Any easy way to determine how much weight?

[boulderjohn]

Rule of thumb is:

10% of your weight for 3mil wetsuit
10% of your weight plus 6lbs for 7mm wetsuit & drysuit

At least that will give you a starting to either subtract or delete weight until you're properly weighted. There's no real way to truly figure out your dive weight because everybody is built differently.

A lot of people say this, but in my opinion it starts you off much too heavy.

The OP is 215 pounds, and he was apparently fine with 16 pounds with a 5 mm farmer John plus a shorty. That is more neoprene than the 7 mm in that formula. According to that formula, he should have had nearly 30 pounds--or more--instead of the 16 he actually needed.

I am a little smaller (not much) then the OP, and I think I would have needed about the same weight he did for his dive. I assume we have similar body types. When I dive salt water in a 3 mm suit, I need about 8 pounds. That formula would start me off with 2.5 times as much weight as I need.

 

[scubadada]

Guidelines are fine but see what you need to easily hold your safety stop and gracefully ascend to the surface. I weigh about 190 pounds and with an aluminum 80 use 7 pounds with a full 3 mm, 13 pounds with a full 5mm and 19 pounds with a full 7 mm. To each their own.

Good diving, Craig

 

[Damselfish]

if you are traveling to warm water, you often don't need to worry about asking for extra weights when you rent, "just in case." Occasionally you will, but a great many dive places are set up with crates of weights sitting near the water or on the boat because they expect some people will need to check or adjust. Or just mention you might need to adjust weights can they make sure there's extra on the boat, if you don't see them. It will be pretty obvious when you get to a place how the weight thing works.

 

[CamG]

Greetings RedPostJames and weighting is a question that should be asked by many divers! First of all we use the starting point of 10% body weight for a reference at the start of determining proper weighting.
This only a starting point mind you as it is usually a tad bit much! But we work our way up or down depending on your personal needs. This is really where it pays to take your time and move in small increments to determine "exactly" how much weight it takes to make you neutrally buoyant and stay at depth.
This is all determined by a proper weight check at the surface and a weight check, "fin pivot" on a platform or close to 20'.
It is very important to compensate for your AL 80 when it reaches 700-500 psi as it will become approximately 4-5 lbs light. What we usually carry are medium sized ankle weights that we can strap on the tank around the boot to off=set this change.
Once the Al 80 is down to 500 psi we perform another weight check at "fin pivot" to determine if your weighting is correct. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO CONTROL YOUR BUOYANCY AT THE END OF THE DIVE! It is not rocket science but a matter of continued practice. It is as simple as recording every dive what weight you use and what weight you ended up with. The real key is to keep training because your weighting will change slightly depending on the wearing of different gear, age of wet suits, changing under garment for a dry suit, comfort levels in the water, fresh vs. salt, steel tanks vs. AL, dive conditions, dive hazards"Boats over head", and there are probably many I left out.
Like others have touched upon the key to your question is a commitment to gaining experience in the water which is simply diving more than a few dives a year.
Like riding a bike we get better the more we practice yes we know the skill but mastery comes with time. No worries my friend just dive like crazy or as much as you can. I feel it is equally important to find a good diving mentor to help get all the local information and keep you in the water.
Do not let so called "bad dives" get you down these are the dives that teach us more than when all goes well. Learn from these character builders and apply the wisdom to future dives.
Have fun as we all do constantly evolving as divers in a pursuit to be the best we can! Train hard and reap the benefits!
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!

 

[fnfalman]

A lot of people say this, but in my opinion it starts you off much too heavy.

The OP is 215 pounds, and he was apparently fine with 16 pounds with a 5 mm farmer John plus a shorty. That is more neoprene than the 7 mm in that formula. According to that formula, he should have had nearly 30 pounds--or more--instead of the 16 he actually needed.

I am a little smaller (not much) then the OP, and I think I would have needed about the same weight he did for his dive. I assume we have similar body types. When I dive salt water in a 3 mm suit, I need about 8 pounds. That formula would start me off with 2.5 times as much weight as I need.

So what if it starts you out too heavy? Then you know that you gotta take weights off until you're properly weighted.

I just dived with a guy who's 5ft3 and maybe 140lbs skinny. He needed 22lbs of weight to be properly weighted while wearing a 7mm wetsuit. Yes, I did a weight check with him and 22lbs of lead was the minimum he needed to even kick down from the surface.

I'm sure that his floaty jacket BC doesn't help but that's the whole point. Most of the time people don't have buoyancy characteristics data for their BCs, wetsuits, drysuits, etc. You go with the rule of thumb and adjust as needed.