Why is it bad to be overweighted? Am I overweighted?

[Diving Dubai]

I'll just throw my 2bar in here if only to give @Bent Benny something to consider

Lots of people think they're about right weight wise. Mostly they're wrong. When I get Con Ed and especially those on PPB, I spend a lot of time on weight checks. I have a complete set of weights of all sizes so as to get them precisely dialed in

The last weekend I had a couple. The girl - there was more fat on a french fry, the guy less than 200lbs - both were happy with their weighting

The girl I took off 3lbs (down to 5lbs) the guy 7lbs (from 14). At teh end of each dive - at 3m (15') I bled their air down to 400psi (30ish bar) and proved they could still hold a stop with Ali tanks.

I can't stress enough the importance of a good weight check, especially for newer divers. It's the only way to get dialed in

 

[EireDiver606]

When I dive 7mm wetsuit with hood, 7mm boots and steel 12L nitrox With 2kg SS backplate I use no lead.

Basically use the least amount of lead possible to descend. Obviously though it is better to be slightly overweighted than slightly underweighted but both is bad.

 

[scrane]

Neutral is neutral, whether from a little weight and a little air, or from no weight and no air. I really don't understand the mania for precise "balanced rig". I just don't think the amount of weight you carry, within reason, is that important. You are better off learning to properly use your inflator than worrying too much about your weight.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

To find out what your perfect weighting is, come up to your 15’ stop at the end of your dive when your tank is at 300 to 500 psi, your BC bladder should be completely empty (as empty as it will go) and you should be able to hold your stop with breath control only.
Once you zero in on what the minimum weight you can use to achieve this is then you have determined perfect minimum weighting and you have a base line that you can go off. If you want to add a few lbs from there you can.

I dive in water very similar in temp and conditions that you do and I like to dive in wetsuits. I don’t consider 7 mil to be that thick, to me it’s average. 9 mil, 10 mil, and 13 mil are getting thick. I have several custom wetsuits that are made from specially ordered materials that resist compression much better than modern mass produced cheap wetsuits. One of my commercial urchin diver suits is 1/2”! That’s 25 mm on my torso.
Drysuits don’t work for me in my environment.
We do a lot of kayak diving and hiking to dive sites, rough water entries, rocky shores with sharp rock hazards and urchin populations. Drysuits are too tender and require too much expensive maintenance. They are expensive and are also prone to failure at really bad times like zippers gone bad and ripped seals. I’ve had many buddies that had to skip a dive because their drysuit crapped out when we were gearing up. I’ve bad stuff go wrong with drysuits when I was using them. I’m not a fan of drysuits, I’m also used to cold water and don’t need one. Not much can go wrong with a good wetsuit and they don’t keep costing you money.
Just realize there is a depth limit with wetsuits, but different wetsuit materials have different depth limits.

 

[DangerousDan64]

If you truly feel “completely in control” of your buoyancy, then you are probably NOT overweighted. The main problem with being overweighted is NOT being able to control it. When I did my refresher after not having dived in 20 years, the guy who was testing me LOADED me down with weights and as a result, when he was checking my ability to achieve neutral buoyancy, I would let a trickle of air out of my BC and I would KERPLUNK to the bottom of the pool. I would add a smidge of air to it and nothing would happen. I added another smidge, and another and suddenly I shot to the surface. The guy let me go on like this for about ten minutes when by chance, I was able to achieve some semblance of neutral ( he should have seen right away that I was overweighted). Now I only use enough weight so that when I void my BC at the surface, I gently start sinking and have to do a surface dive and give a couple of kicks to get myself going. Once down, It’ very easy to achieve and maintain neutral in this fashion and I have plenty of lift if I need it.

 

[PfcAJ]

Overweight means you have more gas in your BC to compensate. You’re swimming needless extra mass, plus extra drag from that extra inflated bc.

Buoyancy changes are harder to stay ahead of. On ascent that extra worthless gas is expanding and it’s more that you must compensate for.

If your BC breaks (especially the elbow when you jump in the water) being over weighted means you’re a lawn dart.

It adds zero value to your diving.

 

[Steve_C]

You left out a detail. What size tank are you diving and is it AL or Steel or "dense aluminum". Your weighting will vary with the tank.

Also at 300 psi at 15 ft I prefer to be a couple pounds heavy. In NC you can find your self on the hang bar in a current on a bouncy day. If you were perfect at 15 ft then a couple ft of bounce and you are light and having to work more than I like to hold the stop.

 

[Bent Benny]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I dropped 5lbs yesterday and I could see what some of you meant. I didn't descend nearly as quickly but when I was on bottom I spent much less time messing with the amount of air in my bc. I could probably drop another 2-3 lbs though because I did need a little air in my bc at the safety stop.

To the above poster, I use AL80 tanks.

I should be getting my dry suit today. It's a neoprene suit (I can't remember how thick). I will make sure to do a weight check before I descend.

 

[D_Fresh]

While I realize the OP is moving to dry suit, I think this may still be prudent to others reading through....

To ensure a more accurate weight check and easier initial descent, I suggest wetting your wetsuit thoroughly predive, inside and out.

It also should help with any initial Cold Water rush upon entering, since your body has already warmed the water inside.

 

[Bent Benny]

Well my dry suit wasn't ready. Something with they didn't have the right boots. The guy at the dive shop decided to just order me a new one instead. Now I have to wait 3 weeks... I guess I had better keep dialing in my weight with my wetsuit.