Buying first set of singles tanks with the intention to double them up later

[GearheadExplorer85]

Personally, I'd buy the drysuit first. You'll have a hard time most places renting a drysuit that actually fits you properly. And once you dive dry, you'll wonder why you waited if you do colder water. While it's possible to do the Great Lakes wet, why would anyone want to? I saw many people try it and come up from the first dive freezing. Usually, they'd have to cut the second one short if they did it at all. Those of us diving dry were running 30-40 minute bottom times with as much as an hour deco, depending on the depth, in 38-40 degree F temps, and came up still warm. On mixed trips some of the people diving wet would get upset that they'd have to stay out on the water until we completed our dives.
Following the drysuit, I'd go for the steel 100s and a BPW right away to take some lead off of the belt.

I understand what you're saying, and you're not wrong. Honestly, I'm just leery of drysuits. I dove with a few people that wore drysuits. Every single one of them had a leak in their suit. Some got a little water in their suit, and others got completely drenched. So I've always questioned the point in spending $2k+ on a drysuit if it doesn't actually keep you dry. Perhaps the problems I witnessed others having are due to user error or lack of maintenance. Whatever the reason, it doesn't instill a lot of confidence.

I 100% agree with you on the BP/W though. To add to that, it seems one has more control over the positioning of weights with that system too.

 

[Brett Hatch]

What temperatures are you diving in?

I'm not familiar with the temp range in BC. But, I can't imagine it's much warmer than what we have here, which is around 9-13C / 48-55F. I can do shallow dives here in my 8mm AquaLung SolAfx (a "semi-dry" wetsuit), but it is a lot more comfortable in my drysuit. Dives deeper than 15m/50ft or so are too cold for my wetsuit, so I only do them dry now

I agree with other posters that a drysuit is going to make a bigger difference to your diving than new tanks. If it were me, I would get a backplate and wing first (because it's significantly cheaper), then a drysuit (because it will have the most impact), and try to rent HP100 single tanks instead of AL80's. If you can reliably rent HP100's, then you really don't need to buy any tanks at all

Have a look at SeaSkin drysuits. They are a lot cheaper than most other brands, and have a good reputation here. I dive one myself and think it is the best value drysuit on the market

Best of luck

 

[grantmac]

I understand what you're saying, and you're not wrong. Honestly, I'm just leery of drysuits. I dove with a few people that wore drysuits. Every single one of them had a leak in their suit. Some got a little water in their suit, and others got completely drenched. So I've always questioned the point in spending $2k+ on a drysuit if it doesn't actually keep you dry. Perhaps the problems I witnessed others having are due to user error or lack of maintenance. Whatever the reason, it doesn't instill a lot of confidence.

I 100% agree with you on the BP/W though. To add to that, it seems one has more control over the positioning of weights with that system too.

You are seeing user error and poor maintenance. I'd invite you to come dive with more experienced locals once you have gained additional skills to see how it's done.

 

[GearheadExplorer85]

What temperatures are you diving in?

I'm not familiar with the temp range in BC. But, I can't imagine it's much warmer than what we have here, which is around 9-13C / 48-55F. I can do shallow dives here in my 8mm AquaLung SolAfx (a "semi-dry" wetsuit), but it is a lot more comfortable in my drysuit. Dives deeper than 15m/50ft or so are too cold for my wetsuit, so I only do them dry now

I agree with other posters that a drysuit is going to make a bigger difference to your diving than new tanks. If it were me, I would get a backplate and wing first (because it's significantly cheaper), then a drysuit (because it will have the most impact), and try to rent HP100 single tanks instead of AL80's. If you can reliably rent HP100's, then you really don't need to buy any tanks at all

Have a look at SeaSkin drysuits. They are a lot cheaper than most other brands, and have a good reputation here. I dive one myself and think it is the best value drysuit on the market

Best of luck

The temperature range you mentioned is pretty close. The Saanich Inlet this past August was around 52F. My coldest dive was in January several years ago (around 43F). I did full 30 minute dives in those conditions and was done for the day after that. I have a fairly high tolerance to cold and normally pretty comfortable in my 7/7 suit. But my 7/7 suit was barely enough at 43F.

In a couple of my Dec/Jan log entries, I wrote "FF" for "F***king Freezing" for water temperature. Only did that a couple of times.

I'll check out the SeaSkins you mentioned. Thanks!

 

[grantmac]

You will find once you learn to dive dry that 30 minutes isn't really a full dive. Most locals are doing 45-60 minutes on a single. Largely because of not being so cold and restricted by a thick suit.
I'm rarely out of the water in under 60 minutes, it's too much work to just take a little dip.

 

[TravisD]

In addition to longer/more comfortable dives wet vs dry - dry makes the 2nd dive MUCH more pleasant. Diving wet, you're either continuing to lose body heat due to evaporation if you leave the suit on, or having to climb back into a cold damp suit right after you finally warm up again which is not very appealing. This is on top of greater heat loss during the dive meaning that you're starting the 2nd dive already at a loss.