This world is full of all kinds of different types of diving adventures; cold water diving, warm water diving, ice diving, fresh water diving... and the list goes on! With all of these different diving, options come different thicknesses of wetsuits or a dry suit, or maybe no suit at all. And, with the various types of water you can go diving in, comes differing levels of salinity. You may be thinking, "I know there're all these differences out there, but what does that have to do with the weight I wear when I go diving?"
Well, it has everything to do with the amount of weight you are going to wear. You see, the thicker the neoprene, the more buoyant you become. So, as you increase the thickness of your wetsuit, you will need to add more weight to your weight belt. And vice-versa for shedding layers of neoprene in warmer waters.
Also, as you move from fresh to more salty waters, the salinity of the water increases. The saltier the water becomes, the more buoyant you are. Ever been swimming in The Great Salt Lake of Utah? At times, it can be up to 20% saltier than the ocean and boy do you float! So, when diving in these saltier seas (or lakes for that matter), you will be more buoyant and will require more weight.
"So how do I figure out this whole weighting thing when I'm going from hot to cold and salty to not salty water??"
By following these simple tips you can easily figure out about how much weight you will need for all kinds of diving adventures.
Tip #1: Determine Your "Base Weight"
You're "base weight" is how much weight you need to be neutrally buoyant in a place where you can check your weight fairly often. Usually, this is in a heated pool, like where you learned to dive. If you live tropical and are more often in a warm, calm ocean, then your base weight will be determined there. Just remember (1) if you were in salt or fresh water with your base weight, and (2) your wetsuit thickness. Often times, students are in fresh water pools wearing 3mm wetsuits.
Do a Buoyancy Check to determine your "base weight."
To learn how to do a properly executed buoyancy check, read our blog on How To Properly Weight Yourself For Scuba.
Tip #2: How to Adjust for Diving in the Tropics
Tropical diving is both warm and in salt water. Assuming your base weight came from a fresh water pool in a 3mm wetsuit, you would typically add between 4 lbs - 7 lbs of weight, if you're wearing a 3mm wetsuit.
Tip #3: How to Adjust for Colder Water Diving
The colder the water, the thicker your suit and the more weight that needs to be added. As a rule of thumb, you can add about 2 lbs of weight for every 1 mm of wetsuit increased.
Tip #4: Write It All Down!
Once you've figured out your proper weighting for a new dive destination, record it somewhere where you can access it easily, like your phone. This way, when you return to a similar dive spot in the future, you don't have to go through the whole process of figuring out how much weight you need, again.
