Northwest Dive Club

If you had to guess, what would you think is a more likely cause of light feet at the end of a dive:

• Lighter HP100 Steel tank
• Didn't get all air out of feet of drysuit

For the first, I might try moving 2 more lbs of weight to my feet.

For the second, I'd try to get more air out of the drysuit feet and legs toward the end of the dive by getting vertical for just a bit.

I'm also, of course, open to other suggestions.

Thanks,
Carl

Floaty fins don't help. What are you using?

+ 1 JPA, I have super heavy F1 fins and they really help to keep the air out of my boots.

I have Atomic Split fins and am currently wearing 2x2lbs of ankle weights. For most of the dive, everything seems fine, but at the end of the dive my feet seem light.

Try lowering your tank if your empty buoyancy seems OK. Couple inches can make a difference.

+1 on lowering your tank

carlk3 wrote:I have Atomic Split fins and am currently wearing 2x2lbs of ankle weights. For most of the dive, everything seems fine, but at the end of the dive my feet seem light.

I used to have a steel HP120 (the tall skinny 3500psi one with the 7/8" neck made by PST) that would do the same thing. My trim was fine at the beginning of the dive. However, when the tank emptied, the butt end of the tank would become lighter than the valve end - lifting my butt/feet. I knew I had to be more aware of moving the air from my feet when I used that tank in order to compensate for it. Moving the tank lower on the bcd actually made things worse, as it accentuated the "lift" from the lighter end of the tank. I had to move that tank higher (without letting the valve hit me in the head ).

I never had that problem with the HP100's (same PST, 3500psi, 7/8" neck). I still have several of those, and dive them all the time without any issues.

Had the same problem when diving my 130's, ended up strapping 2 pounds on the butt of my tank. That did the trick nicely.

It's an incredibly common issue. The best thing you can do is work on better bubble management rather than adding gear. I am not a fan of ankle weights to begin with, and adding an additional two pounds is overkill. It would be better to work on getting rid of the 2 lbs you have now.

Like many aspects of diving, straightening your legs and getting slightly head up to move excess air to your exhaust will become second nature with practice and time. You won't need to go fully vertical. Try to spend a bit of each dive working on balance and bubble management. Get your buddy to help evaluate your trim with various adjustments, and see what works.

Try to shift your tank a bit, but don't do it so far that you couldn't reach your valve. It may be enough, 100s are pretty easy to trim out with for most people.

Good luck!