Another Newbie Weight Question

[Booyakasha]

OWC check out dive in ocean weighted with 12lbs in a 3mm full wetsuit. Descent was a little slow but once the suit depressed it was good. Did the whole dive at 40-45 feet with no air in my BC. Had no problems with buoyancy control, hovered for as long as I needed did swim throughs just using air in my lungs to go up and down. 1st dive held the safety stop no problem second dive had a little problem holding the safety stop as we were down for a while and the tank was below 500. My question is this, Do I keep the weight as is or maybe add 2 more lbs. My feeling because my BC was empty the whole dive I couldn't compensate by letting any air out to hold the safety stop, . So do I dive with maybe 2 more lbs to give me that little extra weight at the end and compensate with a little air in the BC at the beginning?

TIA,

B.

 

[herman]

Personally, I would leave it there. Odds are, like most new divers you are still overweighted anyway. For whatever reason, comfort level most likely, as you spend time underwater you will tend to need less weight. Seeing as you are almost there now anyway why add what you are most likely......or at least should- some never do- drop after a few more dives anyway. +/- 2 lbs is fairly easy to deal with using breath control alone.

 

[Scared Silly]

I would agree, given that you are already using your lungs to move up and down in the column you probably just need a bit more practice at the shallower deeps where using your lungs had a greater affect.

 

[idocsteve]

If you can descend and hold the safety stop then you don't want to add anymore weight.

If after a few more dives you find you're struggling at the safety stop with a near empty tank than increase the weight in 2 lb increments.

Realize that as you become more relaxed you'll probably be holding less air in your lungs and the extra weight won't be necessary.

 

[dhuskins]

Odds are you were a little nervous about being so low on air when you were doing the second dive's safety stop. Being nervous 1) makes you consume more air and 2) causes you to be more buoyant.

Leave the weight alone and instead, relax more. 500 psi on any tank larger than 20 cu ft is far more than enough air to ascend from a 15 foot safety stop. While I don't recommend draining a tank down below 500 psi on a regular dive plan, if it happens while you are on your safety stop, it's nothing to worry about.

 

[wcbdiver]

Everything that they said is great advice. But, what is 2 lbs, I personally would add the 2 pounds, I am diving in cold canadian waters most times with a drysuit and use 40 pounds of weights on each and every dive with a dryuit, so if it makes you feel better adding 2 lbs, then add the 2 pounds. I always like to get to the bottom as quick as possible, but thats just me.

J

 

[SkimFisher]

OWC check out dive in ocean weighted with 12lbs in a 3mm full wetsuit. Descent was a little slow but once the suit depressed it was good. Did the whole dive at 40-45 feet with no air in my BC. Had no problems with buoyancy control, hovered for as long as I needed did swim throughs just using air in my lungs to go up and down. 1st dive held the safety stop no problem second dive had a little problem holding the safety stop as we were down for a while and the tank was below 500. My question is this, Do I keep the weight as is or maybe add 2 more lbs. My feeling because my BC was empty the whole dive I couldn't compensate by letting any air out to hold the safety stop, . So do I dive with maybe 2 more lbs to give me that little extra weight at the end and compensate with a little air in the BC at the beginning?

TIA,

B.

OP - did you have to kick or pull yourself down when you descended? Did you feel like you were fighting it?

Everything that they said is great advice. But, what is 2 lbs, I personally would add the 2 pounds, I am diving in cold canadian waters most times with a drysuit and use 40 pounds of weights on each and every dive with a dryuit, so if it makes you feel better adding 2 lbs, then add the 2 pounds. I always like to get to the bottom as quick as possible, but thats just me.

J

Why dive with more weight than you need? It lends itself to poor trim for starters. Being new he most likely is holding a bit more air in his lungs. He'll also most likely be adding gear to his setup - such as a light - and if he goes with a pistol-grip style light that's 2lbs right there in and of itself.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Everybody is different. I know more than one diver who likes diving so light they have to take half breaths and swim down a little at 500 psi; most of those women last a day and a half on a full 80 cft, so even their 63's never go below 1000 psi.

I have been known to cruise 10' deep reef with my camera from 600-250 psi; I like 2-4 lbs more than perfect 500 psi / 15' book weight. Adding 2-4 lbs trim weight (from perfect 500 / 15) to the vast majority of vacation divers would be a significant improvement over roto-tiller-mania.

The lightest that your diving feels best at is the best weight, which could vary from dive to dive; a deep moored dive, like a wreck dive, you can get away with much less than the above shallow reef. No matter how light you are at the safety stop, you just hold the mooring line to keep yourself down.

 

[Booyakasha]

OP - did you have to kick or pull yourself down when you descended? Did you feel like you were fighting it?

Initially I felt that descending took some work to get thorugh the first maybe 15 feet. Once my suit compressed I sank at what I thought was a very comfortable but slow rate. There were others in our dive that sank like a rock. As I am learning, I would prefer to descend slowly but yet I don't want people waiting for me on the bottom wasting air while I take my sweet old time.

It seems to be an intersting balance about doing what I am comfortable with and keeping the dive moving at the "correct" pace.

That is the one thing that sort of surprised me about how fast things move. Get on your equipment quickly, get in the water descend it all seemed very rushed. Probably becasue it is new to me. I hope.............

B.

 

[idocsteve]

Everybody is different. I know more than one diver who likes diving so light they have to take half breaths and swim down a little at 500 psi

I don't quite get what you're saying there.

If I've got 500 psi in my tank the last place I'd be swimming is down.