Dry suit weighting

[JoelW]

This is going to sound a bit odd, but the amount of lift of the BC is not the limiting factor. If, when you are wearing the drysuit, or wetsuit for that matter, and you are correctly weighted, the most that you will be negative is 6#-8#. That will be at the start of the dive. The rest of the lift of the BC will keep your head out of the water. With a drysuit you can always close the exhaust and float a bit higher. Where BC lift will become an issue is if the BC has more than 34# of negative weight while you are not in the BC. An example would be 30# of lead in the pocket. This becomes a big deal when removing the BC in the water to get back into a boat. The 34# would be made up of the -3# from the tank, however much lead and whatever accessories. If you have 30# of lead and accessories that will be at the max that the BC can take and still float. The way around that is to put some of the weight on a weight belt. Going to a steel tank doesn't take care of the max lift of the BC if you are still at 34# negative without you in the BC.

I am not sure if this made sense. Where I am going is that there are two BC lift scenarios: a)you fully geared and appropriately weighted and b)will the BC float by itself when fully inflated.

For what it is worth, I use a 36# bladder on my bp/wings and it has plenty of lift for me in my drysuit. Additionally, it will float itself with a -5# plate, -9# (when full) 95 steel, and whatever accessories. I also have another 12# on a belt.

JoelW