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It's expensive and for that reason each drysuit comes with a packet of cool-aide.
Any downsides to diving dry?
- Thread starter SeaHorse81
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OP
SeaHorse81
Contributor
Thanks everybody, for the nice spectrum of info. 
It sounds like, as with so many things in life, it's a matter of which set of inconveniences you prefer to get to the desired end result.
Has anybody made the leap to dry and wished now that they could get the money back and just keep diving wet, as before? If so, why?
It sounds like, as with so many things in life, it's a matter of which set of inconveniences you prefer to get to the desired end result.
Has anybody made the leap to dry and wished now that they could get the money back and just keep diving wet, as before? If so, why?
Ulfhedinn
-Skill Collector-
Mark Derail
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May sound silly but... why not wear a 3/5 mil under a dry? If a seal leaks, no big deal.
Why buy fleece undergarments when the 3/5 will keep you warm also?
Why buy fleece undergarments when the 3/5 will keep you warm also?
craracer
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The 3/5 keeps you warm because it traps warm water between the suit and your skin. Being that you are diving dry, it would have very little insulating effects. Purpose-made undergarments or otherwise will keep you much more warm than neoprene in a dry suit.
Flooding a suit doesn't happen very often, and it's typically not a dive ending experience. Occasionally I'll have some water in an arm, but not a big deal.
I'm simply speaking from my experiences.
Flooding a suit doesn't happen very often, and it's typically not a dive ending experience. Occasionally I'll have some water in an arm, but not a big deal.
I'm simply speaking from my experiences.
Crush
Contributor
Translation of Thalassamania for the OP: once you shell out $1-4K on a suit you will never admit to yourself, or anyone else, that it was a bad idea.
My comments:
I dive my 3 mm two-piece wetsuit whenever I can - it is simple to take care of, I don't need to worry about ripping seals, etc.. There is a beauty in simple, low-tech. However, I rarely use the 3 mm two-piece wetsuit (or the top part only) because I rarely get to dive warm water. For me a two-piece 3 mm suit is adequate when others are wearing a 5 mm suit with hood and gloves.
I dive my drysuit whenever the water is cool to cold or whenever surface conditions warrant. The drysuit gets a fair bit of use.
Diving dry has a few serious drawbacks:
* Urination factor. Even with a p-valve, it's still more work.
* If it fails a little, it's catastrophic. The only thing to break a wetsuit is a complete zipper blowout, and even that's recoverable.
* It's big. My 7mm was no big deal on a plane. The drysuit requires another bag.
* There's maintenance costs in addition to the purchase price.
If you can afford it, it's definitely worth it. I got one as soon as I could, which was after a hundred or so 50F dives. If I'd've not picked one up second hand, I still wouldn't have one.
* Urination factor. Even with a p-valve, it's still more work.
* If it fails a little, it's catastrophic. The only thing to break a wetsuit is a complete zipper blowout, and even that's recoverable.
* It's big. My 7mm was no big deal on a plane. The drysuit requires another bag.
* There's maintenance costs in addition to the purchase price.
If you can afford it, it's definitely worth it. I got one as soon as I could, which was after a hundred or so 50F dives. If I'd've not picked one up second hand, I still wouldn't have one.
Lobzilla
Contributor
Thanks everybody, for the nice spectrum of info.
It sounds like, as with so many things in life, it's a matter of which set of inconveniences you prefer to get to the desired end result.
Has anybody made the leap to dry and wished now that they could get the money back and just keep diving wet, as before? If so, why?
Quite the opposite. I was not "sold" on the drysuit after the first couple of dives and predicted that I would go back to wet as soon as the temperatures would allow again. My initial disappointment with the drysuit was loosing the feeling of being one with the water. The drysuit felt like laying on a wrinkled bed rather than being suspended in the water.
Couple month later, I bought a second drysuit for travel, and the wetsuit is still collecting dust. I guess the advantage of doing more dives knowing that you are not freezing your rear end off is big enough to ignore the few "niggles" that come with diving dry.
I bought both suits (DUI CF200 and DUI TLS350) used on ebay without the "after this price tag I have to like it" koolaid.
BTW: There is a SANTI demo event this weekend at Dutch. Their suits are popular with cave divers in Europe and look worth trying out.
OP
SeaHorse81
Contributor
Interesting you should make this point, because in addition to the issues of expense and complication, this one's really on my mind. I envision feeling like I'm in a big baggie not really having the (emotional) immersion experience. If you got over that, maybe I could too...
Thanks for the heads-up on Dutch Springs. Unfortunately, at 5-1/2 hours away, there's no way I can make it work this weekend due to other plans.
On a dive trip where I made 24 dives over 5 days, my neck was badly chafed from the neck seal. Normally I wouldn't dive it that often.
Inadequate hydration from not wanting an overfull bladder during the dives is a nuisance, but not so much as the overfull bladder - I'd rather risk DCS than spend most of my dive uncomfortable since, after all, I'm supposed to be there to enjoy myself. I got a P valve installed in my second drysuit, but never used it after realizing how it's supposed to work. Besides the condom catheters, which are bad enough, there are tales of them backing up - I'd rather risk DCS than potentially endanger my manhood in any way!
To the poster that asked why wearing a wetsuit under a drysuit wouldn't be a good idea: It's not just the insulation factor as some suggested, as neoprene will certainly insulate one from the cold somewhat. The problem is that wetsuits are designed to trap water inside. That help keep one warm underwater without a drysuit shell on top. Inside a drysuit, however, what the wetsuit will do is trap sweat. Undergarments are designed to wick away sweat and keep one's skin relatively dry. In a wetsuit, you'll be soaking in your own juices. Yuck. (And that's coming from one who normally pees in a wetsuit without qualms - at least then I can flush it away)
Inadequate hydration from not wanting an overfull bladder during the dives is a nuisance, but not so much as the overfull bladder - I'd rather risk DCS than spend most of my dive uncomfortable since, after all, I'm supposed to be there to enjoy myself. I got a P valve installed in my second drysuit, but never used it after realizing how it's supposed to work. Besides the condom catheters, which are bad enough, there are tales of them backing up - I'd rather risk DCS than potentially endanger my manhood in any way!
To the poster that asked why wearing a wetsuit under a drysuit wouldn't be a good idea: It's not just the insulation factor as some suggested, as neoprene will certainly insulate one from the cold somewhat. The problem is that wetsuits are designed to trap water inside. That help keep one warm underwater without a drysuit shell on top. Inside a drysuit, however, what the wetsuit will do is trap sweat. Undergarments are designed to wick away sweat and keep one's skin relatively dry. In a wetsuit, you'll be soaking in your own juices. Yuck. (And that's coming from one who normally pees in a wetsuit without qualms - at least then I can flush it away)
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