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diving weight even at shallow?

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tommustoe1990

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Jun 23, 2017
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Hi

Question regarding diving weight in shallow water.

I Will only be in roughly 5m water near enough the whole time i am spearfishing at the minute. Im new to the sport and building confidence etc. Should u be looking at a weight belt for this depth or not? If so is there a way of calculating or is it a trial different weight and find one that suits me?

Cheers
 
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Hi

Question regarding diving weight in shallow water.

I Will only be in roughly 5m water near enough the whole time i am slearfishing at the minute. Im new to the sport and building confidence etc. Should u be looking at a weight belt for this depth or not? If so is there a way of calculating or is it a trial different weight and find one that suits me?

Cheers
If you can dive without a suit just have a half-lung worth of air and you should be negatively bouyant at 5m. If you have a suit wear enough weight to make you neutrally bouyant at 5m otherwise you will just pop right back up to the surface


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I dive with a 5mil open cell suit and 16lb of weight and I am neutral at 25 - 30 feet

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Depends on several factors and the original question has little detail. Spearing at shallower depths typically requires more weight than spearing at greater depths, if you plan to lay on the sea bed. However, it is possible to spear from the surface without any weight belt - I got my first bass that way.
 
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Less air on your lungs will make you less bouyant. If you have too much weight you won't be able to relax in the water before you dive.

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Best thing is to start out with a little weight I recommend using multiple 2lb weights so you can easily add or subtract more weight. However there isnt any magic formula as everyone is different and requires a different amount of weight.
 
I would definitely say you need weights. It's impossible to stay underwater in a thick wetsuit.

At the moment I wear my surfing wetsuit which is 5mm with boots, hood and gloves. The last time I went out I was diving in absolute max 5m depth with 4kg of weight and I was too buoyant. I had to hold onto rocks to stay on the bottom and my legs still kept floating upwards. I've added another 2kg since but waiting to try it out. Weights are way more expensive than what I remember!
 
In my experience, at certain shallow depths it's physically impossible to be neutral on the sea bed and still be weighted correctly at the surface. The only way is to be over weighted on the surface. It's a compromise you may be happy to make but needs to be considered. Don't just keep adding weight until you attain your neutral boyency without also checking your weight at the surface.
 
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In my experience, at certain shallow depths it's physically impossible to be neutral on the sea bed and still be weighted correctly at the surface. The only way is to be over weighted on the surface. It's a compromise you may be happy to make but needs to be considered. Don't just keep adding weight until you attain your neutral boyency without also checking your weight at the surface.

Good advice. I'd rather stay slightly buoyant at the bottom even if it's a bit of a nuisance. No fish is worth your life - especially in the UK!
 
Spearing earlier in the year with a new wetsuit, in fairly shallow conditions I found I needed more lead. I took 2 smaller weights off my belt and put back one of the very big leads I previously carried.

More recently, using my old wetsuit in mainly deeper waters, I was finding it rather too easy to stay down, so I removed a lead weight (a bag of lead shot) from my weight vest - it seemed like the simplest and quickest way to change weight. That worked very well and I still had more than enough weight to stay down.

So, the weight you carry will depend on you, your wetsuit and the conditions you dive under (e.g. depth). If any of those changes, you may need to tweak the weight you carry. So it is useful (but not essential) to have a system where some weights can be changed relatively easily.
 
I reached negative buoyancy for the first time yesterday at a little over 20ft. I don't usually go down that deep but for instance if I decide to go that deep again would you recommend taking weight off so I am buoyant at that depth? Basically through trial and error then you learn how much weight to carry for the depth you plan to go?

On a side note: I have only used a webbed weight belt which shifts around quite a bit so in time will get a rubber one. I never thought to use a scuba style weight vest though. What are they like to free dive/spearfish with?
 
Vests can be great, you can get neoprene weight vests designed for freediving/spearfishing that are comfortable, I also noticed that in a post above you said that your legs are floaty, what you could do is use some ankle weights and a combination of belt and/or vest to get good trim, meaning that you can comfortably remain in the horizontal rather than fight the tendency for body parts to make a bid for the surface! ;) Good luck and dive safe.
 
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I suppose it'll be hand to have the extra space to clip things too as well! I'll look into a vest. What are they like for quick releasing?

Ankle weights could be a good investment... the extra 2kg I added has made a difference but still, lying prone underwater I feel like my legs have other ideas!
 
I would wear some kg.

How much try it out. Start small. Important is that you can lay on the ground without coming up.
 
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