Done Diving Wet

[kommisarrex]

Ever since taking AN/DP and getting into photography, my diving speed/movement has gone way down. While it’s improved my SAC, I’m getting cold for the first time, even in warmer conditions. Cold at a deco stop sucks! I’ve tried open cell, semi-dry, sharkskin underneath, and just can’t stay warm.

So, I figure it’s time for a drysuit. Any suggestions?

Looking for something that travels well for temps above 50 degrees F. Don’t imagine going much colder. Think Red Sea in the spring/fall/winter or the med. I know I want a pee valve, pockets, and folks seem positive about user replaceable seals. I imagine fabric is better than neoprene for my purpose.

Tricky part is my budget is about $1500 to include any undergarments. I see seaskin is talked about positively, but they seem to be closed for now and I’d like to get something in the next month or two.

I dive almost 100% sidemount, if that makes a difference.

I’m 6’, 190lbs, willing to buy used, but really have no idea what I’m looking for. I live overseas in India right now and do not have a local dive shop to rely on.

thoughts?

 

[Bert van den Berg]

You basically have a choice of two types of drysuits, tri-lam and compressed neoprene. The neoprene provides some insulation and you can use less thermals. I have dived both and settled on compressed neoprene. The drysuit is still too hot, even with minimal thermals in the summer so still use a wetsuit in the summer.

The tri-lam is used by most professional drysuit divers because they seem to be more rugged and don't change you bouancy as much with depth as apposed to the compressed neoprene but require a lot more undergarment thermals. I've never been cold in the compressed neoprene drysuit but have experienced chills with the tri-lam, even with some really good thermals.

 

[Silty Sam]

Whatever option you end up going with, be sure to give yourself time to get used to it. It’s not a hard transition from wet suit to dry suit, but it is a transition and it takes some time.

 

[Marie13]

You don’t want a neoprene drysuit it you’ll be traveling with it. Too heavy and takes too long to dry.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Compressed neoprene is not the same as a neoprene drysuit. I've had about ten drysuits including neoprene, compressed neoprene, bilam and trilam. I've settled on compressed neoprene because it stands up to sharp rocks and wrecks and user replaceable seals. I not only use it for local diving but travel as well.

 

[Brett Hatch]

I dove in an 8mm semidry for awhile... as my dives got deeper and longer, the cold gradually started to become the limiting factor. Sounds like you're in basically the same boat. I researched this for a long time, ended up going with a Seaskin trilam w/ pockets, balanced p-valve, the fancy Kubi dryglove system, user-replaceable seals, a bunch of other smaller/cheaper upgrades, and 250g undies. Paid about $1550 for everything including tax + shipping. As far as I can tell, I'm happy with it, but 1) have only dived it a few times, and haven't dived any other drysuit, and 2) have a sizing issue with the under garments that cannot be resolved until Seaskin reopens. So I can't really give a final verdict at this time, but overall it's positive. Happy to provide more detail there if it's helpful.

From when I placed the order to when I received the suit was about 3.5 months, and that was before the pandemic. I have no idea when they'll be open for business again, but once they do, it'll be awhile before you can actually gets your hands on a suit. On the other hand, it might be awhile before you can really make use of the suit, even if it arrived tomorrow -- I don't know what it's like in your part of India, but my part of the California is getting a little more locked down every week, not less. So, you might want to reconsider how important that 1-2 month turnaround time is, given whatever constraints you'll be living with in the near future.

By the way, if budget is really the limiting factor here, you might consider going for a compressed neoprene. I don't really know why this is, but they tend to be significantly cheaper than trilam, like 2/3 to 3/4 the price vs a trilam from same manufacturer. If time is more important, Otter and Ursuit make comparable suits (to my far-from-expert eye anyway) for a higher price, but appear to still be operating.

That's all to say that there is a tradeoff between time, money, type of suit, and manufacturer. You'll need to look around and do some thinking on where on that spectrum you're happiest with.

Hope this helps, best of luck, and be safe out there.
- Brett

 

[jale]

Hi
I used to be a big fan of trilaminate DS as my only other reference was neoprene DS (the thick stuff).
Once, i got a chance to try a compressed neoprene DS and found out that they are the best for me.
It like having a wet suit but you stay a lot warmer.
It doesn't pack more than a 5min wet suit and doesn't take longer to dry (take a suit with socks not boots).
You can also use it as a...wet suit if you want
Easy to manage during the dive and there is no problem with crushing blahblahblah which applies to non compressed neo.
And it is cheap. If you are lucky to fit into standard sizing, you can get one from these big scuba companies for a really low price.
Yes most of these have a back zipper and you need your buddy but if you dive solo it is also really easy to zip using your spool line and a strong attachment point like a tree or your car handle.
So try it and if you don't like you still will have a wet suit

 

[NAM001]

do a trilam If you find one say a DUI see if you can get the serial number that was assigned it and call DUI to get the measurements on it and you will knowi f it will fit you or not. a close fit would be great but the best part of trilam is that is very forgiving when you change sizes. There for yo udont have to have an exact fit to get a good deal. I see them on ebay and they many times show teh serial number in the add.

Look at this link there are many others other than the specific tls350 50/50 etc.

dui dry suit tla350 | eBay

 

[kommisarrex]

Looks like there are a couple of European web stores that offer the Aqualung Fusion bullet for about $1700 and the fusion Xscape (sport equivalent?) for about $1300, both are the new aircore and have the quick change seals. I can have it shipped to a friend in the EU. The xscape would give me a few dollars for undergarments and maybe a pee valve down the road.

 

[JBFG]

for your budget and quick timeline, go for the fusion.