How much weight do you dive with?

[randini]

38lbs sounds about right if you weigh about 400 and are wearing a 6.5 or more suit. The "rule of thumb" that I remember hearing one time is around 10% with a thicker suit.

But what worked for me was explained to me in a more advanced training course (I forget which one). Basically you get in the water with the kit on and empty all the air out of your BC. If you sink you're too heavy. You want to get to the point where you can rise by inhaling and sink by exhaling (while at the surface with an empty BC). Then as you go down you just give it a shot of air every so often and you're neutral again.

Oh and here are my stats:
HT: 6'4"
Wt": 180lbs
Suit: either a 1 pc 6.5 or a 7mm FJ+J
BC: middle age school rear inflate w/integrated weights.
tanks: mostly these steel 72 sized 3K psi steel tanks (not sure exactly what they are but we have 5 of them at the lab and I love them!))
Total wt: Have to go check, but It's about 18 lbs when I want to go heavy (to get some work done on the bottom in currents for example)

 

[Belce]

There is a normal tendancy for a new diver to be more bouyant than divers with some experience. A new diver will unintentionally hold more air in their lungs. I have done about 300 dives in the almost two years of my diving and while I thought I was relaxed when I started, I can say with confidence that I am now just learning to be relaxed underwater.

A number of things have changed for me besides my experience in diving. I have lost about 20 lbs and that has a lot to do with the weight I have shed from my diving belt, but not all of it. I used to dive with 40 lbs of lead, I now dive with 30. I am 5' 4" and now weigh 170, I used to weigh over 190. Oh and for the warm water divers chiming in, I spent 2 weeks in March in Bonaire, diving with a full 3mm suit I wore 8 lbs and an aluminium tank.

Getting an open water cert is more like getting your learner's permit for driving. You have shown you can do a shoulder check, parallel park, and obey the signs you come across while being observed by a trained professional. There is a reason why you learn how to do a bouyancy check and record the weight you use in your log, it is because that will and should change alot as you learn to dive and be comfortable.

 

[onefastpony]

5'11 330lbs
shorts
back inflate bc
steel 130
8lbs of lead

 

[Dirty-Dog]

Size:6'1", 200lbs
Exposure: 3mm full suit, 5mm booties
BCD: SeaQuest Balance back inflate.
Tank: AL80.
Lead: 17lbs. 4/4 in the trim pockets. 4lbs in my right ditchable, 5lbs in the left. I tend to roll to the right (probably because my left eye is fake, resulting in my turning my head farther to see that side) and this asymetric weight distribution cures that. I tend to be somewhat fin heavy, but I am not sure if that is something to be fixed by moving more weight into the trim pockets or by changing my body posture.
I think my weight is just about right. It takes just the tiniest puff of air to get neutral. Dropping to 16lbs total made it impossible to hold a safety stop without excessive effort.

 

[vladimir]

6'1", 220 lbs
3 mm suit
DSS backplate and wing
AL 80
Camera housing and strobes, about 1 lb negative
no lead

 

[crowleyW]

Height/Weight: 6'0" 175lbs
Exposure: rashguard
BCD Style: Al plate/w
Tank: al80
Lead: no lead needed

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Height/Weight: 6'0" 175lbs
Exposure: rashguard
BCD Style: Al plate/w
Tank: al80
Lead: no lead needed

Sorry to pick on you as you are just the last of a series of post I can't understand.

The OP is much bigger than you, uses 7MM FJ+J rather than a rash guard, uses a poodle jacket rather than a BP, use a heavy steel tank rather than an AL.

With all these differences, how is the knowledge that you don't need lead useful?

 

[Nemrod]

As little as possible.

5-11 (well, I used to be)
165 pounds
Rashguard and swim suit
aluminum 80
fabric Oxy plate and 18 pound Mach V
0 to 4 pounds saltwater plus my camera

N

 

[brucet]

6ft 1 245 lbs
3m shorty
Transpac
Light, camera
Saltwater
AL80 I use 14lbs
Steel 130 4lbs

 

[danegr]

I am a portly gent and had the same experience in my OW class. It was not until my AOW that we went thru and did a proper weight check. I was carrying 32lbs in salt, no wet suit, I was in a jacket bc,al80 tank, fins, and booties. Come to find out I only needed 12lbs. I am 5'11 280lbs. In fresh I only need 6lbs with my Hollis rec.wing. Now I am a pretty solid guy but a little fluffy on the edges but you are 100% correct in your statement about OW instructors just wanting you to sink. Once they accomplish that, they move on. Understandably, they have a lot of other issues to communicate to you. I would suggest taking a peak performance bouyancy class where proper weighting is a focus. Any other time you can practice weighting yourself, do it. When your on a boat with a group of people is not the time. According to the PADI book you should get in the water. Let all the air out of your BC. Then exhale. You should float at eye level. If you do this, you will have complete bouyancy control. You will use a ton less air. And you will discover that diving is a peaceful, calm, relaxing thing. You will no longer be fighting with your BC inflator constantly trying to find the right amount of air to keep you off the bottom or from jetting to the surface. Minor changes in the amount of inhalation and exhalation will move you about with comfort and ease. From there you can play with trim. All this being said. Everyone is different. But when you find your proper weight, it will be obvious to you that it is right!