Best wetsuit for Uk diving??

[Neilwood]

Given I am now thinking along the lines of a dry suit, is there a best time of year to bag a bargain? Probably not going to get much diving done the rest of this year due to family health issues so will probably be early next year before I end up looking properly.

Not likely to have too much option for off the peg given that I am 6'3, size 12 shoes (uk) and err slightly padded (bioprene blessed)

 

[MasterChief D]

As drysuits are worn throughout the year in the UK, I'm not sure there's a sale season. On October 24 & 25 there's the Dive Show in Birmingham and all the major manufacturers & importers are there and give special show discounts - last year prospective buyers were queuing to get measured for made-to-measure dry suits on all manufacturers' stands. Maybe worth to pay a visit as you can find everybody under one roof and can try various models?

 

[Neilwood]

Unfortunately due to the issues mentioned above, I am not going to make it to the Dive show. Think the next show after that is London excel so that is going in the diary.

 

[Gareth J]

Another who would recommend a drysuit over a wetsuit. Even a damp drysuit with good thermals is better than a wetsuit in the UK (and Scotland).

You could take a look at Otter and Northern Diver, who are both based in the North of England, so a little closer to you. Northern Diver often do ex demo suits, returned suits etc at special rates.

Gareth

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I would just go drysuit from the start. Like TBone said, just learn to use the suit yourself or go out with friends that can show you and learn from them. Drysuit classes IMO are a waste of money. Put the extra money into a nicer suit. Also, nobody said scuba was supposed to be cheap, especially in cold water.
Here's the thing with wetsuits. I actually dive wet for many reasons (which I'm not going to get into) here in Northern California. The water here can get icy cold too when the currents come down from Alaska. I've seen water as cold as 42 degrees, it normally hovers in the 50 degree range year around, this year because of the El Nino currents (from the south) the water is in the lower 60's.
I have a whole line up of wetsuits. My thickest suit is a commercial urchin harvesters suit which is 1/2" (13mm) thick. That suit is meant for water no deeper than probably 60 feet because of enormous weight swings, but it is designed for somebody to stay toasty warm in water down to the mid 40's all day harvesting. The reason they don't use drysuits is because they would be destroyed in minutes with the work they do. The problem is the suit is so thick that it's very restricting and mobility is compromised.
I also have some custom made 7mm suits, some very nice freedive suits, and some not so nice worn out utility wetsuits.
If you are determined to dive wet then you will be spending quite a bit of money on custom wetsuits since off the rack suits really aren't going to work too well for where you plan to dive. A person could do it sure, but it's not going to be fun after about 20 minutes. The next dive will really not be fun and you'll need to be carefull of cramps. Cold wetsuit diving can cause some killer leg hamstring cramping. is there a specific purpose why you want to dive wet besides price? I spent way more on my custom wetsuits then if I was to just have bought a good drysuit, but I have specific reasons why I dive wet. In order to enter the realm of successful cold water wetsuit diving you need to step into the custom suit maker world and then you'll need to get out your wallet. It's a whole different world then anything sold at the local LDS.
The other thing is you could get used to diving wet and the cold, the body will adapt itself to the environment but it takes being in the water a lot, and it takes some nice suits. Then there is the issue with big heavy steel tanks or twinsets with wetsuits, not a good idea. I don't dive deep and I don't use twinsets anymore so I can make it work.

Most of the time it sounds like you'll be doing fun recreational dives with buddies.
I would just go dry and be happy. Leave the cold water wetsuit diving to derelicts like me.

 

[Edward3c]

Given I am now thinking along the lines of a dry suit, is there a best time of year to bag a bargain? Probably not going to get much diving done the rest of this year due to family health issues so will probably be early next year before I end up looking properly.

Not likely to have too much option for off the peg given that I am 6'3, size 12 shoes (uk) and err slightly padded (bioprene blessed)

I run the monthly S Scotland BSAC training sessions, and often do drysuit conversions for those who learned in warmer waters. There is no season in Scotland we dive all year round. As for buying at a show, you have to offset any saving against the cost of attending the show. My preference is a made to measure Otter.

 

[KenGordon]

I have been looking at Ebay/Gumtree for months (at both wet and dry suits) and given my size at 6'3 tall, size 12 feet and slightly ..erm.. "bioprene gifted" (carrying a bit of extra around the middle), picking up a second hand is near impossible.

