7mm vs Semi-dry

[Boogie711]

Here's a quick little secret - buy drysuits in Canada. Much MUCH cheaper than anything you're going to find in the USA. There are a number of people on this board who've purchased drysuits over the phone from a bricks and mortar LDS in Canada and saved hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

I would personally recommend www.dansdiveshop.ca - I bought a DUI CNSE with dry gloves and Bare CT-200 Undies for $1650 Cdn, or about $1,200 at the time. Now the US dollar has tanked in the last 6 months, but it's still some good shopping.

 

[5615mike]

buddies of mine told me that an Andy's dry suit can be had for about $700. If I had to do it all over, I would buy a dry suit instead of a 7mm.

 

[Delano Diver]

Thanks for the great advice. My decision will definately be based on which fits best, and then cost with emphasis of stepping up to a drysuit next season.

 

[Jester]

Let me qualify this by saying that I haven't done a lot of cold water stuff (water gets a little warm around here during the summer). However, I wanted to be able to dive year 'round, so I invested in a Henderson 7/5 Semi-Dry.

I've used it twice. Both times in fresh water around the Houston area, and on both occasions, the water temp. was a brisk 54 degrees F. The 7/5 with a 3mm core warmer kept me as warm as toast, and after getting out of the water, there were actually several dry spots on the core warmer.

On the first occasion, I had a case of the "floaty feet", so the next time, I used some ankle weights, and was able to keep the horizontal position with no problem.

I realize that one of the big selling points of a dry suit is the fact that it can keep you quite warm, but I think the 7/5 semi-dry is a reasonably economical alternative.

 

[turnerjd]

E-bay is also an option if you know exactly what you want, what suit you are buying and what size you need. With a little (sometimes a lot) of patience, the perfect used dry suit will come along for under $300 and if you are less patient, finding one for under $500 is pretty easy.

ALso check the local dive shops they may have a solid used suit or a demo for sale or may know where to get one or know of someone trying to sell one. Demo suits in particular can be a very good deal.

I asked one of my local LDSs if they knew of anybody willing to part with an old drysuit. They had non in their box of second hand items at the time, but less that two weeks later, word of mouth had gone round, and they came up with a suit that was past its best, but I only payed £100 for (about 160$). I have now done many hundreds of dives on this suit and it is no longer waterproof, so has earned an honest retirement.

Ask round with the local divers. They are sure to come up with something. Equally, one of my mates bought a brand new shell suit for less than £250 (thats what? 375$??), simply because it was the demonstrator and each panel was from a different colour material.

Deals are there to be had. In the UK shell suits start at about £300 (450$??) although to this you have to add undersuits valves etc... so I would think that they would be roughly the same in the US.

Jon T