dialed in really well. I will be using the same equip. but my body weight has changed from 187 to 174. Any suggestions on how much less weight to use or would it be about the same.

 

[Carribeandiver]

does your body have less fat now? Are you more muscular now? Not only your total body weight but your BMI is a crucial factor to consider.

 

[spectrum]

Any suggestions on how much less weight to use or would it be about the same.

Too many subtle variables to say. Keep your smallest weight in a pocket where you can hand it off to your buddy when you get back in the shallows with a low (~500 PSI) tank and see if you can remain neutral. You may be able to make an adjustement but it won't be of much significance, stll less is less.

Pete

 

[caribbean soul]

does your body have less fat now? Are you more muscular now? Not only your total body weight but your BMI is a crucial factor to consider.

Never had my BMI measured but Iam sure it is less

 

[bubblemonkey]

it also depends heavily on the salinity of the water.

In Eygypt I used 7kgs in Thailand I use 3kgs.

 

[gangrel441]

does your body have less fat now? Are you more muscular now? Not only your total body weight but your BMI is a crucial factor to consider.

BMI is actually quite useless, as it only takes into account height, weight and age. It has nothing to do whatsoever with body comp. If Arnold Schwarznager checked his BMI, his result would likely be morbidly obese. As it relates to the question, Arnie's BMI would seem to indicate that he would be quite positively bouyant, when in fact he would probably sink like a rock.

A body comp test, or a calliper body fat % test, would be much more useful for answering the question.

 

[Charlie99]

Leaving for Curacao in 2 weeks.Last year I dived there wearing 14 lbs.of weight and my buoyancy was dialed in really well. I will be using the same equip. but my body weight has changed from 187 to 174. Any suggestions on how much less weight to use or would it be about the same.

Removal of 14 pounds of fat would make you about 1 pound less buoyant. Of course, you may have traded in some other fat for denser muscle to become another pound or so less buoyant.

The bottom line is as Spectrum pointed out above, "too many subtle variables to say".

As he suggests, hand off some weight to your buddy at the end of the first dive until you hit the desired weighting. If you are at 500psi, then that's your correct weight. If you have more air in your tank, just add back onto your belt 1 pound for every 500psi left in your tank (assuming you have AL80).

Or just do the more traditional method of dropping a pound or so after each dive until you have gone too far, and then add a bit back on.

 

[dmmike]

Yup, I gotta go along with Charlie99, start off with 14 pounds, but make sure you have it in two pound stages. You'll be hard pressed to find one pound weights, at least I have.

May wife and I just came back from Curacao and we did the same. Started with last years weight and moved down two pounds until we could do the safety stop.

No use guessing, just get in the water and try it/ do it.

 

[Hemlon]

A person's BMI does not take into account fat vs muscular weight. There are no caliper measurements. It's only based on age, height and weight. There are several online calculators available.

 

[Warren_L]

You can always check your buoyancy in a pool with the same configuration before you go on your trip. You just have to adjust for the added buoyancy you'll experience in saltwater. Should be about an additional 3% of your total weight of you in your gear.