Any downsides to diving dry?

[boulderjohn]

Beside the DS itself, there is the undergarmet, which can be as expansive as a wetsuit. DS under garment also loses its warm like wetsuit, so as time goes by, you need to replace the undergarmet as if you are replacing your wetsuit.

You speak of undergarment in the singular. Yes ONE undergarment is as expensive as a wet suit. If you have one for the really cold stuff, one for the diving in the 50s and low 60s, and one for diving in the warmer water, ...

To give you an idea of a problem, I will be going to the Bahamas in a couple of months. I will be doing a bunch of ocean dives in toasty warm water, with my totally worn out 3mm suit providing more protection than I need. I plan to do a couple of days of cave diving, though, in 74° water. I would freeze on a long dive at that temperature in a 3mm suit. The person with whom I will be diving will be wearing a 7mm suit plus hood. Sounds good, but I am not going to buy a 7mm suit for a couple of days of cave diving. So it looks like I will be carting my dry suit with my lightest underwear.

At least I will be able to pee comfortably.

 

[spectrum]

Downsides of diving dry? You bet!

More expensive gear in the form of the suit, undergarments and accessories like possibly alternate fins and weighting system.

Likely need of additional weight. Loft is warmth and loft is buoyancy and that spells lead.

Bubble management. A wetsuit's buoyancy is dynamic but entirely predictable in it's compression and rebound. The amount of air and it's location in a drysuit needs to be managed and adds to task loading. It's an easy enough skill but it does not happen by itself.

The term toasty is widely overused. Depending on the garment and conditions you may be toasty but more likely you are comfortable enough. The upside is that being cool in a drysuit results in much less energy loss than being comfortable in a wetsuit! If you are truly toasty you will have a perspiration condensation problem.

Unless you're a prude, urination and the proper hydration that drives it are no brainers in a wetsuit. Diving in a drysuit requires managing body fluids in any number of ways including deprivation, catheritization (external), diapers, limited dives or doing the pee-pee dance.

Leaks happen. In this regards a wetsuit will never let you down. A garment caught in a seal or random leak can leave a diver with a wet sleeve, chest etc. Some divers have neck/ wrist tendons that defy reliable sealing.

The maintenance of a drysuit if not done DIY can be on par with replacing a wetsuit at the same interval. Latex seals are perishable.

If your zipper fails your wallet will know it.

A puncture, cut or unseated zipper can result in a flood. That can be a trick to manage and exit with.

How's that? The bottom line is that it's the cost of admission. While diving dry your heat loss is dramatically lower than the 25X rate relative to air that you suffer when diving wet. Diving dry should leave you less fatigued after the dive and less thermally stressed while diving. It is a skill but it's one that you can become competent in with a little coaching/instruction and a dozen or so dives. While maintenance is inescapable the base investment in a drysuit should far outlive that in a wetsuit. A single drysuit can be worn with assorted garments depending on water temperature. When it's cold outside stepping out of a drysuit is in a different universe than peeling off a cold wet pee laden wetsuit.

Pete

 

[j2s]

Dry-vs-wet like so much other equipment is personal.....I have several various pieces of wet gear and 5 different styles/brands of dry....I prefer wet and use it as much as possible [have a high tolerance to cold] but use dry when the situation calls for it and glad to wear it in those situations.......I know people who only wear wet, even in 40 degree water and those who wear dry year round even in the tropics........As long as you are diving safe and can be there for your 'buddies', pick one and/or both......

 

[RonFrank]

Seems like a lot of divers like to state the obvious. Yes drysuits cost more than wetsuits...... get over it!

That said a perfectly good trilam with good seals sold on Ebay for $300 last week with long UW. Maybe learn to shop?

 

[Crush]

At least I will be able to pee comfortably.

I find my wetsuit is easier to pee in. Up north we call it a heat exchange unit.

Out of respect to others I do recommend that you do this after jumping off the boat.

 

[davetowz]

expensive is relative. Relative to a wetsuit they are expensive, without question. Anyone who says differently is not dealing in reality.

The relative expense theory goes out the door in cold water dives! Most divers I have dove with who dive wet in colder waters would probably think a drysuit is worth it regardless of cost at that moment!
Yep, expensive relative to wetsuit, Not being cold in cold water...Priceless

 

[TSandM]

People have listed a lot of downsides about dry suits, but the biggest one for me is that, short of setting fire to it, there is very little that can happen to a wetsuit that will make it completely nonfunctional, whereas if you are traveling with a dry suit, a major issue can render the suit useless. I have lived with a neck seal torn to the base, a huge rip in the back of a suit that was difficult to patch, and a zipper that failed. Depending on where you are, it can be VERY difficult to find repair materials, or a rental suit. (That's why I have the SiTech seal system on my suit now!)

 

[SeaHorse81]

You've all given me lots of good information to consider, and I really appreciate it. It's not clear to me yet which is going to be the best choice for me, but I'm probably leaning slightly toward getting a dry suit, suspecting that I'll still use the 7 mil and hood whenever conditions are clearly favorable for it, which is pretty much 80 degree water on 85-90+ degree days.

Otherwise, it would be nice to not have to sweat bullets over weather forecasts ("Oh no, it's only going to be 80 degrees and breezy, and the water's only in the high-70s, I'd better not go.") It would be nice to be able to go whenever I want to (within reason, of course), and a good opportunity exists. It would be nice to not have about 45-50% of my brain designated at all times on heat status. It would be nice to not sit around during surface intervals wearing my snow-shoveling gear while others are lounging in their half-off wetsuits. It would be nice to have a choice more of the time.

 

[spectrum]

As you are seeing, it really cones down for the right suit for the right dive. Since conditions vary for most a wardrobe is inevitable.

Pete

 

[aquaregia]

Seems like a lot of divers like to state the obvious. Yes drysuits cost more than wetsuits...... get over it!

Right, but it's a lot more. My 7mm suits were under $50 each, which is about the same as each of the wrist seals for my drysuit. If you need to replace the seals and zipper on a drysuit at the same rate you replace a 7mm, you're probably on par with even a fairly expensive 7mm. And that's before the initial (four digit) purchase. Also, replacing a 7mm is sort of subjective, and can be done as finances allow. If a drysuit needs seals or a zipper, your choices are to spend the cash or to not dive.