35F wetsuits. Reality or still fiction?

[spectrum]

The main reason I am looking for wet solutions is mainly
that fact that a dry flood leaves no room for recovery.

Dive a 7mm neoprene drysuit & garment, then a flood is an inconvenience, not total disaster.

Basically I am:

Testing the limit and getting ideas for augmenting wetsuit season.

Inquiring in new technologies that makes wetsuits better solutions
year after year.

Getting opinions on what is possible as a diving day in cold water.

I'm all for that.

 

[jbb]

Dive a 7mm neoprene drysuit & garment, then a flood is an inconvenience, not total disaster.QUOTE]

There you go. I dive a laminate dry suit. Just before the last dive yesterday I found out my left wrist seal was ripped. I wasn't going to dive but the instructor I was helping had a 7mm O'Neill J-type. Luckily it was my size and jumped in. For me it was o.k. but no where near as warm as my drysuit, especially at depth -65ft. I would really have to swim around a lot in order to stay warm in one of those.

 

[Hoyden]

One of my buddies uses an Xcel 9-7-6 semi-dry and seems happier with it than his dry suit. He routinely dives cold water (low 40s and down) in it.

Jackie

 

[MasterGoa]

One of my buddies uses an Xcel 9-7-6 semi-dry and seems happier with it than his dry suit. He routinely dives cold water (low 40s and down) in it.

Jackie

Interesting...

Fish, they do not have a web site cause they
are so small, but I am sure you can look around
for New Old Stock drysuits...

I have seen a few around Montreal and they are priced to
go.

You will have horrid colors though...

Thank you all for your comments!

 

[deepdestroyer]

The first year I started diving, the thermos off my port were real bad...the surface would be mid 80's, then you drop down 20 feet and it would be 60-65 degrees, then after you dropped down to about 65-70 feet you would hit another thermo that would be in the mid 40's. seeing as I live in florida and it was the middle of summer I only owned a 3 mm with booties, no hood, and some cloth gloves. I dove in that for the first season, and managed 2 full dives a day. It wasnt fun and I did not stay warm, but it was deff doable. Now I have a 7 mm henderson hyperstretch with 5 mm hood and 3 mm booties with cloth gloves. and I usually stay toasty warm, but the thermos havent been near as bad this year.

 

[Thalassamania]

Do what a number of divers have done for the Arctic and Antarctic, custom 3/8" Rubatex GN-231N, skin-2-side, farmer johns, attached hood, no zippers. I can tell you from experience that it will work, especially if you pour warm water into it before the dive.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Isn't that essentially an "an old school freedive suit"???

 

[Darnold9999]

The problem I see with diving wet is the collapse at depth. I have worn a 3/8 Farmer John with a custom cut 3/8 jacket - fit like a glove. Did not start to let water in the wrist and neck until about 60 feet and felt like the Michelin Man getting to the water. On the surface was stinking hot, above 60 feet or so was quite warm. At 120 feet it was a bit like wearing a tshirt - compression making the suit not so much insulation anymore. New materials really have not changed this as I understand it.

Go dry - collapsed Neoprene I believe has the best insulation properties when flooded, but I could be wrong, really was not concerned about this when I did the research for my suit.

Have partially flooded my trilam with a 2/3 wetsuit underneath and didn't notice the flood until I got to the surface. 40 min dive and only a quart or so of water so not a good test, but in an emergency you would survive I suspect.

 

[Thalassamania]

Isn't that essentially an "an old school freedive suit"???

Except for the thickness that's a fair description. The things that's lost today is that folks don't realize just how stretchy the Rubatex is when there's no fabric bonded to it.