Trouble Staying Horizontal --- HELP

[mr_jmac]

Need some help from fellow scubaboarders ...

How can I configure my weights so that I stay horizontal in the water easier? Anybody else have this problem?

When I am finning I maintain a horizontal and trim position.

However, whenever I stop finning to look at something, look at my compass or just hover my feet tend to drop and I tend to go into a vertical position.

Equipment information:

7mm wetsuit
single 80 cu ft Aluminum tank
back inflated BCD
26 lb worn on standard weight belt (I have the weights positioned equally on both sides)

Thanks,
Joe

 

[Rick Murchison]

Sounds like you need to move some weight forward. For a quick check, take about four pounds out of your weightbelt and fasten a couple of ankle weights around the tank valve under the regulator. If that makes things better you can then figure out a more elegant way to move the weights around on your harness as a permanent solution.
Rick

 

[bwerb]

Your description of having your feet drop when you stop finning is a classic symptom of being overweighted...might want to do a weight check with 300-500 psi in your tanks (burn them down at the end of a dive) and see how much you need to stay under at 10-15 feet. A buddy can really help with this as you hand off weights one at a time.

Good luck...

Brian

 

[Big-t-2538]

dude....you have the same problem I do...

Here are a couple of ideas...

1 - try dropping some weight....unless you weigh like 270, you don't need that much weight. (my wetsuit is just as thick, if not thicker than yours...I weigh 240...and am down to 21 lbs)

2 - get some of that weight off of your belt and somewhere on your back. Get some tank weights or something for the time being...but you'll probably want to look into a BP/wing before too long.

 

[Diver Lori]

Imagine yourself laying across a bar at the waist where your center of gravity is located. Your legs drop and your chest comes up as you describe when not swimming. Do a buoyancy check with 300 to 500 lbs of air in your tank as previously described and determine your proper weighting at 15 ft. Now, take this new weight figure.....say 20 pounds as an example and remove 4 to six pounds from your weight belt. Convert the weight you just removed to drop weights and attach them back on to your BCD or harness. Drop down to 15 to 20 feet and procede to move these drop weights to various positions on your upper body in different increments....a buddy can help if need be. Swim about for several minutes in each configuration to determine your body position when hovering motionless. This will give you an idea of where and how much weight you need to move "up" your body to counteract your legs being heavier.

Women tend to be leg floaty and men tend to be leg heavy. This works for women as well and usually we can just move our tank down and compensate for it. Men on the other hand are more limited in how far they can move their tank up due to the 1st stage position behind the head. A backplate may be in your future with most stainless steel plates weighing in at 6 pounds.

Keep in mind that once you determine how much weight to move.....it will more than likely not be ditchable weight....especially if you attach it to your back in the centerline somewhere. Make sure you always have enough ditchable weight to become positively buoyant in an emergency.

 

[Grajan]

Does your BC have a couple of pockets on the back under the bladder?

 

[ZoCrowes255]

Have the weight distributed towards your hips AND DROP SOME LEAD!! Twenty-six pounds is a lot of weight to wear and your feet dropping when not moving is indicitive of that. How much do you weigh and what type of build are you?

mr_jmac once bubbled...
Need some help from fellow scubaboarders ...

How can I configure my weights so that I stay horizontal in the water easier? Anybody else have this problem?

When I am finning I maintain a horizontal and trim position.

However, whenever I stop finning to look at something, look at my compass or just hover my feet tend to drop and I tend to go into a vertical position.

Equipment information:

7mm wetsuit
single 80 cu ft Aluminum tank
back inflated BCD
26 lb worn on standard weight belt (I have the weights positioned equally on both sides)

Thanks,
Joe

 

[neil]

bwerb once bubbled...
Your description of having your feet drop when you stop finning is a classic symptom of being overweighted...
Brian

Simply not true. Weight PLACEMENT is crucial to being horizontal. Years of bike riding and racing have made my legs very muscular (see Lori's post) and I have to move quite a bit of weight further forward in order to remain horizontal. I am NOT overweighted, classically or otherwise.

Neil

 

[David Evans]

Depending on the diver, 26# may not be overweighted in a 7 mil wetsuit, particulary if its a farmer john type (although I would strongly recommend a weight check).

But there is another consideration: the buoyancy of the BC. You mention that you are using a back-inflate, but you failed to mention what kind.

My first BC was an Aqualung Malibu, which is a decent BC that is a back inflate. Problem with it was that because of all that nice closed-cell foam padding, the BC itself was +6 pounds... and that +6 was on my back making my torso more buoyant than my legs.

SO.... I went to the Halcyon backplate and wing. The backplate (steel) is 6# negative! This had a couple of VERY desireable results:

1. It put more weight on my torso, allowing me to stay trim MUCH easier, and....

2. I IMMEDIATELY dropped 12# of lead weight, because I was able to drop 6 that balanced my old BC, and another 6 came off my weightbelt and moved onto my back.

Backplates rule.

-david

 

[Curly]

...with a similar configuration and weighting.

7mm wetsuit, back-inflated BC -- but weight-integrated, so the weight was riding a little bit higher than the typical weight belt.

I run and bike, and therefore have bigger, heavier legs. My solution was to have 20 lbs. of ditchable weight in the BC, and then 5 lbs. in a pouch on the upper tank strap (my BC has two tank straps. It made all the difference to my buoyancy and trim.

A friend secures an ankle weight to the yoke of his tank. The addition of that 2 or 3 pounds of soft weight at that height leveled him out.