Advise for Cold Diver

[Sea Lioness]

I have been diving for a few years now, but live in NYC and have limited closet space so I have not purchased any equipment except for mask and snorkel. I get cold pretty easily when I dive wether it is 40 ft or 130 ft, and would appreciate advise from fellow coldies.
I dive in seem like a good layer. Do the hooded vests drive you crazy? They seem a bit claustrophobic, but if it will keep me warm I am all for it. Any use in the vest without the hod under a full length suit?

A vest without the hood under a full length wetsuit can be helpful. A hooded vest would be warmer still. What I would recommend depends on where you're doing your dives.

What temperature waters do you dive in? Do you dive local, cold-water dive sites? Or do you travel to warm waters to dive? The range of options for exposure suits is pretty broad. If you are doing local, cold-water dives, then the best answer is a drysuit, or (if a drysuit costs more than you want to spend) a two-piece 7mm wetsuit, along with hood, gloves and boots.

If you are diving in warm water and just need something to fend off the chill on your dive, you can add a hood, a hooded vest, a vest, gloves, and/or boots. (I especially recommend good boots if you don't have them yet, although they do require open-heeled fins.) You could also go to a thicker wetsuit than what you've been wearing so far.

I dive in cold waters almost exclusively, so I wear a hood all the time when I dive, and have no problem with it. Some people really seem to hate them, but most divers get used to them quickly, in my experience.

 

[fresh_fish]

I'm one of those "always cold" people, even out of the water. When I dive cold water, I use a skin underneath a 2 piece 7ml (sometimes also a 1.5ml layered in there), then socks inside my 5ml boots, my 7/5 hyperstretch hood, and gloves. I learned to dive in cold water, where we were told you WILL be wearing a hood. There is no choice. I gotta say, no that I'm used to it, I even wore my hood in Florida. I'd rather be warm, than cold...

 

[String]

If you're cold buy a drysuit. Simple as that.

 

[Kingpatzer]

If you'er going to dive cold, you're going to want a dry suit. There's no substitute for it in terms of maximizing your diving comfort. I know of no regular local divers here in MN who don't eventually buy one. And everyone I know who started out buying a wetsuit of some type to save money eventually expressed regret at not just getting teh dry suit first as it would have saved money in the long run.

 

[fjpatrum]

I get cold easily. I wear a huge amount of neoprene when diving cold water and a fair amount of neoprene when diving warm water.

For example, in 40-50 degree water like we have at the local quarry, I wear 5/3 hooded vest. Over that I wear a full 4/3 suit. Over that I wear a 7mm step in jacket. I wear 1 mm socks under my 7 mm booties and I wear 5mm gloves. I am like a friggin walrus when I get in the water.

In warmish water (up to about 75 degrees) I wear my vest and 4/3 full suit. In actually warm water (>75 degrees) I will wear my vest and a 3/2 mm spring suit. (I've not dived "warm" temps but have snorkeled down to about 20 feet in these temps and got too cold without the vest.)

I'm a big proponent of the hooded vest, as someone who gets cold very easily. It makes a huge difference for me. If you're not fond of the full hood, at least get a neoprene hat/hood thing that straps under your chin. It will make a big difference in your comfort. The vest sans hood will also help, though not as much.

For reference, I had all of this stuff before I started diving except the gloves, boots, and step in jacket. At some point, if I keep diving cold water, I'll get a dry suit but right now it's not practical for my budget. I suffer the cold miserably but with 14mm on my core and varying thickness up to 10mm everywhere else, I can actually get in a couple of 40-50 minute dives and be fairly comfortable. If I stay in much longer than that I still get cold, and of course there's always the buoyancy issues with that much neoprene after about 45 feet.

 

[Teamcasa]

For hood issues, my original one drove me crazy. I finally took it to a wetsuit tailor and she marked it up, sliced it up and glued and stitched it back together. Wow, a perfect fit! Never again will I buy an off the shelf hood.

BTW, the whole process took less than 20 minutes and cost me 15 bucks.