"Properly weighted"

[plumcrazy]

I need 20lbs of lead to sink me in my rig in salt water. My rig consists of a full 7mm suit, a back inflate Tusa Imprex BC and an al80 tank. I'm a fairly lean 155lbs @ 5'7". I find that any less and I will constantly mildly stuggling to stay neutral in anything less than about 30ft. I am fairly sure that my BC is fully vented of air but I do not go so far as to suck any remaining air out. My buddy seems to think I could perhaps go with less weight but I'm not so sure. It seems to me that most other folks can get by with 14-16 lbs. I just got back from a trip to the Key Largo and several of the DM's kinda looked at me funny when I said I needed 20lbs. I know that "by the book" I should sink with exhale and rise with inhale when the tank is at 500 PSI with no air in the BC. I found this excersize impossible to do in rolling seas. I'm pretty mellow in the water so relaxing really isn't an issue. Are there any other techniques I could maybe try? Does this amount of weight sound reasonable?

 

[noreastDIVER84]

Well I weigh about 180 and am 5'10, and when I was in Belize in a 3mil full suit in my SeaQuest proQD with an AL80 I needed 16 lbs. So with a 7 mil suit I would tend to say that you may be just right there, maybe slightly over. I would say that if you need the 20 lbs then don't question it, if you were to go 18 lbs and having trouble staying neutral then you are fine.

 

[Dhboner]

As a comparison I use 22 lbs in fresh water with a 7mm wetsuit (including hood and gloves) a Sherwood BC and an AL80 tank. I'm 5' 9" weighing around 178lbs and I'm fairly lean. I would probably need to add at least 5lbs to that in salt water.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

You don't say how many dives you have but for you that may be what you need for now. This is the reason I DO log dives. I have a record of what I used from 6 years ago that I can use as a reference, measure progress, or use as a starting point. By the book is a generalization at best. Everyone is different. 4 years ago in the Keys I needed 16 lbs in a 5 mil with a jacket bc that I though I was able to get all the air out of. A year later in BPW I needed 6 lbs on the belt. Everything else was the same. The Tusa Imprex bc is what the shop whose pool I use has for rental/pool gear. It is approx 4 lbs positive due to the padding and little spots that seem to trap air depending on the size. The XXL/XL is a little lighter yet. I've never used a 7 mil suit. If it's cold enough for that I'm diving dry. So what you needed may be what you need for your configuration. At this point you are the best judge of that unless you are able to get in some saltwater and really fine tune your weighting.

I don;t know where Perkasie PA is but if it's in the western part of the state give me a call and we can set up a session to go over your weighting and trim in the pool at least. I charge 30 bucks for a 2-3 hour session. Just did one two weeks ago and the guy was very satisifed. We checked and adjusted his weighting in all his suits-3, 5, and 7 mil. We took 10 lbs off his 3, 8 off his 5, and 4 off the 7. This was the way his previous instructors(OW and AOW) had him set up. That's why he came to me. He thought he was overweighted but had not really been shown how to adjust and move his weights around. We spent 3 hours going over this and fine tuning his trim by doing some simple yet effective task loading exercises in midwater while staying horizontal. I got an email from him that it made his trip to Cozumel so much better than it would have been.

 

[H2O 70]

You really don't sound too bad. In fresh water, I've worked with students in 7mm full suits, AL80, DR TransPacs and they had anywhere from 18-24#'s.

They are probably not used to seeing a 7mm suit down there!

 

[dkktsunami]

Twenty pounds in a full 7mm in salt is not unusually "heavy". Do a weight check. I use 19 lbs. in a 7mm with hood and have worked to cut excess weight to the bone. You are probably ok.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

The Key Largo DM's looked at you funny because, when you said you needed 20 lbs., they didn't know (or didn't see) that you were wearing a 7mm wetsuit. I'm guessing that typical exposure protection in Key Largo is a 3mm wetsuit. If you were actually wearing a 3mm wetsuit in Key Largo...then you were certainly over-weighted.

For your gear configuration (7mm wetsuit, jacket-style BCD, AL80) in salt water, 20 lbs. of lead is reasonable. If you aren't sure, you could always just do a weight check. If salt water isn't locally available, it's perfectly acceptable to do your weight check (in whatever exposure protection and tank you'll be using at your dive destination) in a pool or fresh water lake and then calculate your weighting needs in salt water.

 

[The Kraken]

Sounds 'bout right.

the K

 

[hudson]

I'm going to echo what everyone has already said, but in your situation probably every data point helps. I'm negatively bouyant and I pack a BP/W which is probably less buoyant than your Tusa, and have heavy fins, yet I need ~17lbs with an AL80 in FRESH water. 20lbs in salt water is perfectly normal.

 

[scubafanatic]

You don't say how many dives you have but for you that may be what you need for now. This is the reason I DO log dives. I have a record of what I used from 6 years ago that I can use as a reference, measure progress, or use as a starting point. By the book is a generalization at best. Everyone is different. 4 years ago in the Keys I needed 16 lbs in a 5 mil with a jacket bc that I though I was able to get all the air out of. A year later in BPW I needed 6 lbs on the belt. Everything else was the same. The Tusa Imprex bc is what the shop whose pool I use has for rental/pool gear. It is approx 4 lbs positive due to the padding and little spots that seem to trap air depending on the size. The XXL/XL is a little lighter yet. I've never used a 7 mil suit. If it's cold enough for that I'm diving dry. So what you needed may be what you need for your configuration. At this point you are the best judge of that unless you are able to get in some saltwater and really fine tune your weighting.

I don;t know where Perkasie PA is but if it's in the western part of the state give me a call and we can set up a session to go over your weighting and trim in the pool at least. I charge 30 bucks for a 2-3 hour session. Just did one two weeks ago and the guy was very satisifed. We checked and adjusted his weighting in all his suits-3, 5, and 7 mil. We took 10 lbs off his 3, 8 off his 5, and 4 off the 7. This was the way his previous instructors(OW and AOW) had him set up. That's why he came to me. He thought he was overweighted but had not really been shown how to adjust and move his weights around. We spent 3 hours going over this and fine tuning his trim by doing some simple yet effective task loading exercises in midwater while staying horizontal. I got an email from him that it made his trip to Cozumel so much better than it would have been.

If Jim is willing to spend that much time with you for only $ 30, consider yourself blessed, that's a bargain!

My very 1st salt water dives were in Cozumel, where the DM insisted I didn't need as much weight as I thought I did, so we did it 'his way', and at the end of the dive I found I couldn't hold my safety stops.....surprise, surprise! I proceeded to increase my weights back to where I thought they should be no problem! It was a long time ago, but I think I increased my weights in the 2 - 4 lbs range to get where I needed to be on a 'low' tank. Not all DM's know everything about everything, especially about your own personal weighting requirements, so give yourself some credit about understanding YOUR needs. It's safer to be a little overweighted than a little underweighted, for obvious reasons. Also, keep a detailed record going forward, on all future dives/trips what weights were required with what wetsuit/BC, so you can benefit from that experience and not reinvent the wheel all the time. Start at 20 lbs, on dive #2 dial it back to 18#, see what happens, if needed, on dive #3, dial it back to 16#, see what happens, you get the idea.