Lead

Soft lead, P-Weight and V-Weight

Plumb weights are an important part of diving equipment. The task of diving is to compensate for the static buoyancy of the diver and his equipment. The amount of lead must be such that the diver can float in the water and tare. Depending on the equipment, experience of the diver and waters (salt water has a greater density and thus more buoyancy than fresh water), the amount of lead required may be between two and twelve kilograms, and occasionally beyond. The amount of lead is optimal when the diver with empty BCD and almost empty pressure bottle can only submerge from the surface by completely exhaling. If a diver leads too little lead, a controlled emergence is not possible, because at the end of the dive also the mass of the breathing gas is missing. An excessively large amount of lead must be compensated by the buoyancy aid, however, the buoyancy is highly dependent on depth, so that taring is made more difficult by excess lead.

Plumb: Soft plumb, P-weight and V-weight