purbeast
Contributor
I'm going to be using my own full setup for the first time this weekend down in the Keys.
It's a BP/W setup and I've tested it out completely in the pool, wetsuit included. Even with my wetsuit on and around 500psi left in the tank, I'm still negatively buoyant without any weight. I have to put like 4-6 small squirts in order to get neutrally buoyant when I had 500psi left in the pool.
When I go into the salt water for the first time this weekend, I plan on telling the dive master on the boat about my situation. I have 2 trim weight pockets that I plan to use if weight is needed that will be on my cam bands. I will also have my weight belt just in case, but I'm guessing I won't need it.
My question to you all is, based on the information I provided about my buoyancy in freshwater, what would be a good starting point for the trim weight on my first dive? Should I first get in the water with no weight to see if I need any at all? Or should I put like 2lb weights in each pocket and assume I will be a little overweight, and dial it in from there on the next dive?
Again I'm going to bring this up to the dive master that goes in with me but I figured it would be good to go in with a little bit of an idea about what to expect.
FWIW when I used rental jacket style BCD's prior to this, 6lbs of lead was pretty much perfect for me. My BP is a 6lb steel plate so I assumed that basically offset that weight maybe?
It's a BP/W setup and I've tested it out completely in the pool, wetsuit included. Even with my wetsuit on and around 500psi left in the tank, I'm still negatively buoyant without any weight. I have to put like 4-6 small squirts in order to get neutrally buoyant when I had 500psi left in the pool.
When I go into the salt water for the first time this weekend, I plan on telling the dive master on the boat about my situation. I have 2 trim weight pockets that I plan to use if weight is needed that will be on my cam bands. I will also have my weight belt just in case, but I'm guessing I won't need it.
My question to you all is, based on the information I provided about my buoyancy in freshwater, what would be a good starting point for the trim weight on my first dive? Should I first get in the water with no weight to see if I need any at all? Or should I put like 2lb weights in each pocket and assume I will be a little overweight, and dial it in from there on the next dive?
Again I'm going to bring this up to the dive master that goes in with me but I figured it would be good to go in with a little bit of an idea about what to expect.
FWIW when I used rental jacket style BCD's prior to this, 6lbs of lead was pretty much perfect for me. My BP is a 6lb steel plate so I assumed that basically offset that weight maybe?