Balanced Rig - GUE - NEWB

[EireDiver606]

Wetsuits are far cheaper than a drysuit and can resist damage much more easily than a drysuit. When was the last time you saw a wetsuit diver scrub a dive because of a leak? A flooded drysuit can be just as catastrophic as a BCD failure. You dive the gear, the gear shouldn’t be diving you.

It's not about missing a dive because of a leak. If your priorities are straight, there are more positives of the drysuit than the inherent negatives of which there are so few, so don't be a grimbo grief by focusing on the negatives. Let's not forget drysuits (especially the good ones ) have extended the limits of diving forever. To be safe, comfortable, and to have redundant buoyancy at depth - drysuits are the way. Tri-lam for deep (and shallow) and neoprene for only shallow dives. Drysuits help us far more than wetsuits for the reasons @johnkendall stated.

 

[CT-Rich]

It's not about missing a dive because of a leak. If your priorities are straight, there are more positives of the drysuit than the inherent negatives of which there are so few, so don't be a grimbo grief by focusing on the negatives. Let's not forget drysuits (especially the good ones ) have extended the limits of diving forever. To be safe, comfortable, and to have redundant buoyancy at depth - drysuits are the way. Tri-lam for deep (and shallow) and neoprene for only shallow dives. Drysuits help us far more than wetsuits for the reasons @johnkendall stated.

I have drysuit, so I am not anti-drysuit. It just is not always the right choice for every diver in every situation. For the Great Lakes or colder climates, they are great, but for a lot of divers they are cost prohibitive. I still dive wet during the summer, unless it is going to be deep. The drysuit opens up my season earlier and lets it go later. But, if I lived farther south, I would not have spent the money. A top drawer drysuit and all the accessories, like rock boots and fins, undergarments, weight harness can easily add up to another $2k.

Drysuits are great, but they get very pricey very quickly. One of the hardest negatives on a drysuit to get past is the cost.

 

[EireDiver606]

I have drysuit, so I am not anti-drysuit. It just is not always the right choice for every diver in every situation. For the Great Lakes or colder climates, they are great, but for a lot of divers they are cost prohibitive. I still dive wet during the summer, unless it is going to be deep. The drysuit opens up my season earlier and lets it go later. But, if I lived farther south, I would not have spent the money. A top drawer drysuit and all the accessories, like rock boots and fins, undergarments, weight harness can easily add up to another $2k.

Drysuits are great, but they get very pricey very quickly. One of the hardest negatives on a drysuit to get past is the cost.

I agree with you. They are pricey and are not necessarily needed. They are an essential for proper diving and a luxury for some diving but in general increase safety and comfort.

 

[Heat Miser]

7.5kg plus the weight of gas in a reasonable single 11-16L (range) really isn't that hard to swim up. Its downright hard to be so negative in a single that you can't swim it up. A 7mm wetsuit with a single tank, 15 lb belt, and SS plate isn't some crazy suicide machine.

Doubles are a different story of course.

Having implemented most of the test/suggestions here. I think this summarises most succinctly the answer to my my original question.

As a single tank diver it was not a big issue to swim up the steel tank, with a wing failure. However I guess its a function of swimming ability. In fact I had a wing failure in February and to be honest I didn't notice it, my buddy pointed it out whilst we were hanging in the safety stop.

I also had a recent situation where I overshot the dive boat by 100m (320 feet), in a 2.5 knot current and we were 20k's (12.5 miles) out from land. A DSMB is extremely useful - particularly to hold onto at surface, whilst the tender picked us up.

Having moved more into doubles recently a lot of the comments become more relevant. In Western Australia steel tanks are more common than Ally 80's so their negative buoyancy characteristics at the end of dive, plus a combination of thick wetsuit would make a wing failure at depth harder to manage.

I'll have a think about saving up for a drysuit. Thanks for all your responses I hope you guys get back in the water soon.

 

[EireDiver606]

OP, the summary is: Diving heavy steel doubles, safely, warrants the use of a drysuit. Get something that won’t change buoyancy at depth, non compressible. Otherwise your rig with steel doubles will not be balanced and in the event of buoyancy loss, you are having a bad day whether you can blow a dsmb up quickly or grab a buddy etc.