Cold water/Dry suit hoods

[Frog]

Hi

A question for the dry suit/semi dry divers. What brand and type of coldwater hood do you use. I have been informed that http://www.wetwear.com are the bizz. Cheers

 

[dsquid]

Uhm.....what's up with this guy?
http://www.wetwear.com/images/cu-skeleton-front.gif

heh...nice site.

I wear the hood that came with my Oceanic drysuit. Strangely enough, it's labeled "Oceanic". Works well enough...

 

[Frog]

LOL! heheehh Dsquid i thought that too

Pretty smart though and im sure you would turn a head or 300 down at the beach.

Dsquid what sort of te,peratures do you dive in, i apologise i should have stated what temp range i was refering to. I often dive in 2 degrees celcius (35F) in winter here in the UK inland sites so nothing less than a perfect fit will do. true enough though, if i was to wear my cheapo 5mm short neck dry suit hood in about 6 degrees and above it would probably be ok because thats warmish for me. If the hood "flushed" alot i probably wouldnt notice but if it flushed in 2-3 degrees C it would not make for a comfortable dive at all and probably result in a severe headache when i left the water.

 

[SubMariner]

I started out in Canada with a Wardell... a 1/4" neoprene back entry that came with an equally thick hood. Water temps could be anything from 70F to 34F, depending on the time of year; probably averaged 40-50F. So that hood was perfect.

As you probably have noticed, the drysuit hoods tend to be shorter in order to accommodate the neck seal. Afterall, you really don't need anything in that area, do you?

I kept the hood, and use it infrequently down here in the Southern US. For the most part I use something that could best be described as a "dive beanie". Basically, it looks like one of those old WWI flying ace helmets that have a cap and a strap that goes under the chin & fastens on the other side. It's 1/8" neoprene.

So far the lowest temp I've used the "beanie" has been down to about 50F. It was comfortable enough.

Does that help at all?

~SubMariner~

 

[rcohn]

Type of hood depends on the suit used. Neoprene neck seals need short hoods. DUI warm neck collars require standard hoods with a bib. In water much below 50 degreesF I add an ice hood.

Ralph

 

[dsquid]

Originally posted by Frog

Dsquid what sort of temperatures do you dive in, i apologise i should have stated what temp range i was refering to.

Bottom temperatures here in New Jersey run from low 40's to mid 50's depending what time of year you're talking about and how deep you're diving.

If I were regularly diving in mid 30 degree water, I'd probably be looking for another option...

 

[Frog]

Thanks for the feedback guys. BTW i have a tri-lam membrane suit so ill probs opt for a short hood.

I was looking at the hoods on
http://www.wetwear.com/cavedivers.htm and i like the look of the one with a zipper up the back. Problem is it costs 90 dollars and there is then 58 dollars ontop of that for delivery to the UK. The one i want has 5mm face seal with the rest being 7mm. Thats an extra 10 dollars for the face seal and 10 dollars for the custom fitting. lol so that comes to erm 178 dollars. For a hood wow.

SubMariner thanks yeh that helped a little thanks. Yeh my dry suit came with a hood but its of low quality, besides i really need a custom hood for my oddly shaped head hehe. Not that i am an egg head or anything

Ralph what do you call an ice hood, do you mean the neoprene balaclava types that have a piece across your top lip? Can you point me to one on the net at all?

 

[SubMariner]

Don't forget to poke a couple of holes in the top so you can vent air.

Elementary, but often overlooked!

Take care, eh?!

~SubMariner~

 

[rcohn]

I've tried hoods with zippers and didn't like them. When the hood was tight enough, the tension made the zipper unzip itself. My wife has a drysuit hood with a velcro fastener, this seems to work better, it doesn't come undone.

The advice I was given was that the short drysuit hoods can be uncomfortable with a latex neck seal and are meant for neoprene seals. I tried one anyway and agree. Since I have a DUI suit I use a standard (cheap) hood which tucks into the warm neck collar providing good comfort and insulation for the neck.

Ralph