Cold water diving is a PITA

[billt4sf]

Progress in the Pool and the Ocean

Thought I’d update this blog.

We went to the pool for the third time a few weeks ago and worked on buoyancy in our drysuits. We did a couple drills, like trying to stay at a given depth swimming and hovering, and seemed to do better at the end than when we started – or anyway we were more confident. We also swam around the pool, even the shallow portion, without touching the bottom. We had hoped to try launching an SMB at depth but didn’t get to that.

Emily bought a drysuit! We found a used one that fit her very well, not perfectly, but it has all the extras like good pockets and knee pads.
We went to the DUI event yesterday and Emily dove her new drysuit and I got tried one they had. Unfortunately Emily’s suit leaked around the neck seal, we will have to send it in. They recommended that we get the zip seals installed on neck and wrists, so that if there is a tear it can be replaced on-site. Is this a good idea? I have to re-read the comments people posted about the types of seals. More money….but she enjoyed the dive and we almost went for a second dive, unfortunately the viz was so bad and she had to do some things for work so we left after one (short) dive.

After trying different options, I ended up wearing a 300g Polartec undergarment and a 150g vest. This worked spectacularly well – it was the first cold-water dive in which I was warm! And no leaks! (almost). So this part was great. I did have some problems staying down, especially my feet, even with heavy fins. I am considering ankle weights again. Both of us had to add weight compared to what we had used successfully at a recent dive in Pt. Lobos. For me, I attribute it to anxiety. From the start, I had trouble finding the inflator hose. Why is the damn thing so short?!? I had it bungeed to my shoulder strap, maybe not tight enough. It would really help to have a couple extra inches on it, so I would not have to reach so far to use it once I finally find it.

We talked about whether we could dive alone in cold water. Emily says “yes”, but I am not so sure. It’s the ins and outs that we are not good at. (We’re not good at navigation in dark water either, but typically we don’t go very far at all – literally maybe a 20 foot circle – you there, stop laughing!) To get out, we usually have a risk of having to crawl. Emily says she can do this OK it doesn’t bother her. I worry that I have to remind her to keep her reg in and her mask on, she wants to remove them when we hit the surface. I can get my fins on fine, but she needs someone to hold on to, and she is short, so sometimes she is trying to do it in the surf zone. We tried the ankle-to-knee movement at home, I can see why she struggles. Yesterday the instructor put her fins on for her.

We’re definitely getting better – slowly – and more confident. I am very impressed how much more difficult it is to dive cold dark water than warm clear water! But it seems like there are far more critters, I hope we can continue to improve and get to be independent so we can see some of the things that you all are talking about!

Thanks to Doug Simmons, Peter Chandler, and Brian Bell for helping us in our recent dives.

- Bill

 

[Groundhog246]

I applaud you for sticking to it. Practice will make a world of difference. For me, the difference in comfort and skills between dive 5 and dive 50 were huge. Aside from wear on the knees of a suit, crawling is fine in my books, if that what safety requires. I've had a reg in my mouth all the way to dry land more than once.
Personally, I'd go for the zip seals, or at least for the neck seal. Just how cold is the water? 300G p;us the vest sounds like ice diving gear. That said, if that's what you need to be warm, wear it. You mention she needs to hold onto someone to put her fins on. Has she tried putting them on while floating? Walk out a bit further, mask on, reg in, mostly negative and then fins on. She might want to try putting fins on, taking them off, in a pool a few times first. Again, spring straps make it easier. If you still have light feet, can you shift your tank down a bit more.

 

[eelnoraa]

I have zip seal on my suit, both neck and wrist. So let me just share my experience about them.

For wrist, some kind of quick replacement ring system is a no brainer. It is not necessary DUI zip seal. Since you bought used suit with out zip seal, so you have option to consider other systems. There are advantages and disadvantage to DUI wrist zip. I like it for being a non rigid/flexible ring. Very comfortable. Disadvantage is that 1) they are expansive to replace. There is way around it. It is to glue new, generic wrist zeal onto the seal side of the ring. But it is still kind of expansive because you will need at least two pair of wrist seal. 2) there is only zip gloves for dry glove option. Zip glove is OK, just I didn't like the suit on = glove on concept. I have no experience with other ring system, but I heard a lot good thing about SiTech too.

For neck, here is where you want to be careful. For small frame divers, especially ladies, I have heard many complained about how the neck ring sitting between BC shoulder harness and collar bone create discomfort. I haven't has this issue, but my dive buddy had so much discomfort, she send the suit back to DUI to have the ring removed. It is better have your wife try it, carrying rig on her should, and see if this is a issue for her.

