I've just read arms are positive buoyant when i used to think they were negative, so extend them out front to get trimmed when my head try to go up (I was thinking i the gravity impact) so.... It seems I was doing the wrong thing? what about legs?
Are arms positively buoyant?
- Thread starter estresao
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Damselfish
Contributor
I would expect most peoples arms are buoyant, not sure. But in any event I wouldn't position my arms in weird ways to adjust trim, much better ways to do that. You have more important things to do with your arms like use your equipment and otherwise keep them someplace comfortable and out of the way.
Some people have floaty legs, some not. Exposure protection can make a difference. Fin choice is one way to help adjust for that.
Some people have floaty legs, some not. Exposure protection can make a difference. Fin choice is one way to help adjust for that.
outofofficebrb
HARRO HUNNAYYY
I find that my arms don't really have an impact on whether I am trim or not, but I say that comparing when I have nothing in my hands vs. when I have a significant camera rig with me. I dived in rental gear for a long time and I found that as soon as I bought a back inflate BC, it was much more natural to be trim underwater. Also, proper weighting and distribution of weights across your trim pockets, weight belt/integrated weights, or on the tank, really helps. Ensuring your tank is properly positioned also helps. Engaging your butt muscles and lower back muscles also helps me go into the trim position. Some folks find help with gtting trim by also getting neutrally buoyant or negatively buoyant fins/ankle weights depending on how floaty their lower half of their body normally is. A lot of it is trial and error for yourself.
- Messages
- 16,396
- Reaction score
- 5,211
- # of dives
- 1000 - 2499
Don't know about arms, never thought about it. My legs sink like cement. Arms being positive may explain why I still need so much weight even with those legs. I guess you could try putting a bare arm on the surface and seeing what happens?
Degenerate
Contributor
One of the better skills we learned in fundies was adjusting trim by positioning our hands/feet.
Your hands will be positive if you're wearing gloves and depending on your fin choice your feet will be negative or neutral.
Adjusting the position of those in relation to your body will definitely have a pretty big impact on your trim...
What you define as weird positions I can't say, but it does make a pretty big difference on your trim.
Damselfish
Contributor
The OP talked about extending their arms out front, and that is what I would define as weird. I'm picturing superman style (probably the opposite of what you are talking about doing.) Out there they're in the way of seeing things, easier to hit things, inconvenient to look at anything on your wrist, and far away from the inflator and everything else you might want to get at.
Sure position of arms (or anything) can affect your trim, and more so for someone wearing significant exposure protection. Simple physics. But if someone has a problem with their head going up all the time I'd rather fix the basic issue by tweaking tank or weight position.
happy-diver
Skindiver Just feelin it
- Messages
- 5,326
- Reaction score
- 4,788
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
Arms need to be resting
In preparedness for fighting sharks
Reaching out to someone
and riding turtles
In preparedness for fighting sharks
Reaching out to someone
and riding turtles
I think arms extended is mostly important when you have a drysuit as it help balancing with floaty feet but I am not 100% sure.
I find that keeping the arm that I don’t use extended during a manifold shutdown helps me staying in trim.
Two questions here. The first is why some people swim with arms extended more or less "Superman-style." I can think of a few, which I suppose I picked up from the GUE Fundies course. First, it can help with balance/trim. Second, it keeps at least one hand out in front where it would be immediately at the ready to deal with an urgent situation, such as to donate a regulator to an out-of-air teammate. (Yeah, I know, you photographers and spearos are chortling at that.) Third, it keeps wrist-mounted instruments just about in view. And fourth, it contributes to a streamlined profile in the water (which I suppose is why Superman flies that way 
)
The original question, if I understood correctly, was whether one's arms are positively buoyant. If your arms are clad in buoyant exposure suit (wetsuit or drysuit), then yes, they are at least somewhat buoyant. Wetsuit buoyancy changes with depth, though. If not wearing any buoyant exposure suit, then parts of the body other than the lungs are relatively neutral in buoyancy.
)The original question, if I understood correctly, was whether one's arms are positively buoyant. If your arms are clad in buoyant exposure suit (wetsuit or drysuit), then yes, they are at least somewhat buoyant. Wetsuit buoyancy changes with depth, though. If not wearing any buoyant exposure suit, then parts of the body other than the lungs are relatively neutral in buoyancy.
Similar threads
