Brand new to drysuit diving...advice? :)

[bamamedic]

Yet another step on the road to technical diving! A local dive shop offered a deal on a Dive Rite 905 back zip that was just too fantastic to pass up...once again, I'm going to be eating ramen noodles and peanut butter jelly sandwiches for the next month...my signature line is truer now than it was when I first wrote it LOL .

Anyways, I dived with it for the first time yesterday, and it went pretty well. However, I managed to end up soaking wet from my wrists up to my elbows. My buddy suggested that maybe the undergarment was caught in the wrist seal, so I took extra care to make sure it wasn't on the second dive. On the second dive, my wrists were dryer but still damp (hard to tell, however if it was residual dampness from the first dive or if it was still leaking). Any ideas what could be causing the leak? I'm getting together with an instructor later this week, and I'll ask him, but I'm hoping that I can come up with a few ideas first...

Thanks so much for your time!

 

[*Floater*]

Yet another step on the road to technical diving! A local dive shop offered a deal on a Dive Rite 905 back zip that was just too fantastic to pass up...once again, I'm going to be eating ramen noodles and peanut butter jelly sandwiches for the next month...my signature line is truer now than it was when I first wrote it LOL .

Anyways, I dived with it for the first time yesterday, and it went pretty well. However, I managed to end up soaking wet from my wrists up to my elbows. My buddy suggested that maybe the undergarment was caught in the wrist seal, so I took extra care to make sure it wasn't on the second dive. On the second dive, my wrists were dryer but still damp (hard to tell, however if it was residual dampness from the first dive or if it was still leaking). Any ideas what could be causing the leak? I'm getting together with an instructor later this week, and I'll ask him, but I'm hoping that I can come up with a few ideas first...

Thanks so much for your time!

For me (and many others), the wrist tendons pop out if I move my hands in certain ways. Take a look:

That causes an opening in the latex seal no matter how tight it is causing some water to leak in.

To get around this issue, you can pull the seals further up your forearms, use drygloves, try apollo wrist bio-seals, or just learn not to do things underwater that cause tendon pop.

Of course, there are other reasons why your wrist seals may have leaked; maybe they were too loose? Maybe the the glue/seal attachment is failing (if the suit is older/used), and that is causing the leaks (this happened to me on my O'Neill 3mm compressed neoprene drysuit)?

In any case, good luck with the suit. If you get a chance, take a look at the new Whites Fusion drysuits too - those rock imo.

 

[bamamedic]

Thanks! That may well be the cause...if I make a fist or bend my wrists inward, my tendons pop out like crazy...

I don't believe the wrist seals were too loose, and it's a new drysuit (albeit from older 2002 stock, but still new) so I gosh-darn hope the glue on the seals isn't failing...I'll look, though, to make sure that they are fastened on there securely

 

[ronbeau]

Thanks! That may well be the cause...if I make a fist or bend my wrists inward, my tendons pop out like crazy...

I don't believe the wrist seals were too loose, and it's a new dry suit (albeit from older 2002 stock, but still new) so I gosh-darn hope the glue on the seals isn't failing...I'll look, though, to make sure that they are fastened on there securely

You dry suit undergarment is always going to be as little bit damp (not wet) do to condensation caused by the temperature differential between the outside and inside of the dry suit.

 

[bamamedic]

Thank y'all for your help...I dove the drysuit yesterday, and actually stayed dry! No leaking anywhere...I just pulled the latex wrist seals a bit higher up on my wrists (past the offending tendons) and stayed warm and toasty.

On a different note, I had to use a wetsuit to complete Nitrox class yesterday, and was amazed at the difference...I froze my behind off! I swear, I'm never getting in that quarry again without a drysuit on