I think dry suit will probably be my choice but it is likely to need to be a made to measure (WS would stretch enough to work whereas dry would need to be more accurately fitting)

You will find that everyone is set up to make made to measure dry suits whereas made to measure wet suits are rare. If your size is less usual then the drysuit will be easier to sort out.

For the cost of a drysuit course you could join BSAC direct, take up Edwards offer of training and still have change to pay for a proper under suit.

Have you misunderstood the people you are currently diving with? Where have you been diving? For example when diving in warmer water abroad the typical uk diver will take a wet suit and go on about how much nicer it is than a drysuit. When home though they will be in a dry suit.

 

[Phil_C]

Hi Neil -

I won't go in for agency bashing, or recommend a particular brand, but as someone who has done both (drysuit and UK wetsuit) and who used to regularly act as an open water lifeguard for the RLSS at youth events, I will support storker and the others who say that the risks of hypothermia are real, and insidious. usually the last person to know they are being affected is the person themselves, when they start the uncontrolled shivering and get the loss of co-ordination and motor control that comes with it.

I would say that if you are in the diving game for the along haul, and not just holiday diving in warm water, then waiting a little while and investing in a good made to measure dry suit will pay you dividends and you will wonder how or why you ever dived differently. I have come across a few dive shops in the UK who run courses but don't have a plentiful supply of drysuits for students and who regularly put students in wetsuits, but usually they are targeting divers who are going to go on and dive in warm waters mainly. I belong to three different clubs in the UK, with somewhere around 120 or 130 active divers between them, and I can say I have never seen a club member diving wet, or even a semi dry. We have had a couple of club "guests" turn up and do so, but i they join the club then they have all gone into a DS very quickly.

Edward has also suggested that drysuit training can be found elsewhere than dive shops - there are clubs of various flavours, who have their own instructors and can do drysuit training in house and at your leisure. You may even find one that can get you in a loaned drysuit to train you, and then you can get a feel for what they are like, maybe try different types, and choose which sort will suit you best on how you get on with them. I gave up diving for many years, then when I came back that i what I did.

I re-qualified in mainly warm water, then joined a couple of local UK clubs and dived with them and learnt drysuits that way. They are not rocket science, but there are some potential problems and techniques you do need to know about and understand in order to make them safe, but you do not need a shop bought course and a card to get the knowledge safely. I'm not sure where in Scotland you are, but try looking at the BSAC and SSI websites and searching for local clubs, and try your local sports section of newspapers and local council to see who uses their facilities and pools. You might be surprised to find you have a very local club you just don't know about.

Best wishes and safe diving - and BTW thanks for the offer of the Scotch (on the other thread) I might just take you up on it. - P

 

[beester]

I'm from the other side of the North Sea (Belgium) and do a lot of wreckdiving. I started out many many years ago diving wet. It's clear that with a good fitting wetsuit and being accustomed to the cold that you can take a lot. I would do dives up to 75 minutes in 3-4°C water. (double 7mm, neoprene socks, double neoprene hood, 3 finger gloves... the works). The problem as already described is :

- Emergency: What if you cannot get out of the water straight away, or the dive doesn't go as planned. Your treshold for emergency situations is much lower with a wetsuit. This is not only the case in extreme temperatures (0-6°C) but also in summer NS temperatures (14-18°C)... your survival chances staying in the water for 12 hours in a wetsuit even if the water is 18°C, are slim. I've been on a charter where we lost someone at sea, sea air rescue (Belgian Seaking helicopter at that time) started a search patern but it took a long time (even with head search equipment) to find him.
- Buyancy reduction at depth in wetsuit. You cannot compensate the compression of your neoprene in a wetsuit so you get heavier the deeper you go. Not a good idea with double sets, but even with a 15L you would get quite overweight at 30m.
- Isolation reduction at depth in wetsuit. Your neoprene compresses at depth so you will get colder the deeper you go.
- Surface interval: If you cannot get warm straight away after your dive you are SOL.

But the biggest problem of them al COLD MAKES YOU STUPID!!! You cannot imagine how much your thought processes are affected by being cold.

So get yourself one of those MtoM (looking at your size) good old UK made suits and ask someone to take you out at a sheltered place for a couple of dives and you'll be fine. Main point with drysuits is make sure it fits well, if it doesn't fit you'll be uncomfortable.