Cold Feet (A Drysuit Question)

[dave4868]

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.

Yes, great advice, especially to avoid tightness.

Below 40F, I like to use thick, loose fitting wool socks plus Weezle socks and my Rockboots are 1 size oversize and loosely laced.

Get air into the socks with trim changes, as James pointed out.

Bigger fin pockets, if necessary, too.

I'm going to try Rockboots 2 sizes oversized soon because I'm getting slightly cold feet after a couple hours in 38F water....

Dave C

 

[Divingguy]

I wear 3 pairs of socks, all of which are from my hunting/camping gear - a very thin "liner" sock, a slightly thicker "mid" sock, and then some honking thick wool socks. This system does well at wicking any sweat, but has enough "loft" to retain some warmth, while still fitting inside the molded boots on my Evo2. Good luck. Keep trying different things.

 

[AtomicScubaDiver]

Wear wool battery heated socks in your dry suit.

 

[fdog]

Wear wool battery heated socks in your dry suit.

I'd refer you back to Mempilots' excellent advice, I, too have heard these horror stories:

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.

All the best, James

 

[r2t]

I use smartwool medium weight as my base layer and some -40 below wool socks. Working great for me. You realy need to get air in your feet. i have gators on my suit but don't zip them up so air can get down to my feet for loft and warmth.

 

[RumBum]

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.

I don't know. How do I tell which I have? The suit is a CLX 450 that I purchased used. It has socks at the bottom instead of the built-in shoes I have seen on some other types of drysuits.

Should I avoid the gators since I am already experiencing some circulation problems with my feet?

 

[jeffberry]

may sound strange but try a pair of womens nylons. Then on to some good heavy sock's that wick the moisture away.

 

[mempilot]

may sound strange but try a pair of womens nylons. Then on to some good heavy sock's that wick the moisture away.

There are much better moisture wicking materials than nylon.

 

[texdiveguy]

I have 5mil thick attached moon boots on my dry suit....I wear thick wool socks and a pair of 2mil neo dive socks and don't get to overly chilly at the feet. Hope you find a workable combo....it does take a bit of experimentation.

 

[spt29970]

I don't know. How do I tell which I have? The suit is a CLX 450 that I purchased used. It has socks at the bottom instead of the built-in shoes I have seen on some other types of drysuits.

Should I avoid the gators since I am already experiencing some circulation problems with my feet?

If your suit doesn't have the built-in shoes, you should probably be using the rock boots. Rock boots have hard soles and prevent you from over-constricting your feet and cutting off circulation. I use rock boots with my suit and wear two pairs of thick hiking socks underneath. So far I haven't had any problem with my feet getting cold in 52F water.

Is your trim set up so that your feet are hanging a little low? If so, the squeeze, combined with neoprene booties are probably the problem. Combining this with gators might be enough to turn your feet blue, even without cold water! BTW, what temp water are your diving in?