cold water options for full figured women

[Giggi]

Well, I've come to the conclusion that for about the price of a tropical vacation, I can probably gear myself up for Great Lakes diving. While I found a wonderful wetsuit manufacturer (Liquidfit), I'm wondering if anyone has ideas or suggestions on a custom manufacturer for women's drysuits. I'm really hesitant at the thought of diving water at freezing temperatures in a wetsuit, no matter how thick, but I am a little more warmblooded than most. I'm perfectly comfortable in a skin in mid-winter in Cozumel.

I think I can rent a drysuit at my LDS, but after two dive trips in extremely ill fitting 3mm wetsuits in tropical climes, and one in a local quarry in a 7mm Farmer John with a long sleeved stepin, I can only imagine how horrible diving Lake Michigan will feel. It wasn't the warmth factor (other than needing gloves and a hood), but the heavier suit was uncomfortable due to the fact that it was designed for a very tall and not very chubby man. It's not very easy to fit a very curvy, average height woman into that particular suit.

I'm not sure whether I want to try Lake Michigan in another rented 7mm, but can't afford to buy another wetsuit (biggest fear being that I may find out AFTER I have it custom made that it won't be sufficient thermal protection for my needs).

My third issue is that I am dropping weight and have been since the beginning of the year (a good thing, since I'm trying), and I'm not so sure whether drysuits are alterable like wetsuits are, and the weight loss could also change my thermal protection needs - colder without all the insulating "natural buoyancy."

The only way I am going to get any better diving is to keep diving, and since I am thousands of miles from warm water, I need to invest in some thermal protection (unfortunately before I can even afford to invest in my own life support gear, just because of being a difficult fit).

So, to give you an idea of my size, I am 5'7" and wear a woman's size XXL or 20 dress (American sizing), and am a little heavier on the bottom. I simply have way too many curves to be comfortable in a man's suit.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Once I get this figured out, I'll be back for BCD advice. :05:

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

You can alter drysuits. I suggest going for one of them. Get yourself a custom fit and you'll be happy and if your size does change later it can be adjusted.

Best wishes.

 

[Bobbin-along]

You and I sound similar in build. I had a NeoSkin 7mm 2 piece wetsuit and HATED the entire wetsuit experience. I was reticent to custom fit a dry suit while my weight wasn't stable. I tried on DUI, BARE women's and mens, White's etc. All the mens's were too long in the arms/legs, torso, while the calves were too small or hips too narrow. The women's just were too darned small but fit torso length and shoulder height. I was in the middle of saving for a custom and while doing my shift at the local boat show I found a dive shop who had a special on their drysuit packages. I though "ha ha, yeah right it's probably not worth checking out" but I did.

I did find a dry suit that did fit extremely well off the shelf. The only thing I had done was the booties changed out to something more my size. OS Systems out of oregon makes a XXL suit that fit me absolutely perfect much to everyone's surprise. the legs were not too long, the hips and butt fit, and the shoulders were cut so that I had room for the "girls" but the arms were not too long. In all my short arms had about 1" too much sleeve but that was something easily managed. The crotch doesn't hang down to my knees either. I can bend, twist, curl up into fetal, etc and wear a very heavy weight (read thick and bulky) insulating layer underneath.

I walked out the door with the bi-laminate suit, hood, socks, base layer, neck ring, maintenance kit, and bag for 700$.

So for what it's worth, you might want to see if your dive shop can at least get an OS dry suit in to try on. I know some people think bi-lams (which is what I bought but they have tri-lams too) are not good for their type of diving but for my recreational diving here in the NW it has held up great over the past year, even when I scooch my butt and knees across rocks to get in and out of the water. Since you are worrying about weight changes, and these things are major investments it's at least worth considering.

Let me know if you want the contact info for Lighthouse, I'm sure they would send a suit out for you to try on. As a reference, with a heavy base layer and a steel tank I carry 24-26lbs of lead when I dive dry suit, which is much less than what I was carrying with the 7mm 2piece wetsuit.

As for BC's, when you are ready will be a long journey but mine ended up being down to 3.....
Zeagle are very sturdy, modular for an exact fit, but are spendy. for the Tech (I've got one and use it occasionally) I plunked down some serious change, but it's a serious BC.

Ladyhawk is definitely worth looking at, it's my everyday BC for rec and boat bottom scrubbing. Can get for 350$ if you know where to look. Lightweight, can carry 30-36 lbs of lead. (the book says 10 in each pocket, but the scubapro rep says it's designed to carry up to 13 in each front pocket)

BP/W are also a viable option for hard to fit as well, and plenty of people here will be huge supporters of them.

