2 wetsuits at once??

[Max Speed]

The danger with two wetsuits, of reasonable thickness, is that you can easily overheat while putting on the second one.

Wow, dancing with death while donning my farmer john.

 

[aquaregia]

My girlfriend came close with a full 3 and a full 7, donning in the sun at Monastery then lugging all the gear over the berm.

 

[Peter_C]

I have done a very nice no zip 4/3 under a 7mm Pinnacle Polar. I FROZE! The water was 48 degrees. Went dry and have appreciated my drysuits ever since.

Rent a wetsuit! Then buy a drysuit. No one says you have to buy a new one. They can be repaired, and if you are all handy you can do it yourself.

 

[mtabor]

my first post but im from canada, i wear a tusa splendive vi semi 6mm from 18c to 28c i love it.

 

[MisterPG]

Thanks for all the input, peeps If anyone's interested, here's what I ended up wearing last Sunday afternoon...

1 mil wetsuit
3/2 mil wetsuit
5'ish mil (wool-lined) hooded vest
5'ish mil booties
5'ish mil gloves

Lake water was 51.8 degrees

I lasted about 20 minutes before I decided to head back to shore. I wasn't shivering, but was definitely uncomfortable the last few minutes.

PS - I had a BLAST!

~m

 

[fjpatrum]

Stacked suits are far less comfortable than a single suit of comparable thickness. I've dived with double layers (at least) for all but 1 of my 13 dives, though. In cold and "warm" water. My one dive with a single layer was "warm" water and I was cold by the end of the dive. For the second dive that day I stacked a 5mm on top of my 3mm.

When I dive cold water I actually have 3 layers of neoprene on my core. It's definitely more restrictive, but it's doable. It's harder if multiple layers are full suits. I usually wear a 5/3 hooded vest, a 3mm full suit, and then a 7mm step in jacket. I also wear 5mm gloves and 7mm booties. That gives me, 13 or 14 on my abdomen, 10 on my arms and upper legs, 5 on my head and hands 3 on my lower legs and 7 on my feet.

I stay quite cozy for a good 40 minutes at 42 F first dive but I'm getting cold by 30 minutes into the second dive in the same temps. I get cold very easily but it's usually my buddies in their 7mm 1 pieces suits asking to get out of the water first. YMMV.

 

[tarponchik]

I did 2 dives w a surface interval in 58 F water (bottom) in two 3 mm full length suits. I also had a hood but no mittens, so my hands were as cold as icicles. In retrospect, 7 mm would work better than 2x3 mm.

 

[NuclearOOPS]

In march I was diving a Tilos 7/6/5, with a 7 mil waterproof hood, 3 mil gloves (they look more like one or two mil), and 3 mil boots. The boots and gloves went over the arm and leg openings to minimize water transfer. I was diving 47F no problem. My core, arms, and legs stayed warm. My feet weren't to bad either, but my hands did get cold. The worst part was taking off the wetsuit when it was only 56F outside.

 

[ElGaucho]

I just did a local lake dive by teaming up two 3mm jumpsuits. The water temp was around 58 F at the surface. Then again, it wasn't to deep, it never exceeded 25 feet. So I was able to pull it with the 2x3mm. If you don't have a drysuit or a 7mil, try the 2 suits. It's a nice stopgap solution for those times when you rather try and dive than stay dry on shore.