First ocean water dive weight question?

[Seville]

I have done my pool dives and I am going to do my ocean dives soon. I am 210lbs, with an 80 cylinder, 3mil hood, gloves and booties. At the pool I would have 10 lbs back trim weight and 16lb weight in the from making it 26lbs in fresh water. Towards the end less than 1200 psi, I had a hard time staying down, I was naturally buoyant. This made it very tough to do the excersizes where I had to take the BCD off and weights off and put them back in. I felt like I was rolling and floating in space because I did not have good footing on the ground. The instructor said to add 4-6 lbs for the salt water. I now have 20lbs in front and 14lbs in back making a total of 34lbs. My front bc pockets only take 10lbs each and my back trim pockets the most i could fit in was 7 lbs in each pocket. This is a wing BCD. I will not know if this is a good weight until the dive. Does this sound about right? Any other recommendations? I think being heavier would be better so i can do the skills on the ocean floor and actually get down during the end of the tank.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Jcp2]

Is 210 the total weight of everything or is it just your own weight? If you know total weight for desired buoyancy in fresh water, then you can increase that total weight by about 3% for equivalent buoyancy in salt water, which is about 3% denser than fresh water. Archimedes principle.

 

[TMHeimer]

The instructor or assistants should be doing a weight check for each student at the checkout dives when entering the water before the first dive. Maybe ask if this will be done. You may need to put some weight on a belt. I assume no one used belts in the pool.

 

[MaxTorque]

I think being heavier would be better so i can do the skills on the ocean floor and actually get down during the end of the tank.
.

I'm sure you know this, but really, you should be able (eventually) to do everything you need to do whilst diving in the hover so to speak, ie at neutral buoyancy with good trim.

However, as a new diver this, whilst a noble aim, may or may not be a step too far as you take your first kicks into the underwater world! I was super lucky when i did my original cert course, and ended (by chance, not design) with a brilliant instructor and totally 1:1 for the duration of my course. That mean't they could spare the extra time to really help me get my buoyancy sorted right from the get-go, to do everything in the hover and in trim.

But, as is say, some people find some things easier than others, and for many, and there's no shame in being one of these majority, trying to learn too much, from the start is simply going to cause problems. This is why a lot of instructors teach a class of begineers "in the kneel" ie negatively buoyant, and firmly on the bottom. In this case, and where you will be spending most time in this position, being over weighted and badly trimmed really insn't a major problem. In fact, getting your trim (weight distribution) totally perfect for a horizontal position in the water might actually make this "kneel on the bottom" position harder. I know when i tried it in the pool once i kept feeling like i was tipping forwards and face planting ;-)


If you can, ask you instructor or guide to run you through a proper weighting check, ideally done at the end of the dive, with your tank at a sensible minium pressure. That way you can find the best weighting for those conditions! One thing i tell people that really helped me was to make sure they can take a photo of their kit after they've got out the water, showing what weights they had where, and what their kit they were using. This means that you can look back and easily remember that base line in the weeks,months and even years ahead.

 

[Seville]

When we were at the end of our tanks about 1k psi they did a weight check in the pool. The had us so our eyes were level with the waterline completely exhausted and with no air in bcd. They determined my weight should be 14lbs. I could not even get 1 foot below the surface swimming with my gear on. We all added weight back on when we couldn't go under again. I guess the ocean dive is a little odd. there is no place to store anything so we have to drop off everything from our cars to the beach then hope we are weighted correctly when we go in. I weigh 210 without any gear. It seemed like about 26 lbs was pretty good when i was in the pool and low on air. Some of the calculators say I should be anywhere from 27-38 lbs of weight in salt water

 

[Seville]

Is 210 the total weight of everything or is it just your own weight? If you know total weight for desired buoyancy in fresh water, then you can increase that total weight by about 3% for equivalent buoyancy in salt water, which is about 3% denser than fresh water. Archimedes principle.

Total weight as 26lbs in fresh water and add 3% to that meaning add 0.78 lbs? or 3% of weight all up?

 

[Centrals]

Every diver has this problem so you are not alone. It seems your instructor is doing his/her job properly and spending time to do a proper weight check near the end of the dive. A lot of them simply overload them with extra weight and forget all about it. Overweight with lead = poor trimming = poor swimming posture = more effort = higher gas consumption and so on.
It is a slow process and take time to "perfect" it. Thickness of the wet suit also affects the weight required so you need to write those numbers down for future references. Make sure you entry everything in your log book(physical or electronic).

Have fun

 

[Rae HalfTheHill]

So I’m about 210 and with 3mm wetsuit, boots, and an AL80 I need maybe around 12 pounds. Maybe I’m missing something but this seems like a lot of extra weight?

 

[MaxTorque]

One option is to ask your instructor to carry a couple of extra weights that they can hand out during a dive if anyone becomes underweighted Some instructors do this anyway, their buoyancy skills should be easily capable of handling that small extra weight in a pocket or two!

 

[Jcp2]

Total weight as 26lbs in fresh water and add 3% to that meaning add 0.78 lbs? or 3% of weight all up?

All weight.