If I need anything more than a 5mm + hooded vest, I am diving in a drysuit.
How many exposure suits does it take?
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If I lived in MN year round I'd get a dry suit (and I'm good with cold). And a shorty for those 75 degree water days.
You must be getting the drift by now.
The dry suit is your best choice for most of the diving you will do. I have not used one in the lowest temperatures you will reach, but when I dived in the mid 40s for the first time, I made the mistake of taking my warmest undergarment options and was sweating at the end of a one hour dive.
I will agree, however, that it is not pleasant to be using a dry suit on a 100 degree day, and I did that a lot of times in the last 6 months because the water I was going to enter demanded it. If you are going to dive water temperatures in the high 60s and low 70s, you can use a dry suit with light underwear, but if the air temperatures are going to be much warmer, you might prefer a wet suit. Then again, you might be perfectly content with the dry suit. I was recently doing some tropical ocean diving in water warm enough that I was toasty in a 3mm wet suit, and there were others doing their dives in dry suits. It was not my choice, but they were perfectly happy.
The dry suit is your best choice for most of the diving you will do. I have not used one in the lowest temperatures you will reach, but when I dived in the mid 40s for the first time, I made the mistake of taking my warmest undergarment options and was sweating at the end of a one hour dive.
I will agree, however, that it is not pleasant to be using a dry suit on a 100 degree day, and I did that a lot of times in the last 6 months because the water I was going to enter demanded it. If you are going to dive water temperatures in the high 60s and low 70s, you can use a dry suit with light underwear, but if the air temperatures are going to be much warmer, you might prefer a wet suit. Then again, you might be perfectly content with the dry suit. I was recently doing some tropical ocean diving in water warm enough that I was toasty in a 3mm wet suit, and there were others doing their dives in dry suits. It was not my choice, but they were perfectly happy.
CuzzA
Wetwork for Hire
If the plan is still to get certified in South Florida in February I would hold off on the drysuit. Aside from the cost, you're going to be extremely hot in the Keys, even in February. I just took my son for a walk and I'm sweating bullets right now. You're going to end up with a few different exposure suits anyway so I would just go ahead and pick up an inexpensive 3 mil and dive that when you're down here and you may find you can dive it for a while in the summer up where you live. I just did a Gulf dive in a 3 in 65 degree water and felt fine and I'm a Florida guy. I've dived the Florida springs in a 3 too, but found the activity level so low you can get a slight chill. Trying to master the buoyancy of a drysuit while still learning buoyancy in general may be too much. Everything in this sport is about progression, so I would keep that in mind. This coming from someone who has never dived a drysuit and is still trying to "master" buoyancy. So take that for what it's worth. Just a different perspective.
Edit: BTW, I own 3 suits down here. A 1 mil, 3 mil and a 7 mil semi dry. I can't compare my 7 to a drysuit, but it is super warm. I'd take it down to 50-55F.
Edit: BTW, I own 3 suits down here. A 1 mil, 3 mil and a 7 mil semi dry. I can't compare my 7 to a drysuit, but it is super warm. I'd take it down to 50-55F.
Everyone is different in terms of thermal needs. When I am doing a 3 hour pool session with 3mm suits, almost all students need a hot tub break to get some BTUs back by the middle of the session, and I am pretty close to needing it, too. In contrast, one of our DMs regularly does the entire 3 hour session with just a rash guard. In contrast the other way, we have another DM who is shivering in a 5 mm by the time we take that break.
I would say that CuzzA is more toward the side of the DM in the rash guard in his personal tolerance. I am more tolerant than most people I know, but i would want a bit more than a 3mm suit in South Florida in February. I could get by with a 3mm, but I prefer the 5mm.
I will also dive a dry suit in the winter in South Florida whenever I am diving steel doubles. I will use medium to light underwear in the water and be just fine. If it is a warm day, I can be uncomfortably warm on the surface for the 10 minutes or so before we get in the water, when we finish dressing and get into our gear, but that is just 10 minutes.
