7mm Wetsuit In A Indoor Pool?

[Fogest]

Correct - usually the hood is a separate piece tucked into the neck of your suit. Your suit will have a zipper somewhere, if its a 1-piece full suit, generally a the back that can let in a trickle of cold water.

The attached hood prevents the trickle of cold air. You are correct that the hood cannot be removed, and I guess it is a bother when out of the water. Note - a fullsuit w attached hood is a also bit harder to don/doff - the zipper is across the chest. If im out of the water and getting warm, I tend to either slide my head out of the face hole (a bit uncomfortable) or unzip and remove the hood so that my upper torso is free of the suit (also a bit uncomfortable)

I suppose that a farmer john has the zipper in the front, not the back. I don't recall the "trickle of cold" from a farmer john, so maybe that isn't an issue. However, I only wore a farmer john a few times long ago before I got my own suit.

My other issue with farmer johns is they generally mean more lead.

One note - I don't know how effective only wearing the farmer john jacket would be, as its designed to fit over the overalls and may be too loose to be used on its own.

That's one reason I suggest also suggest a fullsuit with a vest with attached hood over it -- for maximum cold protection. And if you are somewhere warmer, you can change components


Lots of suggestions from different folks. Ultimately you will choose what suits you best. It may be that what works for me in NorCal (down to 48 deg F, altho not lately) may not be warm enough for you in the Great North, so a farmer john is a better option.

Also, one other thing I haven't thought of, I cant tell from your post if you are male or female, and I could see a female having a different experience re fullsuits w/ attached hoods.

I am a male. You mentioned that you suggest a full suit with a vest and attached hood over it. Could you clarify what you mean here? Are you suggesting possibly wearing a normal suit, and then additionally another vest under that, that has an attached hood? Would this mean essentially 2 hoods and 2 layers of wetsuit around the chest, or am I misunderstanding that suggestion?

 

[diver0008]

My suggestion would be to stick with your original plan - 7mm full suit (with a hood). Get some dives under your belt, then see if your cold tolerance needs adjustment in terms of layers or options. There are far too many options and far too many types of divers and their respective preferences and tolerances to be trying to make some end-all decision with no experience of your own. It's going to take you 100 dives before you get your skills nailed, so there's plenty of time.

 

[Fogest]

My suggestion would be to stick with your original plan - 7mm full suit (with a hood). Get some dives under your belt, then see if your cold tolerance needs adjustment in terms of layers or options. There are far too many options and far too many types of divers and their respective preferences and tolerances to be trying to make some end-all decision with no experience of your own. It's going to take you 100 dives before you get your skills nailed, so there's plenty of time.

That does seem like the route I'll be taking since it does seem like there is option to fix any cold issues I may have if I do get the 7mm anyway. So it seems like a good option. Likely will go out looking for one this weekend.

 

[Chavodel8en]

I am a male. You mentioned that you suggest a full suit with a vest and attached hood over it. Could you clarify what you mean here? Are you suggesting possibly wearing a normal suit, and then additionally another vest under that, that has an attached hood? Would this mean essentially 2 hoods and 2 layers of wetsuit around the chest, or am I misunderstanding that suggestion?

If you used a vest w attached hood, then you would use a full suit w/o a hood. So only one hood layer, but Two layers on the chest And generally folks use the vest over the suit ( I've never used this configuration tho, as I just us a suit w attached hood)

 

[islanddream]

A Farmer John is the second picture that was shown. A suit without sleeves. Then you can put the shorty (first picture) over it. Although the water I dive in isn't cold compared to where you dive, I tend to get cold easily. During the warmer months I dive in a Fourth Element or Sharkskin suit. I love both of them because they aren't made with neoprene, so with my steel tanks I don't need any additional weight.

This winter the water in FL has been too cold for me to wear either of those suits or even my 3mm. I recently purchased a ScubaPro 5mm wetsuit (no attached hood) and a 3mm vest with a hood which I wear under my wetsuit. It keeps me toasty warm and I suspect it's because I have 8mm on my core. I also wear gloves. If I was diving where you are and couldn't afford a drysuit, I'd buy a 7mm wetsuit and a 5mm hooded vest.

I have a Farmer Jane and a shorty which I really don't like. Way too much neoprene so too much weight has to be added.

Happy diving!

 

[elgoog]

OP - Might I suggest a visit to your LDS to see first hand what the different wetsuit options are? There's enough variety that it can be confusing for someone who has never done this before and the best way to learn is to see them first hand. You'll also get some insight from them about local conditions and what other divers are doing while diving locally.

 

[KevinNM]

Being cold while diving is miserable. It makes you not want to dive.

 

[Fogest]

If you used a vest w attached hood, then you would use a full suit w/o a hood. So only one hood layer, but Two layers on the chest And generally folks use the vest over the suit ( I've never used this configuration tho, as I just us a suit w attached hood)

Sounds good .

A Farmer John is the second picture that was shown. A suit without sleeves. Then you can put the shorty (first picture) over it. Although the water I dive in isn't cold compared to where you dive, I tend to get cold easily. During the warmer months I dive in a Fourth Element or Sharkskin suit. I love both of them because they aren't made with neoprene, so with my steel tanks I don't need any additional weight.

This winter the water in FL has been too cold for me to wear either of those suits or even my 3mm. I recently purchased a ScubaPro 5mm wetsuit (no attached hood) and a 3mm vest with a hood which I wear under my wetsuit. It keeps me toasty warm and I suspect it's because I have 8mm on my core. I also wear gloves. If I was diving where you are and couldn't afford a drysuit, I'd buy a 7mm wetsuit and a 5mm hooded vest.

I have a Farmer Jane and a shorty which I really don't like. Way too much neoprene so too much weight has to be added.

Happy diving!

I'd love to keep as minimal as possible with what I wear so I likely would only resort to a farmer john if absolutely necessarily, definitely don't think I'll start off with having bought one. Would only get it later if I am too cold.

OP - Might I suggest a visit to your LDS to see first hand what the different wetsuit options are? There's enough variety that it can be confusing for someone who has never done this before and the best way to learn is to see them first hand. You'll also get some insight from them about local conditions and what other divers are doing while diving locally.

I am actually going to be going to a shop tomorrow to take a look at what they offer and see what they suggest. Then I'll probably take that suggestion with me to my next lesson session and see what the club members think of their suggestion.

Being cold while diving is miserable. It makes you not want to dive.

I can definitely see how being cold can be a big factor.

 

[TMHeimer]

Being cold while diving is miserable. It makes you not want to dive.

Nah! ....... Well, yeah.

 

[FinnMom]

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• FinnMom
• Mar 20, 2016

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• FinnMom
• Mar 20, 2016

The 7mm full suit and 5mm hoody shorty is more expensive warmer than a farmer john, but also warmer and leaves you with lots of layering options. It's nice to have 2 suits: I have made a lot of summer snorkeling trips where I wore the fullsuit and a friend wore the shorty. With 2 suits you immedately have a warm weather or pool suit in the shorty, you can also use the fullsuit without hood, gloves or boots and be comfortable in pool temps, or add some or all of these and progess to being comforable in distinctly chilly waters. With the fullsuit + hooded shorty + boots & gloves, you might find you can enjoy 30-40 mins at even 3C or so (esp if you use 3-finger gloves).

Frequently you will find that you can be perfectly warm & more than happy underwater while diving wet, but it's the dressing and undressing that will be the dealbreaker. Drysuit divers just need to remove the outer suit, they can actually wear their Michelin-man undersuits all the way home. The wetsuit diver needs to strip to his bare, wet, skin and hope he doesn't have to do it in too much of a cold wind (cold rain is nice too).