Northwest Dive Club

Greetings,

A survey: In the Winter, do you wear an extra layer of clothes under your undergarment? A heavy hood? If so, what do you wear and how much lead (if any) do you add?

• Details: Yesterday, we had to end a beautiful Edmonds dive early because we were too buoyant. We think we needed more lead to compensate for the extra layers of clothes we wore. I had on an extra pair of tights, an extra short-sleeve running shirt, and an extra pair of running socks. Also, we switched from a 4/7mm hoods to 7/10mm ones.

Thanks for sharing your experience!
Carl

> do you wear an extra layer of clothes under your undergarment? A heavy hood? If so, what do you wear and how much lead (if any) do you add

Yes. Always a dry hood. Maybe 2-4 extra pounds.

Extra undergarments trap air and will make you more buoyant. Adding more air to the suit will also keep you warmer, up to a limit. Either way, you're going to need more lead.

Extra layers add more buoyancy than you think due to additional trapped air. In the summer I wear a base layer and 4th element undergarment in the winter I add one pair of socks a vest and switch to a weezle extreme and a thicker hood. The result is 8-10 pounds. So I go from 20 to 30 pounds. It can be a bigger swing than you think. My suggestion is to overweight a little bit and then remove 1-2 pounds each dive until you have it dialed. I know you can also do a weight check, but I am never patient enough to do them


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I love the warm feeling of being able to drop some air from my BCD and add some to my drysuit. You have to carry enough lead to do that.

There is a general anathema about being over weighted but I happily 'suffer' and extra couple pounds so I'm not seriously shrink wrapped during safety stop when I'm already cold.

For a given single tank or twinset, my weight varies by abut 5 lbs between my summer and winter undies. I wear the same underarmor base layer, hood and socks year round, and enjoy feeling a bit warmer with the summer water temps. My summer undergarments are the 4th Element Ozone jacket and trousers with a Xerotherm layer underneath. In the winter, I switch to a Waterproof 3D mesh vest underneath a one piece Arctic. The 3D mesh vest requires an extra 3 lbs on its own. I also add a pair of 1 lb ankle weights in the winter to adjust my trim.


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carlk3 wrote:Greetings,

A survey: In the Winter, do you wear an extra layer of clothes under your undergarment? A heavy hood? If so, what do you wear and how much lead (if any) do you add?

• Details: Yesterday, we had to end a beautiful Edmonds dive early because we were too buoyant. We think we needed more lead to compensate for the extra layers of clothes we wore. I had on an extra pair of tights, an extra short-sleeve running shirt, and an extra pair of running socks. Also, we switched from a 4/7mm hoods to 7/10mm ones.

Thanks for sharing your experience!
Carl

If the only thing that you add was an extra base layer, a pair of socks and a thicker hood the difference would be negligible - maybe 2 pounds.

Great info everyone. Thanks!

My undergarments dont change at all from summer to winter, cuz down deep-deep its still cold.