Removing weight to dive without a wetsuit

[spthomas]

This topic comes up frequently, so here's a bit of information. I was diving in freshwater with a 3/2 fullsuit using 10 pounds of lead. I wanted to dive without a wetsuit so I removed 4 lbs. of lead and dove with 6 lbs.

So the buouancy of a 3/2 fullsuit was 4 lbs in my case.

 

[lidja]

Similarly, I dove in freshwater without a wetsuit carrying 8lbs of weight.

I donned my 5mm wetsuit the next day for another fresh water dive in a different location and needed an additional 6lbs to operate efficiently.

L

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Was diving a 5 mil yesterday with no weight. Freshwater and still slightly over weighted. Course it was sidemount using two LP 85's.

 

[lidja]

BTW, I've always wondered, if I workout to bring my body fat content down, will that have a significant impact on how much weight I need to carry on a dive? Or is body fat percentage negligible?

 

[Tony387]

Body fat percentage is the biggest factor in weighting. I typically dive a 5mm with a steel 72 and an aluminium bp, in freshwater, with no weight. If im wearing a 3mm, I can dive an AL80 with no weight. When I started diving, I was about 60lbs heavier than I am now and needed 20+ lbs to even attempt a descent. The amount of body fat you carry makes all the difference.

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[scubadiver888]

Buoyancy is all about volume displacement. I two years ago I weighed 220 pounds with a 38 inch waist. I needed 12 pounds to get down. Today I weigh 220 pounds but I have a 33 inch waist. I only need 4 pounds to get down. So my experience is that muscle is more dense than fat. So now I have more muscle, less fat but same body weight. I displace less water and therefore I'm less buoyant.

 

[kafkaland]

This topic comes up frequently, so here's a bit of information. I was diving in freshwater with a 3/2 fullsuit using 10 pounds of lead. I wanted to dive without a wetsuit so I removed 4 lbs. of lead and dove with 6 lbs.

So the buouancy of a 3/2 fullsuit was 4 lbs in my case.

I tested my 3 mil wet suit in the pool by putting it into a neutrally buoyant canvas bag and added lead until it sank. It took 6lb to make that happen. But 2lb less to make it rise again from a depth of just 5ft. So wet suit compression is very real even for shallow depth, and for diving about 4lb to account for the wet suit seems about right.

 

[Tony387]

Its not just your experience, its a scientific fact...muscle has a greater density than fat. Buoyancy is a function of density. If an object has a density greater than water, it sinks. If the density is less than water, it floats. Its as simple as that.

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[spectrum]

I tested my 3 mil wet suit in the pool by putting it into a neutrally buoyant canvas bag and added lead until it sank. It took 6lb to make that happen. But 2lb less to make it rise again from a depth of just 5ft. So wet suit compression is very real even for shallow depth, and for diving about 4lb to account for the wet suit seems about right.

Keep in mind that once you tried to make it rise it had been saturated and any entrained bubbles were collapsed to some extent. Neoprene compression is very real but may not have been the elephant in the room this time.

Pete

---------- Post added August 31st, 2014 at 09:04 PM ----------

Body fat percentage is the biggest factor in weighting. I typically dive a 5mm with a steel 72 and an aluminium bp, in freshwater, with no weight. If im wearing a 3mm, I can dive an AL80 with no weight. When I started diving, I was about 60lbs heavier than I am now and needed 20+ lbs to even attempt a descent. The amount of body fat you carry makes all the difference.

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I'll put my money on exposure protection followed by cylinder selection for the average Joe.

Congratulations on leaning down. Less fat, more muscle and less displacement is good stuff!

Pete

 

[kafkaland]

Keep in mind that once you tried to make it rise it had been saturated and any entrained bubbles were collapsed to some extent. Neoprene compression is very real but may not have been the elephant in the room this time.

Pete

It was repeatable (after the very first cycle driving out all the air), the 2lb were true hysteresis. When it came up close to the surface without touching air, I had to add the same 2lb to bring it back down. So it's not air bubbles that can be expelled, but compressibility of the foam. I might want to add that this wet suit is not made for scuba, but one that I had for surfing, so a lack of compressibility was likely not a design criterion for this particular suit.