Low buoyancy exposure suit?

[spectrum]

I am a 60 yr old woman with more weight and body fat % than I should have. We are in the middle of our 3 week pool class, and I have to wear lot of weight. My 3mm shorty of course means I must add more, and I realize in salt water I will need even more.

We do our open water dives in Cozumel May 1, then we have a week there to (hopefully) dive. Even in warm water, I know I will need something to keep me warm. I sure don't want to add any more buoyancy!! I'm considering Lavacore because my understanding is it can be used alone or under my neoprene shorty.

Lavacore is close to buoyancy neutral, correct? How about Sharkskin? Advice on either product?

Any feedback on whether to get the jumpsuit or a pants/shirt? I read they run small. How small?

Suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks!

The cold hard truth is:

#1 Insulation equals trapped gas and trapped gas equals buoyancy

#2 Diving is a tremendous draw on your thermal reserves. Making a dive is one thing, doing so enough to make a tropical vacation worthwhile means at least several dives per day for most divers. With repetitive diving over a week your body will not recover from day to day unless you dress to conserve energy. Silent hypothermia will set in, you will be lethargic and miss all of the fun. That means a wetsuit.

#3 How much you find adequate is a combination of your metabolism, how good your suit is and how well it fits and how sedentary your dive style is. It's safe to say that a good 3mm suit is a common solution. Some make do or even do fine with less. For some diving dry is the only refuge. More on suits here.

#4 If a 3mm full suit is not the deal a nice upgrade is a 3mm hooded vest. this will cover the head, add to your core and seal off neckline flushing with a minimum increase in buoyancy.

#5 Conventional jacket BCs have some inherent buoyancy from the padding, sometimes 3 pounds or more. The mentioned BP&W BC's are webbing based and end up being negative overall in bupyancy. Keep in mind that some of that negative buoyancy stems from the fact that they are usually heavier, never the less the net result is a more efficient configuration weight wise. They may look barbaric but they are entirely comfortable.

#6 Once you make good choices on exposure protection and gear you will need to wear what you need to wear in order to never become positively buoyant while diving. Many instructors chronically over weight divers and under teach the topic of setting your weights. More on weights here. I will not speculate that your present weighting is inappropriate and I suggest that you ignore any that do, it is that variable.

#7 Frankly, if you are fit enough to dive to begin with the weight & gear required for tropical diving should not pose a challenge. I will say that while it may seem prohibitive at first managing a complement of dive gear is something of a dance that will be come easier with experience.

#8 As anovice Cozumel diver much of your activity is apt to be on boats where you will stand up, walk to the platform and splash. Handing gear up before re-boarding is an option if climbing is the problem. Boat crews are adept at accommodating.

Welcome to diving, the effort will be worthwhile,
Pete

 

[kelemvor]

I use a lavacore full suit, it's fantastic. Not only is it neutral, it's super easy to don and doff. I've never seen a sharkskin in person but from what I see on the website it appears to be exactly the same thing.

A hood will make a big difference in how warm you are. Lavacore also makes a hood, although I've never tried it. I use a neoprene hood that came with my drysuit. I find hoods to be a pain, but as I said.. big difference in warmth.

According to this you'll be looking at roughly 82f water temps - the same as it lists for late June when I'm going. I'm not sure I'll even wear the lavacore (but I will bring it just in case) when I go. As has already been said, dive time and personal preference will play a big role here.


I've used my lavacore with a 3mm shorty as you've mentioned - that works just fine if you need the extra warmth. That would be too much for me in 82f water.

 

[NAM001]

The lavacore aounds like the best solution for you delema with out dropping body fat. I also use perhaps 6# for my 3mm shorty. Im 6 ft 250# 1# light with no suit in fresh water. going to a lavacore really made me heavy to the point i had to change back plates on the BP/W in fresh water. I now will use the lavacore to go to salt water instead of wearing more lead. Sizing is a tough one so find a dealer where you can try on several to get the right size.

 

[stuartv]

Thanks. I own the 3mm shorty, but when I tried it at class last night, I ended up needing 6 more lbs.

What is a Stainless BP/W?

Another question, is there a particular BCD that does a better job with larger weights?

BP/W (or BPW or BP&W) is short for Back Plate and Wing. A BPW IS a BCD. But, it is not an integrated BC, like what you have most likely been using in your training. An integrated BC (which could be a jacket style or a back-inflate) has the harness (shoulder straps, waist belt, etc.) permanently attached to the air bladder that provides your buoyancy. An integrated BC is an all-in-one kind of device.

A BPW is a BC that is not integrated. It has 3 distinct components which all get assembled together by the user for use. It has a harness, a back plate, and a wing. The harness can be as simple as one really long piece of 2" webbing that gets threaded through slots in the back plate in a serpentine fashion to form the shoulder straps and the waist belt. Or the harness can be more complicated, with multiple pieces, some padding, etc..

The back plate is a sort of backpack shaped piece of material that goes against your back and which you attach the wing too. Back plates can be made of plastic, aluminum, kydex or a kydex and metal combo, or stainless steel. Stainless steel back plates are the heaviest and also the most expensive. Being the heaviest means they allow you to take the most weight off your belt (though obviously, you are still carrying the weight - it's just distributed in a way that facilitates better trim in the water and a more streamlined overall shape).

The wing is the air bladder that actually provides your buoyancy. It attaches to the back plate and then is sandwiched between your tank and the back plate. The tank straps (aka cam bands) go through slots on the back plate, then through slots or holes in the middle of the wing before wrapping around your tank. Some integrated BCs only use 1 tank strap. BPW setups pretty much always use 2.

So, that's what a stainless BP/W means. Often abbreviated as a SS BPW.

