Why is it bad to be overweighted? Am I overweighted?

[TONY CHANEY]

Yea the amount of money spent can get crazy. I am very well likely over $25,000 according to my wife but I suspect more.

 

[tbone1004]

Could you elaborate on why my wetsuit is stupid and dangerous? It is brand new (About 10 dives, most between 40-70ft). It is a Henderson thermaxx titanium.

How do I do a proper weight check? I don't feel overweighted, but everything I've been reading makes me think I might be. I've also been paying very close attention to my ascent rate and with the help of my computer I try to maintain 20ft/min ascent rate.

I have a drysuit coming Monday and I want to make sure I weight myself right. With the wetsuit I have it has just been trial and error. Before I added weight to get to 40lbs I felt like it was hard to control my ascent rate and that seemed more dangerous to me than carrying more weight out of water.

well you've remedied the situation with the drysuit, so you'll realize a lot of this as soon as you dive it.

Short answer
Too much compression at depth creates a very imbalanced rig. Assuming it is 30lbs at the surface, it can very easily compress and lose 20lbs of buoyancy before you hit 100ft. The combination of the loss of buoyancy making you VERY overweighted at the bottom and the lack of thermal protection at depth means that if you need a 7mm farmer john to stay warm and are diving deeper than say 40ft, you need to be in a drysuit. Pretty much that simple.
They're also very uncomfortable compared to drysuits due to the restriction caused by that much neoprene.
Sorry to see that you spend the money on a suit you are unlikely to dive again after the drysuit comes in.

Doing a proper weight check should have been done in your OW course, ESPECIALLY if you had it 1 on 1.... If you didn't, then your instructor didn't do his job, that simple.
The fastest way to do it is with a second person, a luggage scale, and a thin ish piece of rope or webbing. Overweight yourself by at least 10lbs, and have your friend hold the luggage scale that is attached to one end of the rope, and you are holding onto the other. You empty all the gas out of your BC, flush your wetsuit and hood, cross your ankles and tuck your knees up a bit so you are stable and not moving in the water. Exhale all the way so you drop down until your are being held up by the rope. Your buddy then looks at the weight displayed on the scale which will be going between two values as you exhale fully and inhale fully. You want to average those two values and that is the amount of lead you need to take off. If you're doing it with a full tank, add back the mass of the gas in the tank, 6lbs for an AL80.
Other way to do it that takes longer, but if you don't have excess lead is basically the same thing, but you add lead up until you are able to stay just under the surface.

This gets VERY complicated and difficult with a drysuit because the suit holds however much buoyancy you tell it to and the amount of gas you put in there is based on your thermal tolerance. Colder=more gas=more lead required. If you are diving with an AL80, then I would add gas to the suit until you are comfortable and if you still have to put gas in the bcd, then you are overweight. If you are not putting any gas in the suit and are still feeling a bit chilly or want more gas in the suit for comfort, then add a couple pounds.

 

[scrane]

Personally I would rather be a couple of pounds overweight than a couple of pounds underweight. You can compensate for being heavy with a couple of spurts of air in your BC, but there's not much you can do if you're light. There are a lot of people on this board fixated on perfect weighting. That's great if you can achieve it. Start out a little heavy and shed a pound or two each dive until you feel comfortable.
I dive with a 3mm shorty so it's easy for me to sink quickly at the beginning of a dive and squeeze all the air out of my BC for the safety stop. A lot of volume in your wetsuit adds a variable.

 

[mainedvr]

Think of walking around on dry land, would you want to wear a weight vest around all the time (unless you were training for something). Same for underwater, when you are diving a balanced rig (being properly weighted) it is so much less effort entering and exiting as well as during your dive. Your could possibly lower your air consumption because you are not working so hard and not constantly fiddling adding air to BC. And then there is the unlikely event of a BC failure you should be able to swim your gear to the surface. As an instructor with new students I tend to care a few extra pounds during and after the dive as we get them properly weighted and it sucks especially on shore dives when I have to carry to and from the car.

I started diving and was using like 32lbs or something with a 7mm suit and hood, and AL80 Tank, now I use a 5mm with 20 lbs with AL 80 and that is with a hooded vest, and negative fins. Its a process but if you work it you will find what you need, do a good weight check with an almost empty tank and take weights of varying values like 2s 3s and some 1s so you can remove weight and adjust. I do my checks in about 15' of water with 500 psi at the end of the dive and drop down to 10-15 and see if I can hold a safety stop with an empty BCD. Good post

 

[eelnoraa]

I think the literature and teaching mind set is still
correct. You aim for perfect weighting but error on the over side, which is very different than if you aim for a few lb over, then what error will take you?

 

[AJ]

When I started diving doubles (12 liter steel) and drysuit I had 6 kg's on me. Now I dive without any weight. What made the difference? Experience and skills. I know now how to handle my buoyancy even at 30 bar. My diving is much much smoother without all that weight. My air consumption came down really a lot.

It's worth to shed weight, but only if you can handle it. Otherwise a litle bit too much weight can be a better option. Not too much, just a litle bit on the safe side.

