6.5mm Farmer John weight question and Hood catches air

[Rookie_J]

i had just bought my 6.5mm farmer john (2 piece) wetsuit for diving Lake Superior shallow water and mining pits.

i recently brought it to Florida, on a long weekend trip, and had a heck of a time getting it to sink. i was wearing zeagle BC, gloves, boots hood AL80 and 30 lbs of weight and still had to use my hands to get down below the surface. once below about 8 feet the buoyancy wasn't bad, but if i broke that 8'-10' depth, there was no stopping it's ascent. i realize 13 mm of neo is alot to sink, but 30#?


i also noticed that my hood was catching air from my reg, can i cut or burn a hole in it?

 

[gfisher4792]

How much weight do you need for lake diving with it?

As for your hood, some people suggest burning a small hole in the top/rear (soldering iron) or cutting a "cross" in the top that allows the hood to burp when needed, but still helps to mitigate water flow.

 

[Desa]

Most of the time if I have an issue with my hood catching air, its just not sitting in the right spot on my head. Try "sliding" it back a little bit and see if that helps.

Take a nail (the kind you drive into a baord) and heat it up, melt a small hole at the crown of the hood and it will probably help.

 

[Rookie_J]

How much weight do you need for lake diving with it?

sorry, the florida dive was in a fresh water spring....

 

[ScubaDadMiami]

After you do a number of dives on the suit, some of the bubbles in it crunch down a bit. So, you won't need as much weight.

That still sounds like an awful lot of weight you are using. Unfortunately, this is the issue with going wet instead of dry.

It is very dangerous to have a suit that will not permit you to hover at ten feet with a near empty tank. I am guessing you already know this.

 

[bcsean]

Well around here with OW students diving 7mm farmer john and 7mm uppers... it's quite common to strap 40# on a bigger guy to get him down. This is often dropped down once they get comfortable.

As for hood, a few small burn holes will remedy the problem. Does the hood fit snugly? I'd suggest a lot of the air is probably coming from exhaling through your nose and slipping out the side of the mask into the hood. This happened to me for awhile before I figured out what was going on.