All I can say is I hate drysuits!

[Tom Winters]

That's one steep learning curve there Bubba - "0-15 dives" plus learning to dive dry. You got a ton of good advice in the earlier posts - good luck juggling all that.

 

[zboss]

As previously stated it takes a few dives to get used to diving a drysuit. There are basically two ways to dive a drysuit by using your suit for bouyancy control or adding just enough air to the suit to eliminate excessive squeeze and using your BC for buoyancy. I prefer the latter as it eliminates a lot of the feet up problems especially when in a heads down position looking under rocks and such.

Most importantly you need to be shown/taught what to do in case of a feet up ascent, stuck inflator, run away ascent etc. Either have a seasoned drysuit diver show you the ropes or take a class. Me personally, I will never dive a wetsuit again in cold water.

While I am definately going to take the dry suit specialty class myself - I don't mind paying for some brain matter - what do you guys think of dry suit gators? Do they work well? What is the downside?

 

[metaldector]

I was diving my drysuit in West Palm Beach, water was 73 degrees, and very pleasant topside at about 75 degrees. All of the other divers on the boat were diving wetsuits and many were doing their check out dives for OW certs. So I had a lot of questions being asked of me and a lot of stares. It's not common in south florida to use drysuits. Anyway, we did two drift dives at about 60 feet with a 45 minute surface interval and I observed several wet suit divers shivering almost uncontrolably! In fact one diver didn't go back for the second dive due to her shivering. I of course was warm, dry, and had a great time. The only thing I don't like is all of the extra weight I have to wear. When diving the wetsuit I use about 10 lbs. and when diving the drysuit about 32 lbs. There is a learning curve to a drysuit unlike the wetsuit. But the warmth is worth it.

 

[Web Monkey]

While I am definately going to take the dry suit specialty class myself - I don't mind paying for some brain matter - what do you guys think of dry suit gators? Do they work well? What is the downside?

Never used them, but everybody I've seen that has, said they were a waste of money.

If you have enough air in the suit that the legs fill up with air, you're over-weighted, or need to re-position some of the weight you already have.


Terry

 

[rje634]

If you keep having problems with air pockets in your legs they have vecro gators for you calfs that reduce the amount of air that can get trapped in your legs/feet..

 

[WreckedDiver]

While I am definately going to take the dry suit specialty class myself - I don't mind paying for some brain matter - what do you guys think of dry suit gators? Do they work well? What is the downside?

I love my drysuit gators! I had them on my first drysuit ScubaPro Bilam and on my current Bare HD Trilam. I like them for teaching purposes as I'm always on my knees on the bottom demostrating stuff. Yours is neoprene? The only thing I like about neoprene drysuits is flooding them with warm water and still staying warm diving otherwise they sweat me out. The main pain about drysuit is when you have to pee. In a wetsuit you just go, drysuit well you could but...it Depends! Hah-hah-ha

 

[WreckedDiver]

My first drysuit experience was out on a boat with my OW instructor who sold me my first drysuit. I went in the water with a DM and a rescue diver. Down we went and I wasn't shown any drysuit stuff aside from inflate and deflate. So the DM and the rescue diver were buddies and I was following down the line when I had a magic moment. Can you say weight belt falling to the ocean floor? I grabbed onto the bouy line we were beside and the DM seen me and came over and started beating on my hands to let go of the line. I was signaling that I was going to hand over hand down to my weight belt. The angry shake of his head said that wasn't going to happen so I did a flared rocket man to the surface. It was a fun ride but I don't recommend it and those poor buggers didn't have a lift bag to bring my wieght belt back up! I liked to pile on the weights still do and the hernia they suffered bring my weight belt back up still brings a smile to my face or maybe thats the beer.

 

[simbrooks]

I grabbed onto the bouy line we were beside and the DM seen me and came over and started beating on my hands to let go of the line. I was signaling that I was going to hand over hand down to my weight belt. The angry shake of his head said that wasn't going to happen so I did a flared rocket man to the surface.

A wise move not to let you go down to get it, you werent in a state to control your ascent from depth if you hadnt been able to find the belt, or of course assuming you could get off the line to go find it. Now the rocket ride could have been avoided by going hand over hand back up the line, this i think was a bad move by the DM telling you to sail off to the surface, IMO. Also try to spread your weight around as non-ditchable if you can, only drop the swing weight

 

[Goose75]

Bubba,

My ninth dive was with a dry suit. I took the specialty class with my advanced and it took me 4 dives before things started making sence. Before that, I wasn't sure why they were worth it. I can't imagine doing it without an experienced dry suit diver on hand to watch me for mistakes. I'm sure I could have learned on my own in time, but it wouldn't have been worth the risk or hassle.

BTW, I'm headed back to Texas soon and the saddest part is that I can't justify buying a suit now

 

[Bubba05]

Thanks everyone for the words of advice. I needed to vent about my first experience with the DS. Your tips and tricks are great and I almost look forward to going out and trying the darn thing again. I will definately give it time and also check into a class or at the very least seek out help from someone more experienced. The only problem is there are not many people near me that dive and those that do have very little experience. BTW, I am in the eastern panhandle of WV if anyone reading this is close enough, maybe we could get together for some diving/practice/training. Thanks again everyone, I feel alittle better about it all.