Posted by JRM on March 12, 2001 at 14:40:34:
In Reply to: reserve buoyancy posted by Gerry Smith on March 11, 2001 at 19:24:01:
I don't recall anyone mentioning this yet, so if you have I appologize (been on vacation for a while, and haven't bothered reading all the posts yet).
I can see that it is possible to justify diving excessively negative because we can just "drop the weights". Someone posted below (to lazy to look it up) that at 100' and a full steel tank, they dump all their weight and are a paltry 3 lbs negative, and they can swim up from that. Well heck, if they're 3 lbs. negative at 100 fsw, and dump all their lead, they're on the express elevator headed up. Call the chopper, because there isn't a chance in hades that you're going to ascend at less than 60 fpm.
And the reason folks dive those big steel monsters is so they can increase their BTs, and do so deeper. Dump that lead towards the end of a dive when you've got some good loading, and it's definitely off to the chamber with you!
Of course, breathing in the chamber is preferable to not breathing on the bottom. But why risk it? Don't just assume that since you can get off the bottom you're golden. There's a lot more to this argument than just starting up.
JRM