 

[al248005]

I have the zipseals. As eelnoraa said theres pros and cons. Pros= easy and quick to put on. I can easily switch out both neck and wrists in about 5 minutes. Cons= expensive and the way the gloves are attached. I have the zipgloves. Once the gloves are on the suit, they stay on the suit. You can't get in the suit entirely first and then attach the gloves after you get your arms down the sleeves like you can with other ring systems. Also when getting out of the suit with the gloves on makes it tricky grabbing the neck seal and getting your head popped through. You can't get out of the arms of the suit until its unzipped and your head is back through the neck seal. One other thing with the wrist seals, theres two types : heavy duty and regular. When I got my suit I thought well heavy duty will make them last longer since they are thicker seals. Well it turns out the heavy duty seals don't seal nearly as good against your wrist especially if your veins stick out. If I were rebuying I wouldn't of gotten the heavy duty seals.

 

[TSandM]

You'll get used to the short inflator hose, and it won't bother you at all unless you are still wearing a snorkel on your mask. Any time you change the position of something on your dive gear, you will have a few dives where you fumble . . . I actually got barotrauma a few weeks back from diving a new dry suit where the inlet valve wasn't where I thought it would be!

You guys have access to several sites where the entries are pretty easy a lot of the time. It isn't rocket science to navigate a simple dive out along the Breakwater and back, or to swim out to the sand channel at Lobos and back. Both places are such that, if you got totally turned around, you could surface and swim in -- that's like our Cove 2. Go spread your wings and give it a try!

 

[billt4sf]

I have zip seal on my suit, both neck and wrist. So let me just share my experience about them.

For wrist, some kind of quick replacement ring system is a no brainer. It is not necessary DUI zip seal. Since you bought used suit with out zip seal, so you have option to consider other systems. There are advantages and disadvantage to DUI wrist zip. I like it for being a non rigid/flexible ring. Very comfortable. Disadvantage is that 1) they are expansive to replace. There is way around it. It is to glue new, generic wrist zeal onto the seal side of the ring. But it is still kind of expansive because you will need at least two pair of wrist seal. 2) there is only zip gloves for dry glove option. Zip glove is OK, just I didn't like the suit on = glove on concept. I have no experience with other ring system, but I heard a lot good thing about SiTech too.

For neck, here is where you want to be careful. For small frame divers, especially ladies, I have heard many complained about how the neck ring sitting between BC shoulder harness and collar bone create discomfort. I haven't has this issue, but my dive buddy had so much discomfort, she send the suit back to DUI to have the ring removed. It is better have your wife try it, carrying rig on her should, and see if this is a issue for her.

I should have explained more about her seals. There is a wrist seal, I mean a regular latex seal, like on her neck, but there is also a ring to attach dry gloves. We don't seem to have dry gloves that fit it. They told us it was an older version, it would be hard to find gloves for. And I guess you would want to have the wrist seals anyway with a tube underneath, to keep the suit from flooding if a glove got punctured.

Since the neck seal is too lose (not by much), they said we should replace the neck seal and as long as we're doing it, replace the neck seal with a "ring" system so that the neck seals could be easily replaced in the field.

How could we try the neck ring system? We had a neck ring system in the drysuits we rented before she bought hers. I'll ask her if it was uncomfortable.

Thanks,

Bill

 

[eelnoraa]

I should have explained more about her seals. There is a wrist seal, I mean a regular latex seal, like on her neck, but there is also a ring to attach dry gloves. We don't seem to have dry gloves that fit it. They told us it was an older version, it would be hard to find gloves for. And I guess you would want to have the wrist seals anyway with a tube underneath, to keep the suit from flooding if a glove got punctured.

Maybe you can post a picture of the wrist ring here.

With the current DUI zip glove system, there is no additional seal inside the glove. If the zip gloves leaks, water will leak into the suit.

How could we try the neck ring system? We had a neck ring system in the drysuits we rented before she bought hers. I'll ask her if it was uncomfortable.

If she is OK with the ring, by all mean, go for it. I have neck ring, I never felt in. I just want to say it could potentially be an issue for some people.

 

[Vegan Shark]

Reading all these drysuit issues make me want to just stick to wearing a wetsuit. Seems much more carefree.

 

[Ben_ca]

Reading all these drysuit issues make me want to just stick to wearing a wetsuit. Seems much more carefree.

Well... take into account there are people that didn't have any of the issues the OP is having with the drysuit (or BPW etc) That you'll never hear about because of the non-issues.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Reading all these drysuit issues make me want to just stick to wearing a wetsuit. Seems much more carefree.

Well... take into account there are people that didn't have any of the issues the OP is having with the drysuit (or BPW etc) That you'll never hear about because of the non-issues.

And take this from a diver that had issues catching on to the "drysuit way of diving".......even if you have issues, it is well worth it once you catch on. The drysuit and comfort that goes along with it is worth the short term discomfort. YMMV