 

[Bowers]

so you have on 14mm over your core? if that is the case, you will benifit greatly from your drysuit. For some perspective, i am 6'1", 170lbs; when diving a 7mm full suit with hood and gloves (now that drysuit is an option i dont do this), i wore 12 lbs of weight. that was also with a jacket style and AL80. Now that i use BP&W (aluminum plate) with a single steel 72, i only need 2 lbs on my 7-6-5 with hood and gloves

as for weight check.. the quick predive version is to get in the water with full rig and full tank, be sure there is no air in your BC, breathe in to about 80% lung volume and see if you float at eye level. if you sink, remove some weight, if you are higher than eyes add some. when proper weight is achieved, you will float at eyes on 80% lung volume, and slowly sink when exhaling, inhale a full lung and you will rise again.

 

[JohnN]

well you've remedied the situation with the drysuit, so you'll realize a lot of this as soon as you dive it.

Short answer
Too much compression at depth creates a very imbalanced rig. Assuming it is 30lbs at the surface, it can very easily compress and lose 20lbs of buoyancy before you hit 100ft. The combination of the loss of buoyancy making you VERY overweighted at the bottom and the lack of thermal protection at depth means that if you need a 7mm farmer john to stay warm and are diving deeper than say 40ft, you need to be in a drysuit. Pretty much that simple.
They're also very uncomfortable compared to drysuits due to the restriction caused by that much neoprene.
Sorry to see that you spend the money on a suit you are unlikely to dive again after the drysuit comes in.

Doing a proper weight check should have been done in your OW course, ESPECIALLY if you had it 1 on 1.... If you didn't, then your instructor didn't do his job, that simple.
The fastest way to do it is with a second person, a luggage scale, and a thin ish piece of rope or webbing. Overweight yourself by at least 10lbs, and have your friend hold the luggage scale that is attached to one end of the rope, and you are holding onto the other. You empty all the gas out of your BC, flush your wetsuit and hood, cross your ankles and tuck your knees up a bit so you are stable and not moving in the water. Exhale all the way so you drop down until your are being held up by the rope. Your buddy then looks at the weight displayed on the scale which will be going between two values as you exhale fully and inhale fully. You want to average those two values and that is the amount of lead you need to take off. If you're doing it with a full tank, add back the mass of the gas in the tank, 6lbs for an AL80.
Other way to do it that takes longer, but if you don't have excess lead is basically the same thing, but you add lead up until you are able to stay just under the surface.

This gets VERY complicated and difficult with a drysuit because the suit holds however much buoyancy you tell it to and the amount of gas you put in there is based on your thermal tolerance. Colder=more gas=more lead required. If you are diving with an AL80, then I would add gas to the suit until you are comfortable and if you still have to put gas in the bcd, then you are overweight. If you are not putting any gas in the suit and are still feeling a bit chilly or want more gas in the suit for comfort, then add a couple pounds.

Excellent advice. . .But beware, extra lead = extra air in your suit --> you really need to watch your buoyancy. Too much air and you can get a runaway ascent if you get a little sloppy. Like most other things in diving, managing a large bubble gets easier with experience.

 

[davehicks]

It sounds like you are diving cold water in Maine. No matter what you wear you are likely to need 30-40lbs. Less is certainly better. I'd look into picking up a (used) DrySuit which will allow you to be a lot warmer, less constricted than two 7mm layers in a farmer john. You can probably ditch more weight as well.

Bouancy needs to be assessed at the start and end of your dive.

At the start with a full tank you should:
* Go slow, be patient
* While vertical in the water, hold up your BC hose and hold the dump, stay vertical
* If you sink like a rock at this point you are overweighted - drop 2lbs
* Instead you should slowly sink, invert and give a gentle kick
* If you went slow and dumped >all< the air from the BC you should not need to fight to descend. If you do, add 2lbs.

At the end of the dive when your tank is mostly empty:
* Go up to 15 feed for your safety stop
* You should have very little or NO air in your BC and remain neutral
* If you can still dump air from your BC at this point you are over-weighted - drop 2lbs
* If you are fighting buoyancy and corking to the surface and your BC is >empty< you are under-weighted - add 2lbs


Being properly weighted will make you more agile, manoeuvrable, and much more able to achieve neutral buoyancy. You can cross your arms and be absolutely still without sinking or rising. Once you achieve this you will see an immediate improvement in your air consumption and enjoy longer dives.

 

[mainedvr]

Just another thought I see your diving a decent amount of neoprene. Now we all vary on our thermal comfort and definitely do not want to add being so cold its unsafe. But I lived in Southern Maine for several years and dove there in a 5mm from July to Oct rarely using a hood or gloves but most dives were no deeper than 50-70 feet and was good to go if I felt it was too cold I would use a 1.5mm base layer and a hooded vest giving me like 10 across my torso (and still maintain flexability) and whatever it worked out to on my arms and legs and head, and could dive All but the coldest months recreationally. As well if you don't want to get a drysuit (I would if I were you) research wetsuits not all are the same. Here in CA folks are swearing by the Bare Reactive or Henderson Aqualok. And if you can get less neoprene and be comfy and safe it would help to ditch some lead too. Just a thought.