how do i work out how much weight i need?

[aaronrushton]

hi all,
i dont know if its just trial and error or if there is a formula or something but how do i work out how much wieght i need for spearfishing? i'll be in pretty shallow water around maybe 45ft at max and im wearing a 5ml cressi apnea suit. also what is the best weight belt? i have read that marseilles belts are good but they are expensive at around 35 quid, is there a cheaper option?
cheers,Aaron.

p.s forgot to add i weight around 58kg and im roughly 5ft6'

 

[blueface]

You have to figure it out on your own. You probably want to be neutral at some depth greater than 20 ft. This is only MY opinion. You will get many different answers but you have to remember it's better to work hard to get down at the beginning of the dive than to work hard at the end when your O2 supply is depleted.

 

[Old Man Dave]

Most UK spearo's use between 10lb and 20lb. Very deep divers and 3mm summer suits could use less but very rare. Some large shallow water divers and those in 7mm suits may use over 20lb. I use about 21lb split between a belt (14lb), a vest (6lb) and 1lb of ankle weight. I'm in the catagory large (fat) shallow water diver. Start with about 15lb and see how you go.

Re belts here's a recent thread http://forums.deeperblue.com/uk-ire...ood-quick-release-rubber-belt.html#post815598 .

Dave

 

[foxfish]

If you can spearfish at 45' then you must be pretty experienced?
As the guys say - no formula just educated guessing.
Try 4-6kg on a rubber belt to start with, big fins & less weight might suit your style.
I weigh about 85kg & use about 8kg distributed on a belt & vest but I dont dive deep at all.

 

[aaronrushton]

im not sure i probably estimated the depth incorrectly.

 

[andycornish]

I found that depth is deceptivly hard to judge especially when the vis is bad, until i got my D4 i was estimating depth but found that my guesses of depth were both over and under estimated.

On the original topic of dicussion the weight, I find that I vary the weight depending on what depth im diving to. I wear a 5mm surf suit with 3mm gloves and 5mm hood (not sure if the gloves or hood actually make an overall diffence)
At the moment diving to max 10m im using 7kg, but when i go on a night dive i put on 10kg so i could cruise along the bottom when it was shallow.