How much weight with 3mm suit

[montanagal]

My husband and I are going to Cozumel in October and will be taking our 3mm wet suits to dive in. For those of you who have been to the warmer waters wearing 3mm wet suits, about how much weight do you usually use?

We are cold water divers use to using dry suits, so we are curious to know if we can get by with enough weight in our BCs or need to take our DUI weight harness with us.

 

[divingjd]

Sounds like you have weight-integrated BCs, since you are asking if you can carry enough weight in your BCs. You should definitely be able to do that. I don't think you will need the harness. I use 12 lbs or less with a 3mm jumpsuit and a 1mm hood, I'm 6'0", around 210. The last time I was in Mexico, I left my weight pockets behind on one dive and made it through the dive with the 4 lbs I had in my trim pockets, including holding a safety stop. If you are an experienced, relaxed diver, you should not need excessive weight in a 3mm. I rarely see anyone use more than 16-18 lbs. If you don't want to put the weight in your BC, the dive operator will provide a weight belt.

 

[Christi]

My husband and I are going to Cozumel in October and will be taking our 3mm wet suits to dive in. For those of you who have been to the warmer waters wearing 3mm wet suits, about how much weight do you usually use?

We are cold water divers use to using dry suits, so we are curious to know if we can get by with enough weight in our BCs or need to take our DUI weight harness with us.

Only you (and the DM) can figure out how much weight you will need.

How much weight do you wear with your dry suit?
Do you normally dive in fresh water or salt water?
Is your 3mm suit brand new?
What type of tanks will you be diving? (most here use AL 80's, but there are a few shops with AL 100's and Steel 100's and 120's)
Etc.
Etc.

There are way too many variables to consider for anyone on this board to give you an accurate answer.

However, keep in mind that weights are included with every dive trip here and if you need a belt, that's also included.

 

[montanagal]

Thank you for your replies, I appreciate your time. We dive the cold waters of the Pacific Northwest and do both shore and boat diving. We have done very little fresh water diving.

Our wet suits are fairly new. They have only been used when we went diving in the Florida Keys two summers ago and once here in a swimming pool. We did not use them all of the time, nor have we used the full set, just the shorty part. I know I probably will use the whole thing when we go to Cozumel in Oct. since the water will be cooler than summer temps. When we were Florida, I used 14lbs with the shorty.

 

[Christi]

Thank you for your replies, I appreciate your time. We dive the cold waters of the Pacific Northwest and do both shore and boat diving. We have done very little fresh water diving.

Our wet suits are fairly new. They have only been used when we went diving in the Florida Keys two summers ago and once here in a swimming pool. We did not use them all of the time, nor have we used the full set, just the shorty part. I know I probably will use the whole thing when we go to Cozumel in Oct. since the water will be cooler than summer temps. When we were Florida, I used 14lbs with the shorty.

If you used 14 lbs with the shorty, plan to add 2 to 4 pounds if adding the full suit with it and diving AL tanks. That will be alot of weight. Of course I don't know you nor have I ever seen you, but if you do end up needing 16 to 18 pounds...I would see about getting the DM to work with you on reducing your weight through the week. Anything over 18 to 20 pounds in Coz is typically too much. Again, I don't know you or your physiology, dive skills, etc. but I suspect that will be alot of weight for you to carry. Also keep in mind what tanks you will be diving. The DM on the boat will help you figure out how much weight you'll need.

 

[Charlie99]

If you are going to be staying in one of the oceanside resorts, it should be easy to check your weighting on a shore dive the afternoon you arrive. Most of the oceanside hotels have an on-site dive operator where you can get tanks and weights.

Much less hassle than doing it on a boat while the rest of the group is itching to get into the water.

Since you aren't going until October, you might also be able to get to a swimming pool to check your weighting with the 3mm. Most likely you will be diving with an AL80 tank in Cozumel, so try and use that for your weight checks in the pool. For a normal diver with total body + gear weight of 240 pounds, you just figure out your weighting for a fresh water pool, and then add 6 pounds for saltwater.

 

[94GTStang]

I dive with 8lbs with a 3mm on. I weigh about 175ish....

 

[montanagal]

Thank you all again for your time and willingness to share your knowledge. We will be staying at a hotel where we can do shore diving, so will be doing a dive our first day to get an idea of what weight we will need.

 

[zinmaker]

Have the DM help you with a weight check at the surface before submerging.

 

[ggunn]

If you know how much weight you require sans wetsuit, you can get an idea of how much more you'll need by taking the suit and a few 2 lb weights to the swimming pool and seeing how much weight it takes to sink it. Salt water is about 3% denser than fresh, so add just a tad to account for that.