Trim problem: foot heavy

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spector39

Contributor
Messages
98
Reaction score
15
Location
Arkansas
# of dives
25 - 49
I've been working on trim and buoyancy in the pool and have found that I am consistently foot-heavy in the water. I wear a weight belt since my BCD does not have weight pockets, and if I adjust the belt higher on my waist it helps a little, but not enough. And, the belt falls back down eventually anyway.

Any ideas besides getting a new BCD?

Would lighter fins fix the problem? I'm using some fairly heavy fins now. I have been looking at the APS Mantarays.

Thanks!
 
You can add some weight pouches to the cam bands on your BC and distribute some of your weight there.

I'm planning on trying to get to the pool soon so I can work on buoyancy & trim as well. One thing I've thought about recently is that even if I go swimming with no gear on, my body seems to be naturally foot-heavy. I've seen some people who can surface float and their feet just stay at the surface along with the rest of their body. I can float, but whether I'm on my stomach or my back my feet sink down in the water column.

When it comes to working on this for diving, my BC does have the pouches on the cam band where I can put up to 10# of non-ditchable weight. I've only gone diving once since I bought the BC so I haven't had a chance to play around with it to get the optimal weight distribution, but I did notice that putting about 1/3 of my weight in those pouches really seemed to help my trim.
 
Lighter fins will help.

Get some pouches and put them on the tank cam strap and transfer some weight from your hip to there.

Slide the tank up as much as you can without your head hitting the valve. I couldn't help but notice most divers have the tanks half down their butts.
 
Just adding to what was said already:
- when you're horizontal in the water, try keeping your head low or looking down to the bottom. This will pitch your body forward slightly, lifting you lower body, and feet. Looking forward and/or up all the time, pitches you backwards, hence forcing you feet to point to the bottom (my wife has this problem).
- Try to bend your knees (90 degrees) and keep your feet pointing up.
- Use thicker neoprene boots (more positively buoyant)
- Work your abs and lower back muscles. Use muscle control to adjust/(compensate for) your trim position
 
I had the same issue before. The problem is most jacket BC has lift on the upper body. If you wear weight belt on your hip, the weight is concentrated below the lift area. And it makes you foot heavy.

So try 1) move lift downward (difficult without changing BC) I found the optimal lift distribution should be mostly around hip/waist area. Upper body should have some lift or not the majority. Unfortunity, this is difficult to archieve with jacket BC. 2) move weight upward. As suggested, put weight pocket on upper cam band, ankle weight on tank neck should help.
 
All mentioned above are good suggestions. If you think about changing BC's, try a BP/W or hybrid (like the APEKS WTX) with a steel plate so that you get weight on your upper body. Also, if you own a tank, or want to own a tank, consider steel. THis will all move weight up on your torso.
 
Besides the BC, a lot of what is going on is Technique. I use JET Fins exclusively and even if I were to go to a jacket style BC (i dive BP/W), weight belt, etc, I can still have good trim. If i were to go with this config and not do any thing, then yes my feet will drop, but as a diver we need to learn to control our body and not let our body control us!

Try this, extend hands out in front of you (hold hands and that will divert any "nervous energy" to your feet so you start using them more efficiently), head up, crunch butt checks, bend knees, ankles closer to you butt and you should be fine. It takes time and some conditioning but you will get it.

As far as the weight belt, here are two Trim Weight Pocket options that you can weave on to your Cam Straps (mount on either side of tank close to back).

Hol-208.0030.000-2T.jpg

Hollis Trim Weight Pockets

12.321.005-2T.jpg

Halcyon Trim Weight Pockets
 
Remove feet. Problem solved
 
I'm going to try diving with my knees bent 90o, and keep my feet pointing up

then next time I sit in a chair I'll try my legs straight out, with feet straight up

and place 6oz of lead shot in my slap strap.
 
Try this, extend hands out in front of you (hold hands and that will divert any "nervous energy" to your feet so you start using them more efficiently), head up, crunch butt checks, bend knees, ankles closer to you butt and you should be fine.
Good advice! Pretty much what the video below shows.



Learning a kick that goes along with your future trim would be advisable too.



Taking a class from UTD (Essentials) or GUE (Fundies) would be an excellent way to continue your dive training.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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