Cold Feet (A Drysuit Question)

[RumBum]

Yes, I have cold feet. No, it has nothing to do with a wedding.
I am diving a DUI cordura-lined drysuit which has footsies but no boots. I am wearing a regular pair of socks, then military-issue polyprop socks, then the drysuit over that, and am using neoprene booties. I don't have wet feet when done diving. After my last dive my feet were numb for hours. I don't mean a little numb, but maybe I should be going to the hospital if this doesn't clear up real soon. And my feet were yellow-tinged instead of the normal pink. They did finally get warm after about 2 hours.
The rest of me was a bit chilly but not freezing with thermal undies and polyprop sweats. Even my fingers in wet gloves were not as cold as my dry feet!
Thanks for any advice!

 

[SteveAD]

The warmer you keep your core, the more heat you body can afford to "waste" on your feet. I typically wear HEAVY polartech socks (sometimes 2 pair), but I choose undergarments sufficent to prevent the rest of my body getting chilly at all.

 

[mempilot]

Do you experience circlulation problems in your extremites?

Also, with drysuit sock, you should consider wearing boots. You could wear something like Whites has, or a set of thick neoprene wet boots. With either of these options, larger fins will be needed, but will add a layer of warmth.

I would stay away from anything heated, like heated socks, unless there is a way to shut them off. I have talked to people who ended up with chemical burns or had to flood the suit to get relief from an overheat.

I'd try some actual drysuit socks too made from Thinsulate. They will be much warmer than cotton or wool ski type socks.

 

[fdog]

A) Are your "regular socks" that you mention cotton? Repeat after me: "I will not wear cotton under a dry suit, even a t-shirt".

B) Are the booties you're wearing over the top your regular, worn-with-a-wetsuit booties? If they are, this could be your problem, they are too tight. I used to wear wetsuit booties over my old CF200, but they were a size bigger. An easy way to tell if tightness is the problem is to look at your fins - if they're the same ones that you use with a wetsuit, they (and the booties) are too small.

C) How's your trim? If you have head-up/feet-down trim, the feet get squeezed. Trim yourself out flat, and the squeeze disappears, plus you can put just a bit of air into the feet to help keep them warm.


Hope this helps!


All the best, James

 

[mempilot]

A) Are your "regular socks" that you mention cotton? Repeat after me: "I will not wear cotton under a dry suit, even a t-shirt".

B) Are the booties you're wearing over the top your regular, worn-with-a-wetsuit booties? If they are, this could be your problem, they are too tight. I used to wear wetsuit booties over my old CF200, but they were a size bigger. An easy way to tell if tightness is the problem is to look at your fins - if they're the same ones that you use with a wetsuit, they (and the booties) are too small.

C) How's your trim? If you have head-up/feet-down trim, the feet get squeezed. Trim yourself out flat, and the squeeze disappears, plus you can put just a bit of air into the feet to help keep them warm.


Hope this helps!


All the best, James

Good advice.

 

[RumBum]

Thanks for your replies! Here are some answers.
A. The regular socks were microfiber, I think. Thin but warm. Can I wear microfiber under a drysuit?
B. The booties are wet neoprene but are large. The fins are also large. They are not my warm-water booties and fins.
B(2). I am having to fold the drysuit toes to get them into the boots. The feet on the drysuit are too big for me. Is this crushing material the problem somehow? I don't feel like I have squished my feet into too small-shoes. I just feel like I am wearing too many socks and they are wrinkled in my shoes.
C. I must admit I am still working on trim. I am going to add gators on the next dive so I won't have the feet-up paranoia.

Are these the socks that were mentioned? SCUBA Diving Equipment and gear for Technical, Wreck and Cave Diving: Dive Rite, Inc - Product Catalog - PolarTec® Classic Socks

 

[mempilot]

drysuit socks are easy to replace if you decide to put the right size on. I would lose the microfiber socks and use thinsulate from any of the drysuit undergarment manufacturers. You could wear the microfiber socks under these for added warmth, but I don't think they are enough by themselves or with anything the military issues.

 

[SteveAD]

Any undergarment, including socks, must have some loft (bulk) to get a bit of space between your skin and the suit (and therefore the water temperature) get some big fluffy fleece (or thinsulate) socks.

 

[MBH]

I'm very pleased with my Smartwool socks. Any good sporting goods store should have them. I'm confused about one thing. Do you have turbo soles or a rock boot system on your DUI suit? If you have the rock boot footies it's a must to wear either DUI rock boots or a pair of Cuck Taylors.

 

[crlavoie]

Sounds like you have 2 things happening.

1) You're not getting a lot of loft at your feet which is probably due to both your choice of socks and you mentioned being afraid of trapping air in your feet.

2) The resulting squeeze is restricting your circulation.

When I started drysuit diving, I opted for rockboots because I have very skinny feet and felt like there was too much volume in the attached rubber boots. While there is some truth to that, I actually find myself wearing the boots a little bit loose to allow some air which not only keeps my feet warm but also takes some of the weight off my jets and helps to keep me in good trim. Whenever I feel my feet getting cold, I just raise my feet (arch my back) an inch or 2 and I'm good to go.

Myself and my 3 buddies all use wool / smart wool socks. Fox River and Bridgedale both make really good products. Fleece and Primaloft are also good choices.