Nice write up M8
Keep the progress reports comming they are good info and feedback sesions for the new divers. A nice honest self assessment and you seem to be doing all the right things. A couple of points that might be of interest to you:
Forgive me but does the need for two weight belts suggest you’re larger than the average bloke
. If so you might want to consider a weight harness rather than a weight belt. Large people run the risk of the weight belt falling off during a dive. Especially large men with no arse and no hips
Atrixo hand cream is wonderful stuff for putting gloves on. But if you forget it just wet the inside of the gloves first and that will help.
Finally, 12KG is a fair amount of lead and probably accurate for now. If you find your diving heads up all the time with the 15ltr you might want to consider moving 4KG to the top of the tank via a cam band. If you can get flatter in the water you will have less drag less back ache and it will reduce your gas consumption as you will need less effort to move. If you do do this mount the lead blocks tight between the tank and the BCD this will prevent the its going to flip me over sideways feeling
Spend a lot of time in 6m of water or less getting weighting and buoyancy and trim right and it will really enhance your diving.
ATB
Mark Chase