Posted by MHK on July 24, 2001 at 10:42:09:
In Reply to: This is one that I've been wondering about posted by brianc on July 24, 2001 at 10:13:36:
Brian,
All too many people use the drysuit incorrectly which causes more problems than it solves.. Particularly on the east coast there is an epidemic if incorrect drysuit use. It's very common for the east coast guys to overweight themselves and than compensate for that overweighting by adding argon to their suit in mass proportions.. This of course spirals the dive downhill.. It throws off your trim and bouyancy everytime you turn..
The BC is what you should be using to control your bouyancy while the drysuit should be inflated enough to prevent squeeze and that's it..
If you use proper undergarments, we use DUI C-4's, there is no need to do the overweighting-overinflating thing..
As far as air in the feet, as you may know, we call ankle weights training wheels and the use of which should be discarded.. If for some reason you keep getting air trapped in hte feet use gators, not ankle weights.. The last thing you want is weight on your feet when you are trying to keep a good horizontal trim position..
Accordingly, there is no excuse for over-weighting and to try to compensate for the overweighting issue vis-a-vis inflation sources speaks to a sloppy mindset, a poor approach to a dive and will only cause more problems then they solve..
Later