And a SS BPW is generally thought to do the best job when it comes to a diver that needs a larger amount of weight. Deep Sea Supply has already been mentioned. Their back plates are awesome. Most SS BPs weigh around 6 pounds. DSS offers bolt-on weight plates to attach to their back plates which add another 8 pounds. So, you can have a 14 # back plate, if you go with DSS. That's a lot of weight taken off your weight belt. It may actually be too much, if you're diving in a 3mm full suit or less, in salt water. 14 # would almost certainly be too much in a 3mm suit in fresh water.

Lastly, every body is different when it comes to what suit they need in order to be comfortable at any given temperature. Your best bet would be to note the water temperature in the pool you've been training in and compare your comfort in that to the expected water temps in Cozumel. It sounds like the water in Coz will probably be as warm or warmer than your pool when you go there. So, whatever is comfortable in your pool should be fine in Coz. That said, I agree with the prior comments about using a full suit of some kind, to protect yourself from jelly fish, inadvertent reef contact, etc..

I do really like my Lavacore gear. I found the sizing to be spot on, for me. I typically wear XL clothes and XL Lavacore fits me just right. It's tight. Definitely, tight. But, not too tight. It's tight in just the way I want it to be. And it does not affect my weighting requirements. However, once it gets wet, it seems to relax just a bit. I did a swim in the pool in just my Lavacare and it felt like it was a bit loose and draggy without a wetsuit on over it. So, I don't know if I would dive with it without a suit over it. It would probably work well under your 3mm shorty, but it could possibly make you feel pretty warm if the water really is 82 degrees (though you can always just hook a finger into the neck of your wetsuit and pull it open to let some water in, if you want to cool down).

 

[NAM001]

here is a link to see some pbackplate wing set ups. As you can see it is a 3 part contraption. a tinkertoy rig. (not a toy) it is a combination of a belting system and a mounting plate and an inflation innertube on the back. It is probably the most functional set up you can aquire. With a jacket bcd you have to be the body shape it was made for. you get what you get. Wioth the BNack plates you get the size for your torso that is right for you. you get a wing that is not only right for you but is right for the diving and equipment you are using. And you get a single piece web belt with attachment rings on it. Every aspect is adjustable to allow you to make it the perfect firt for you.

Back plates..... 6# steel, 2# aluminum, 1# kydex (fiberglass type of thing). they are tall, short, and medium length. Same backplate used for dingle tank or double tanks.
Wings..... single wide or double wide. horshoe or doughnut sahaped, lift capabilities from perhaps 20-100#'s they come bulky or streamlined
Belting, one continous strap, (no breaking latches) It adjusts to your shape, has D rings to hang tanks lights ect from.

You put it on,,. get it adjusted and it fits snug and becomes an extension of you not an orniment hanning from a tree.

Its not as simple to use like the jacket (getting it set up) but if its rocket science to use then its bottle rocket's we are talking about.

The most difficult part of it is deciding what size of wing to use 30# 32# ect. and that takes someone that knows what they are doing. bigger is definately not better.

Benifits. weight comes off your belt and is part of the backplate (steel 6#) the center of mass and weight is located on top of yor body's center of mass and weight. You dont get the leverage effect twisting you in the water. When adjusted correctly you can effortlessly lay in the water like you were in a bed . You end up with minimul ware drag when swimming (hydrodynamic). One fin kick allows you to move much farther in the water If your are not kicking you are not breathing hard and that leads to less air being used.

Its not the whole scuba answer, its a tool (like a knife or light) to allow you to maximise your diving flexiblity. you want to change to doubles you just change the wing to a doubles wing and hit the water. going from fresh to salt water you switch the sl backlate for a steel one. cold water to warm you ned less suit so you change the steel plate for a lighter one.

here is a link https://www.google.com/search?q=bac...x.php%3Fmain_page%3Dindex%26cPath%3D7;267;348

 

[James R]

My gf uses a lavacore full suit (under her 3mm) in warmer water (80-82), and doesn't have to add any weight for it. It keeps her much warmer than the 3mm alone (and yes both fit her properly) and, as others have said, is easy for her to don & doff.

 

[jarand]

Thanks for the replies. It really does help to hear the voice of experience!

 

[kwinter]

I'll take the discussion in a slightly different direction. The purpose of your exposure suit is to make you comfortable. You should not sacrifice that comfort because of buoyancy; just find a more comfortable way of dealing with the buoyancy issue. Someone already suggested the use of a backplate and wing instead of a jacket BCD. A steel plate will add weight comfortably, especially if used in conjunction with steel tanks. But steel tanks are hard to come by in Cozumel, as would a rental BP/W. So you might want to look into getting a weight harness as one of your first purchases. It allows you to carry a significant amount of lead without the discomfort and other problems we "more senior" divers have with weight belts.

Just something to consider that hasn't been mentioned.

 

[Motojack]

My wife used to get cold in even the warmest conditions using a full 3/2 wetsuit. She now uses a neoprene beanie and says it helps considerably without the inconvenience of a hood & virtually no buoyancy difference. Definitely an inexpensive item to try as well.

 

[Frosty]

My view is that if it is a 3mm shorty you are wearing then in all honesty its likely adding very little to your buoyancy.
So for now I'd be looking to redistribute the weight round your rig so you don't have as much lead on your hips.
if your BC has pockets on the Tank band you should put 2kg in each pocket. If not then its well worth asking for them.
I agree with other posters that you'll likely drop weight as you gain experience but not counting on it.
To answer your specific question.
I dived tropical 26 degrees c in first just a lavacore tee and shorts then after it was "acquired" by number 1 son ive gone to a sharkskin tee.I must say I noticed no difference between the brands and no buoyancy increase in either case.