On Sun, 5 Sep 2004 23:28:23 +0100, Doug Taylor
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:


>> On Fri, 3 Sep 2004 02:12:33 -0400, Reef Fish
>> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>[snip]
>> 3.  The AIR temp will be between 60F and 70F, and the water temp
>>     will be such that a FULL 6-mil wetsuit with farmer john will
>>     be needed, according to Trixie who had dived there before.

But that had been revised down to a 3-mil or 1/4-inch wetsuit
because the water temp was said by the dive shop to be 20-21C.


>Well, a Bob-sized wetsuit ought to have a surface area of around 2 square
>metres.

I may find a wetsuit when I get home to cut and spread it into a
measrable area to see how far you erred in your 2 square meters! :-)

<Actually you may come close to it;  but in your subsequent guestimation,
you may have grossly mis-estimated the specific gravity of da Feeesh,
as in a wooden-block-head floats like a cork and a bone-head sinks
like a rock.)   :-))

>
>That equates to a volume of roughly 2 litres per extra mm of suit.
>
>Say, around 4 pounds of lead per extra mm of suit.

That would translate to 12 EXTRA lbs of lead (over my lycra skin)
for the 3-mil suit itself?

No way, Jose!  I withdraw my comment about your 2 sq meters. :-)

You sounded like our old pal Nick who did your kind of arithmetic
and concluded that he needed 45 lbs of lead to dive in Cozumel
in his 1/4" suit.

I expected to need no more than 8 EXTRA lbs.  If that turned out to
be insufficient, I can always end the dive sooner, which wouldn't
be a bad idea because of the cold water anyway.  :-)



>That's usually a fair starting point for estimating how much extra lead the
>average feeesh-sized diver might want to try when going to a thicker suit.

That's also why there are so many over-weighted (over-weighted
by LEAD that is) cold-water divers.


That's how the ice-diving instructor misestimated the lead I needed
to dive in a drysuit, by overestimating by at least 15 lbs when he
handed me a 30-lb belt.  Since we were only practice diving with
the drysuit in a pool, I prompted took off 15 of his lbs and still
sank like a rock!  :-)

>
>One's Milage May Vary !

That should cover your ass on your misestimation.  :-)


>Doug
>NED Comptroller of Metric Conversions

Da Feeesh

NED Inspector in Overweighting WARM or COLD water divers.