EDIT: One of the challenges of re-fitting any clothing after a major weight loss is that the entire item has to be re-fit. When losing 10-15 lbs, you can get away with just bringing in the side seams and no problemo. More than 20 lbs and you have to adjust more than side seams as the torso length, legs, arms, and shoulders have less length and width as well. Without tearing the whole suit apart and cutting the whole suit down you can end up with a slender suit with a crotch that hangs to the knees, the waist at the hips, and the arms magically get longer and hang past the hands. So while it can be done, the cost of a re-cut after a weight loss can sometimes be quite expensive as they oftentimes have to do much more than take in the side seams. I used to do tailoring to pay for college and it was always fun to watch the guys bring in business suits after a huge weight loss and think that taking in a couple of inches would solve the problem of the ill-fitting suit.

 

[Giggi]

Thanks so much for the thorough reply! I'll definitely check into these suggestions. Also, I would love the contact info for Lighthouse.

 

[Boat Chick]

Do you have an LDS that you work with? If so, I'd go pick their brain. My husband and I just bought BARE Trilam HD Tech dry suits. I'm lucky in that the owners of our LDS are a couple, and Tammy is a diver. BARE is the brand they carry and use, so that limited our option in regard to choices, but I'm confident in our choice. I ended up having to have a complete custom fit suit because of my "special size." The women's medium just wasn't doable. My husband and I both are trying to lose 10 pounds, and were told that 10 pounds isn't an issue, but 15, 20 would make a difference in fit and seals.

I also ordered Dry Suit Diving and DVD. It has a lot of good info in regard to dry suit materials, seals (latex vs neoprene) and pros and cons of each as well as instruction on donning, taking off, emergency procedures. Of course, it's always a good idea to take a dry suit course through your shop as well first to get proper instruction on how to use the suit.

Good luck!

 

[spectrum]

Giggi,

The good news is that almost all drysuit makers do made or mod to measure suits and this includes the matching undergarments. The upcharge is often a bit more that we see on wetsuits but it's drop in the bucket when you stack it up aginst your dive investment, safety and pleasure.

Pete

 

[CCeci]

Well, I've come to the conclusion that for about the price of a tropical vacation, I can probably gear myself up for Great Lakes diving. While I found a wonderful wetsuit manufacturer (Liquidfit), I'm wondering if anyone has ideas or suggestions on a custom manufacturer for women's drysuits. I'm really hesitant at the thought of diving water at freezing temperatures in a wetsuit, no matter how thick, but I am a little more warmblooded than most. I'm perfectly comfortable in a skin in mid-winter in Cozumel.

I think I can rent a drysuit at my LDS, but after two dive trips in extremely ill fitting 3mm wetsuits in tropical climes, and one in a local quarry in a 7mm Farmer John with a long sleeved stepin, I can only imagine how horrible diving Lake Michigan will feel. It wasn't the warmth factor (other than needing gloves and a hood), but the heavier suit was uncomfortable due to the fact that it was designed for a very tall and not very chubby man. It's not very easy to fit a very curvy, average height woman into that particular suit.

I'm not sure whether I want to try Lake Michigan in another rented 7mm, but can't afford to buy another wetsuit (biggest fear being that I may find out AFTER I have it custom made that it won't be sufficient thermal protection for my needs).

My third issue is that I am dropping weight and have been since the beginning of the year (a good thing, since I'm trying), and I'm not so sure whether drysuits are alterable like wetsuits are, and the weight loss could also change my thermal protection needs - colder without all the insulating "natural buoyancy."

The only way I am going to get any better diving is to keep diving, and since I am thousands of miles from warm water, I need to invest in some thermal protection (unfortunately before I can even afford to invest in my own life support gear, just because of being a difficult fit).

So, to give you an idea of my size, I am 5'7" and wear a woman's size XXL or 20 dress (American sizing), and am a little heavier on the bottom. I simply have way too many curves to be comfortable in a man's suit.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Once I get this figured out, I'll be back for BCD advice. :05:

Hey Giggi-
Same curve problem here and didn't want to haul drysuit all over so (after exhaustive search) found an off the shelf Henderson 7mm wetsuit plus long hood that works like a gem!! No need to go custom anything!! If you haven't bought anything yet, find a Henderson shop, try on a Hyperstretch and you'll be amazed! Works well for up/down weight variations too. Also, I really like the Ladyhawk BC for curves, total comfort and ease of use & packing. Check it out. Good luck!