60-68 degree water - semi-dry or drysuit?

[pickens_46929]

I'll add my $0.02 here even though everyone has hit most of the high points:

1) longer in water time with deco
2) surface temp / conditions
3) move to doubles lends towards dry suit
4) compression of neoprene at depth

If your profile is correct, and you've got between 50 and 99 dives in, another thing that is going to come in to consideration here is the fact that you are going to get more comfortable in the water, your buoyancy skills will improve and you will stop finning / fidgeting in the water even more so. Less activity means less work which means less body heat generated. That right there made the difference for me being comfortable in 65F water in a wetsuit and now being too cold for diving wet in anything water in the 60's.

 

[ddmattos]

I still can't make my mind up about either semi-dry or drysuit. water temps in sydney get to about 60 degrees min temp in the winter here. Currently using a 5mm henderson thermoprene and i am fine in 69 degrees and up but 68 and lower gets a bit cold but still fine. I have taken it to 60 degrees because of a cold water current that came in and i was cold but not shivering or anything. Haven't been cold on the surface intervals either unless its windy or something.

The flexibility of the drysuit is a turnoff for me and it being harder to maintain trim and buoyancy. But i want to make sure i make the right choice.

Drysuit.......A properly fitted trilam or bilam suit will be extremely flexible, as well as the temperature range they could be dove in with proper undergarments. Get proper training and practice, trim and buoyancy will not be an issue. If it requires a suit, I'll dive dry everytime. My avatar is a picture of me in Greece wearing a Santi E-Lite with Fourth Element Drybase underneath. With waters in the 70's F, i would probably wear just the Zerotherm. Lower temps I would lean towards Drybase/Arctic or Zerotherm /Arctic layered. IMHO, it's more comfortable than a 3mm suit, especially on multiple dives. Just remember to take the top down leaving on the suspenders or at least unzup during surface intervals to let the moisture escape.

im a single tank. but i plan to move into doubles which means deco.

Drysuit again. Get a Trilam or bilam with a balanced pee valve (no worries about staying hydrated). As you know, proper hydration starts days before your dive and drink water during your surface interval.

A properly fitted and maintained suit will be extremely comfortable, will last you a very long time, and you will dive more often. I love having one bag with my suit and undergarments that will let me dive from 85f to low 40'sf.
(Fourth Elemeent Drybase, Zerotherm, and Arctic)

See if there is a Santi or DUI demo in your area and give it try DRY.

 

[dmcutter]

I have an Aqualung SolaFX 7/8 semidry and I am toasty warm in 50 degree water. Extremities get cold on the second dive, but my body stays very warm.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I have an Aqualung SolaFX 7/8 semidry and I am toasty warm in 50 degree water. Extremities get cold on the second dive, but my body stays very warm.

You must have a good tolerance of cold. I have the same suit and agree, it can be toasty in 50F water.
The problem I have is when I dive deep, the same extra flexible neoprene that allows it to be form fitting and comfortable crushes at depth resulting in loss of the thermal barrier and getting cold have 2-3 dives.

 

[ianr33]

Do you want to be able to pee during a dive?

No problem in a drysuit. Imagine it's icky in a semi dry.

 

[dmcutter]

Do you want to be able to pee during a dive?

No problem in a drysuit. Imaging it's icky in a semi dry.

True that. I have never peed in that suit because it will just run down your legs and stay there...not appealing.

 

[mattpatton]

If you really want to stay away from drysuit diving, just add a heated undersuit to your semi-dry. We dive in waters here in North Carolina down to 60 degrees in 5/4mm wetsuits with Thermalution heated rash guards underneath. No need to deal with all the dry suit complications in water temps over 60 if you really don't want to. Stay Warm!

 

[dmcutter]

I will throw in a plug here for Matt and say that I have a Thermalution Yellow (not from pee, that's what they really call it) that I have worn under my semidry in 44 degree water and it works very well. If only they made heated gloves...a couple weekends ago we were diving on Saturday am and it was cloudy and around 50 degrees. I had the heat on between dives and it was wonderful.

 

[ianr33]

im a single tank. but i plan to move into doubles which means deco.

Don't know what everyone dives for doubles your way,but, something to bear in mind is if you start doing deep dives with heavy steel tanks, then a drysuit is really useful as a backup buoyancy device. Also,if you get to the stage of doing significant deco being cold is more than an inconvenience,it's a safety issue. You don't offgas properly when your fingers are numb.

All things considered I would suggest the drysuit.

 

[Nitro91]

drysuit it is then!