Don't know what happened

[Dody]

I guess there is no thread of yours that does not end with someone stating that you are doing too many courses in a short period of time.
And from thread to thread, you do a new one. When did you do your OW? 6 months ago?

I would have done Nitrox but it is not available here.

I am going to give you the same advice I gave you on a previous thread: focus on the basics.

I can't tell if you have problems with buoyancy, trim or finning (as I did not see it), but it can be an issue as others pointed out.
What definitely you need to sort out is the goal and how to perform a weight check.

The goal? I don’t understand.

 

[Raphus]

The ideal weight check has been described above, in pieces

At your safety stop, with only your reserve gas left in your cylinder and no air in your BC, you should be able to smoothly hold the stop and then make a nice, controlled ascent to the surface.

The gas in your cylinder has significant weight that you will lose during the dive. Sorry for the imperial calculation, but an AL80 cylinder will be 5.2 lbs (almost 2.4 kg) lighter at the end of the dive that when you started.

It is a good thing to record the weight required in your logbook, for future reference. This will be primarily dictated by your exposure protection and cylinder material and volume.

I will go a little heavy rather than light. You can always remove some weight if you find you are too heavy at your weight check. It is a real pain to be light and not be able to hold the stop. Give it a try, you'll like it

That itself describes the problem really well. If you have to teach a DM how to do a proper weigthcheck something is seriously wrong.

 

[David Novo]

I would jave done Nitrox and s

The goal? I don’t understand.

Why do you do a weight check?

P.S.: I think it is easier to do a proper weight check if you understand why you are doing it.

 

[Dody]

Why do you do a weight check?

P.S.: I think it is easier to do a proper weight check if you understand why you are doing it.

Well. I do understand. It is not rocket science. However, I admit that I only do pre-dive weight checks. No post dives. I will from now. Until my last two dives, since I got my new wetsuit, I had never had any issue with being neutrally buoyant at safety stops.
And trying to be as light as possible rather than too heavy might be a mistake.
Point taken.

 

[ginti]

Until my last two dives, since I got my new wetsuit, I had never had any issue with being neutrally buoyant at safety stops.

Hi @Dody, being sure that you can hold a safety stop is a necessary condition for a proper weight check, but not sufficient. Indeed, if you only ensure that you can hold a stop at 3m with almost empty tanks, you are sure that your weight is enough - but you cannot say if it is too much! Too much weight can cause a series of trouble. Be sure to dedicate more time to this.

Be aware that, as a DM, being grossly overweight can create you serious problem if you need to lift, for any reason, a diver from the bottom to the surface (e.g. rescue someone); indeed, you will have to lift somebody else AND your excessive weight - not a very nice situation to be in.

cheers

 

[Jcp2]

I suppose you could do a pre dive weight check, but you have to be very still, not have any trapped air in your gear, and be breathing as you would be during the dive. Then you have to increase this weight by the weight of the gas in the tank. That’s why it’s easier to be a bit over weighted for certain, and then do the check at the end of the dive when all the other issues have sorted themselves out. And then it’s still better to be overweighted as a divemaster helping out with divers underwater as you may have to donate weights to those that are unweighted. “Perfect” buoyancy with the minimum of overweighting and very little air in the BC only makes sense if you are diving for yourself only in calm waters with minimal noncompressible exposure correction at modest depths.

 

[inquis]

When doing your weight check at the start of the dive, I believe one or more of these happened:

• You were unconsciously finning or hand waving. Cross your legs and arms to ensure that you do not.
• You were mistaken about being completely submerged with 6 kg.
• You were mistaken about either the 6 or 8 kg amounts.
• Your exhalations were different.
• You inadvertently added air between the two weightings.

As others have said, a proper weight check is needed in this gear configuration to allow you to hold depth or descend on your own at any phase of the dive. Moreover, you should then distribute that weight to yield horizontal trim with minimal movement. A buddy or video is REQUIRED; just "feeling it" does not normally work.

 

[Dody]

I have actually learnt a lot on SB even though I don’t agree with everything and have been shot down for that. No big deal. I handle that better than my lack of knowledge.

 

[David Novo]

Well. I do understand. It is not rocket science. However, I admit that I only do pre-dive weight checks. No post dives. I will from now.

Basically you said that you understand but ignore it. Nevertheless, what matters is what you do from now on.

Until my last two dives, since I got my new wetsuit, I had never had any issue with being neutrally buoyant at safety stops.
And trying to be as light as possible rather than too heavy might be a mistake.
Point taken.

As @ginti said, being able to hold a stop is just half of the problem. Are you able to swim your rig up, if your BCD/Wing has a catastrophic failure?

 

[Dody]

Basically you said that you understand but ignore it. Nevertheless, what matters is what you do from now on.



As @ginti said, being able to hold a stop is just half of the problem. Are you able to swim your rig up, if your BCD/Wing has a catastrophic failure?

Sorry. You know that English is not my native language. What do you mean by swim my gear up? If you mean being able to ascend with a malfunctioning BCD, I would say yes as I never add air to my BCD to ascend. I just release air for control. Now, if the problem is that I can’t release air from my BCD, that’s another story. I regularly practice disconnecting the LPI.