Cold water options for a new diver...

[PolsVoice]

The short answer: if you are going to get into drysuit diving, take the course from an Instructor acredited in the Specialty.

You need to learn the right way to dive dry, just not the way someone learned by trial & error. Especially since it can be more dangerous than simply "adjusting your learning curve"!

I was hoping that an instructor friend of mine (who is certified) could teach me, without going through all the paperwork and rigamarole required for the cert.

Y'know a couple hours in the pool, we'd flood the suit, invert me, show me how the valves work, practice bouyancy, etc.

I agree about learning the right way to dive dry, and not learning from someone's trial and error. Errors underwater are far less forgiving than errors on the surface.

Thanx for your concern,

- PolsVoice.

 

[glbirch]

The short answer: if you are going to get into drysuit diving, take the course from an Instructor acredited in the Specialty.

You need to learn the right way to dive dry, just not the way someone learned by trial & error. Especially since it can be more dangerous than simply "adjusting your learning curve"!

So what do drysuit courses really teach? Seriously. I bought my first drysuit a decade ago, and used logic/commen sense. I checked the course content recently and it doesn't look like there's much to it. Am I missing something that makes it worth the price?

 

[jonnythan]

So what do drysuit courses really teach? Seriously. I bought my first drysuit a decade ago, and used logic/commen sense. I checked the course content recently and it doesn't look like there's much to it. Am I missing something that makes it worth the price?

No there's not.

You get to pay money for them to teach you the more dangerous, less comfortable way to dive a drysuit.

 

[FIXXERVI6]

7 mil semi or farmer john, hood, gloves, boots, good to go, 50 degrees and toasty

 

[TKOS]

I dive year round in under 50F water using a double 7mm wet suit. My feet get coldest fast as my boots don't fit great, but I can still get 2 dives in of around 90 minutes each. It is 45 F in the summer up here.

 

[Groundhog246]

For our teenager we got a set of neoprene socks from an outdoors shop (marketed to kayakers). They're about 2 mil and snug uf the fit, plus offer additional thichness/warmth.

 

[ArcticDiver]

A properly fitted 7mil wetsuit should allow you to dive comfortably in temps much lower than 68F. I've worn one in the low 50s, high 40s and been fine. The tricky part is keeping warm between dives when doing multiple dives in a day. If you do find that you're cold, you could try layering neoprene or pouring warm water into your suit before entering the water.

Diverlady

I've used the hot water trick several times. But, recently I had an Instructor/Divemaster get upset about me doing that. He claimed that makes a person more susceptible to skin bends. That the hot water causes the skin to off gas fast enough to be a serious risk of skin DCS.

Ever heard of such a thing?

 

[Gary D.]

How did we dive before dry suits? WET!

Some tricks can make it a lot easier for a wet suit in cold water even under the ice.

Make sure it's thick and a good fit. Comfy fit not tight and with no big air pockets like in the arm pits.

Wear some thin dry sweats under the suit. It slows down the water transfer.

Duct tape the zippers, ankles and your wrists. Again to slow down water transfer.

Put your booties on and tape them to the suit.

Once you get the hood and gloves on enter the water slowly and don't make fast moves.

I haven't done this in years but when we did we came up about half dry a lot of the time and not cold.

It is also important not to get cold while on the surface. If you have to get a pair of insulated coveralls that will cover the suit to wear between dives or while suiting up.

It's a poormans dry suit. In fact it worked better with early 1/4" lined suits than our early neoprene dry suits did. We got soaked in the early dry suits.

Try it.

Gary D.

 

[Gary D.]

I've used the hot water trick several times. But, recently I had an Instructor/Divemaster get upset about me doing that. He claimed that makes a person more susceptible to skin bends. That the hot water causes the skin to off gas fast enough to be a serious risk of skin DCS.

Ever heard of such a thing?

Yes I have and if you feel iching a little is a serious case of bends I'm a dead man.

In the mid 60 thats what we did on a daily basis. There were days we would make over 20 dives each. In the water, out of the water, pour in the hot water. In the water, out of the water, pour in the hot water. We would go through a bigger volume of hot water than the water we were diving in.

Deepest dive first. DUH!!! We would be all over the scale in the course of the day and into light few minutes decos. Out of the water, pour in the hot water and back in the water.

By the end of the day it was like poision oak but it went away just fine.

I would just let the Skin Bends info you heard go in one ear and out the other.

Gary D.