dry suit for very shallow scuba

[Old Ballard]

I think the dry gloves may be the way, thanks. No surgery going on, just positioning with cables and sensor positions. Wondering about the cloth compression: I'll be in position for several minutes at a depth, so Im hoping I can get myself tuned, stable and done quick enough, then next depth. A technical dive - by that I mean executing a job - can be interesting in the northwest coastal waters, with a half dozen variants making you look silly, uncomfortable, or worse. I conclude from the several comments that for very shallow stability the odds are better with a drysuit, but with some provisos. Lets say odds are 8 to 5. Thanks everyone.

 

[broncobowsher]

My typical dry glove is done with a Kubi ring system and I keep the silicone seals inside. The silly string is threaded under the seal for equalization. On shallow dives, under 60', there is not enough compression to be a problem and I leave the string out, glove isolated from the suit. It starts getting tight and I have done dives to 100' without the string but get too much compression and loose comfort and warmth. My experience is you won't need equalization to the gloves for very shallow dives. At least the way I have tried it. Your results may vary.

 

[jadairiii]

I have a beautiful cold water suit but not only do I look like the Michellin Tire Man, there is little chance of holding a shallow position.

If your "beautiful cold water suit" is a wet suit and you have problems holding position in it, the dry suit will be just as bad, if not worse. Since you will be balancing 2 "bubbles" not just one.

 

[johndiver999]

I'm not sure I understand the problem. If the desire is to achieve stability at a shallow depth necessary for manipulating objects/tools, then my first inclination would be to deliberately wear a good bit of excess lead maybe 8-10 lbs or maybe more if there is current or wave action.

Enough to allow the diver to be firmly planted on the bottom. When the task is completed at one station/location, just add air to the BC, go up and swim to the next spot. A well fitted and thick wetsuit should be pretty warm because there is minimal suit compression and it sounds like the swim from one station to the next would be somewhat strenuous and allow the diver to generate some heat. I would think if there are 300 yard swims between stations, the streamlining of a wetsuit would be desirable, as would a dive scooter.

I would suggest that it is important that the "excess" lead, be ditchable, in case of a problem with the BC or the scuba unit.

 

[Old Ballard]

My wetsuit is made by WaterProof in Sweden. The Buoy has sensors at surface to beyond 20ft. There is no bottom to stand on, in that our near-shore water depth can be 10 feet or 100 ft, or more. The shores are 80% rock outcrop, typically basalts or metamorphics, and the suit is near bulletproof. The task is to go from surface to a sensor, photograph, adjust/fix, photograph again, then descend to the next sensor. I could overweight myself for the near-surface then inflate the BC as I go down. I had crudely tried that before the weather closed in on us, perhaps I need to lay out a better scheme to do it. Hmm. Back later today with Plan X.

 

[lowwall]

This is about completing a job, not being pretty. I'd go with a few (<10) pounds overweight and your wetsuit. Make sure that extra weight is easily ditchable.

Speaking of jobs... This is a commercial (or possibly scientific) dive. It's kind of odd that you are asking about this on the Basic Scuba subforum. Will you have a tender and meet any other OSHA requirements? Don't put yourself in danger to save someone a few bucks.

 

[johndiver999]

Well if you are working in mid water, then that is a very different scenario than I I had envisioned.

Carry enough lead to be neutral at all working depths.

 

[Old Ballard]

Responding to Iowwall - just joined the group, didnt know where to put the post, so here I am. Scientific dive for sure and in system development phase; once line configuration, choreography and such is sorted out it is much closer to plopping the package into the water. As you all know its amazing how the little things screw up the bigger operation.

 

[lowwall]

Responding to Iowwall - just joined the group, didnt know where to put the post, so here I am. Scientific dive for sure and in system development phase; once line configuration, choreography and such is sorted out it is much closer to plopping the package into the water. As you all know its amazing how the little things screw up the bigger operation.

They did create a Marine Science subforum during the recent reorganization: Marine Science Pros

But this question would probably make more sense in the Advanced forum. I'll post a heads up to the mods and they can decide if it should be moved.

 

[Colliam7]

Moving this to Advanced, as suggested.