Weighting issues

[Salty Solway]

I am about to go snorkelling to get my fitness up for an open water course next year and have absolutely no idea what weights to buy, or where to start. I am 6ft tall weigh 15 stone - broad build (but not all of it) and have a 7mm semi dry, any suggestions were to start, including increments... 1/5/10/50Kgs would be appreciated? as would any advise re:systems, shot/block even perhpas moulding my own?

[Nigel Hewitt]

I am about to go snorkelling to get my fitness up for an open water course next year and have absolutely no idea what weights to buy, or where to start.I'm 5ft10 and weigh 12st9 and I need 4Kgs in my 6mm two layer wetsuit to freedive fresh water. With that the suit compresses to the point where I am neutral at 10 meters deep and negative below that. The weight is mainly for the suit and the lungs as if I exhale I sink in just my trunks.

I'd suggest getting 10Kgs or 12Kgs as a mix of 1 and 2Kg lumps and you'll probably never need all of them but should always be able to get just right. Don't forget you will need another 2Kgs or maybe more in salt water.

Breath-hold diving you may prefer a rubber weight belt not the fabric type as you compress a lot more and it goes slack. Of course if you're not planning on going deeper than snorkel depth this isn't a problem.

[Woz]

Rubber weightbelts cheap as chips from Decathlon.

[Scary Monster]

8kg in 2x1kg and 2x3kg means you can do anything between 0kg and 8kg. That's always handy as give you loads flexibility (and is faily easy to man handle).