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Lycra diveskins work great. I use them under my 3 mm and 5 mm, but not my 1 mm, although I could. It does provide a bit more thermal help.
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+1 on the lycra but I think the thermal protection comes from water trapped underneath and within the fabric rather than the fabric itself. I hate neoprene, especially thick neoprene - weight issues, flexability issues. I never wear more than a 3mm even when the water temp is in the low 50's °F (and here it always is, at the second thermocline). I layer one or two polyolefin full body suits (2mm equiv, no buoyancy) and a 3mm vest (minimal buoyancy) as needed. Wearing all of them I've got 7mm equiv arms & legs and 10mm equiv core and only need 12 pounds of lead and have good flexibility. If I could lose my gut I could drop even more lead.
What polyolefin suits do you use?
Does a bodysuit help with warming up during a surface interval? It appears that stripping off a wet wetsuit and then putting it back on when the surface interval is over is a lot easier (and more pleasant). So it would help in that you get rid of the evaporative cooling that comes with wearing a wet wetsuit. Aside from that, does wearing the bodysuit help with warmth on the surface. Or, because the bodysuit too is wet, you would strip that off as well and put on some fleece? Or does it dry quickly enough that you could put a fleece over it and not be cold? I am thinking of Northern California diving, not the tropics.
Sounds like the so-called polyolefin suits mentioned in posts 6, 10 and 13 above. More generically they're known as fleece wetsuits. Available in many countries, under multiple brand names, including Sharkskin and Polartec. Each major manufacturer does something a bit differently, but essentially they are all as you describe. I like them because they are neutrally buoyant, stretch nicely to hug my weird body, are easy to doff and don, and lend themselves to layering. I even use one as a drysuit undergarment. Downsides, they are rather expensive, and need to be treated gently.Don't know whether these are available anywhere else but Australia, but I wear a Sharkskin under my wetsuit - it's lycra on the outside and fleece on the inside ...