CuzzA
Wetwork for Hire
Indeed, everyone's tolerance is different. I dived with a guy who is just now breaking out the rash guard down here.
Again, I don't have experience with a dry suit, but I'm assuming when you're down here in Florida during the summer you can easily open it up during surface intervals to cool down if you're doing repetitive dives? I also assume you're using it simply to provide a redundant lift for your doubles?
Again, I don't have experience with a dry suit, but I'm assuming when you're down here in Florida during the summer you can easily open it up during surface intervals to cool down if you're doing repetitive dives? I also assume you're using it simply to provide a redundant lift for your doubles?
You do what you have to do between dives. It usually only takes about a minute to get it down so that it is hanging from your waist.
When you are in a situation in which you need the dry suit because of cool water temperatures or steel doubles but it is going to be warm on the surface, one of the problems is condensation inside the suit due to perspiration. If you have good quality undergarments, it is wicked away to the outside. I do what I call the "cormorant maneuver," exposing the undergarments to the open air the way a cormorant dries its feathers. It usually evaporates pretty quickly.
Still, if I am going to be that warm on the surface, I prefer a wet suit if I can get away with it.
Tigerman
Contributor
Hands down, drysuit.
For the temprature range (and land tempratur range), I think a trilam suit would be more suitable than neoprene due to the fact that neoprene get bloody hot in the summer (I do have experience with neoprene drusuit, I dive the same same conditions and a hot summer day neoprene drusuit do beceome a bit of a hassle).
Paradoxically, my crushed neoprene suit can keep me much cooler during surface intervals than my friends' TLS 350 tri-lam suits. Their tri-lam suits dry immediately, whereas my suit, which soaks up a *lot* of water, evaporatively cools for a considerably longer time. In fact, my suit can leave me too cold during surface intervals at times.
Safe Diving,
rx7diver
It depends on a lot.
If you plan to dive the cold end of the spectrum and that includes moderate depth anytime of the year in a lake a drysuit is the only real option. There is a fair consensus that 50F is sort of the low end for any wetsuit. Some will push past this and if it's a dip below a thermocline for a limited time you can have some leeway with a good wetsuit but it's a limited solution. Others wimp out way above 50F and are exclusively dry. You can do that by varying the garments and keep it as simple as 1 dry suit.
Personally a drysuit is a tool that lets me be comfortable when a wetsuit can't. I vastly prefer the simplicity of a wetsuit. I live in Maine at a similar latitude with a mix of fresh and salt water. In addition to my drysuit I make good use of a:
2mm shorty
3-2 full suit
5-4 fullsuit
7mm fullsuit
3/5 mm chicken vest
7mm hooded step-in vest
Edit... I forgot trunks
The above get used in various combinations and also cover the bases if I get to warm water.
So depending on what you plan to do and what your personal preferences shake out as the sky is the limit.
Pete
If you plan to dive the cold end of the spectrum and that includes moderate depth anytime of the year in a lake a drysuit is the only real option. There is a fair consensus that 50F is sort of the low end for any wetsuit. Some will push past this and if it's a dip below a thermocline for a limited time you can have some leeway with a good wetsuit but it's a limited solution. Others wimp out way above 50F and are exclusively dry. You can do that by varying the garments and keep it as simple as 1 dry suit.
Personally a drysuit is a tool that lets me be comfortable when a wetsuit can't. I vastly prefer the simplicity of a wetsuit. I live in Maine at a similar latitude with a mix of fresh and salt water. In addition to my drysuit I make good use of a:
2mm shorty
3-2 full suit
5-4 fullsuit
7mm fullsuit
3/5 mm chicken vest
7mm hooded step-in vest
Edit... I forgot trunks
The above get used in various combinations and also cover the bases if I get to warm water.
So depending on what you plan to do and what your personal preferences shake out as the sky is the limit.
Pete
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