Considering drysuit diving, any advice would be welcome...

[Dive-aholic]

Since you plan on not doing many dry suit dives you might want to consider a neoprene dry suit. They feel and swim a lot like wet suits. Yes, you do have to control the gas bubble in the suit but that is also a bit easier than with a trilam suit. You can also use less undergarment and less weight. I was able to drop 8 lbs when I went back to a neoprene suit. If you do go with neoprene, make sure you choose one with a high density neoprene that will not compress at depth. Also, not all neoprene suits are created equal. I've used 4 different neoprene dry suits and my favorite is my SEAC suit. I've been diving it for a year now and have over 200 dives on it and it's still going strong. That's not happened for me with any other suit I've used.

 

[WhiteSands]

Naturally, I am drawn to drysuit diving, but given some of the points raised in this thread, I wonder how much it really makes sense. Dan claims that with 10-20 dives a year (and at this point, I am not yet sure I can do more local diving than that, it will largely depend on how safe I will feel with the type of diving I plan to engage in), one is unlikely to develop and maintain good drysuit skills, and most seem to agree that diving a drysuit in the tropics is not too enjoyable.

As a relatively new drysuit diver diving mostly warm waters, here are my thoughts. You already have 100 dives so you should be pretty comfortable in the water. Diving experience in a drysuit adds up, so my take is just go for it. Your skills will not be permanently "forgotten". They will be refreshed once you dive with it again.

I live in the tropics. Given a choice and provided the dive site has a supply of water to rinse off my suit, I'd rather dive dry. If there is no where to rinse it, I will consider using a wetsuit.

Pros:
- Your body stays clean throughout. Just wash your face and hair, and you're good to go. Car seats stay clean and you stay comfortable.
- I just rinse off my drysuit, zipper, valves and then flush out my P-valve, and my drysuit does not need further cleaning when I reach home. When I reach home I only need to hang it out to dry, then lube the zip and pack it when it's dry. With a wetsuit, you carry a wet suit home, then have to soak and wash it.
- Only when the water has fine sand particles do I need to remove the wrist and neck seals to give them a good wash. But they are easy to remove and install back.
- You stay warm and dry in between dives. I really dislike the cold caused by evaporative cooling from the wind, or on a fast boat.
- I prefer suiting up in my drysuit. It just slides on so fast. The boots are already on the suit so that's one step less.
- Zippered compartments in the drysuit to keep car keys, money, etc.
- Trilam suits dry very quickly. It should be dry in about 1-2 hours in the tropics. That means they weigh the same after the dive.

Cons:
- Having to bring along an extra drysuit bag
- Having to wear a catheter and mess with the P valve in between dives
- Removing the catheter after the day is done
- On multi day dives, the undergarments may start to smell after day 3. Either wash them, use febreeze or buy a spare set to change.

Only the 1st & 4th disadvantage cannot be mitigated by practice. After a while, cons 2 & 3 become non-issues.

I took the advice someone gave on SB and never regretted my decision. He basically said you have two choices when buying a drysuit. Either spend the money to buy the best suit you can afford, or you can buy a cheap suit, regret it once you've dived in it for awhile, then sell it, and buy the suit you should've bought in the first place.

I got the Santi Emotion although it crossed my "best you can afford line" by quite a bit.

I love this suit and will highly recommend it. I really don't like the Fusion because it looks hard to put on (someone said it's like trying to put on 2 condoms) and it just looks funny to me.

---------- Post added January 6th, 2014 at 03:56 PM ----------

Oh yes, the most important thing that I forgot to mention. A drysuit really opens up the possibilities of what is comfortable and possible to dive for you. This I think is the best advantage.

 

[Johanan]

From the Whites Fusion family the "Tech" is a solid all purpose suit. Bullet costs more and is much heavier and dries longer without really offering anything superior over Tech. Fusion Sport is cheaper, lighter and dries faster but has no pockets. If you want to carry something, you would need some solution which will eliminate the advantages in price and ease. Fusion One is also lighter and cheaper but has no pockets and it is a rear entry suit. You will need help to get into it. I don't like how the zipper perks over the shoulders. Thus Fusion Tech is the reasonable "middle of the road" suit. Can't go wrong with it.

 

[tajkd]

I agree that thread and others here don't answer the "should I or shouldn't I" question. I dive dry everywhere I go, including the Caribbean. For me, it is a safe and comfortable way to dive. There are many advantages of drysuit diving; temperature control, bouyancy, protection from nasties. IMO though, you have to decide and commit, which includes good instruction and continued practice. Enjoy!

 

[rhwestfall]

As to the question of "Is it too soon?", there are shops that teach O/W in dry suits. Its about the conditions....... Find a mentor, or take a class.

Enjoy diving warm. Keep in mind, a DS really shines on multiple dives, or SI's when its not so nice....

 

[tamas970]

Which SEAC suit are u using? I am about to suggest my wife the Dry Plus or the Drytech. They don't seem to be made of the costly Yamamoto neoprene, but I don't expect 5mm to compress too much...

Since you plan on not doing many dry suit dives you might want to consider a neoprene dry suit. They feel and swim a lot like wet suits. Yes, you do have to control the gas bubble in the suit but that is also a bit easier than with a trilam suit. You can also use less undergarment and less weight. I was able to drop 8 lbs when I went back to a neoprene suit. If you do go with neoprene, make sure you choose one with a high density neoprene that will not compress at depth. Also, not all neoprene suits are created equal. I've used 4 different neoprene dry suits and my favorite is my SEAC suit. I've been diving it for a year now and have over 200 dives on it and it's still going strong. That's not happened for me with any other suit I've used.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

For a drysuit diver East Coast is really a divers paradise, specially the area that you are from. All these places offer greatest diving and they are all within driving distance from where you live:

1. Great Lakes: Some of the most awesome wrecks.
2. Cape Ann MA: Some of the Best shore diving sites
3. NY/NJ wrecks: Vis is not ideal but there are wrecks there that are truly awesome
4. Passamaquoddy Bay and Bay of Fundy: Ranked among the best cold water dives in the world.
5. North Carolina: Wrecks and sharks

With the exception of number 5, everything on that list needs a drysuit. I recommend neoprene drysuits as well and after using a neoprene suit, I ended up selling my shell suit on e-bay. If you must go neoprene then I recommend going for a fully custom suit. I have worn my 3mm in under 40 degrees with only one undergarment and felt like I was in the tropics. I plan on doing ice dives in that suit.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Which SEAC suit are u using? I am about to suggest my wife the Dry Plus or the Drytech. They don't seem to be made of the costly Yamamoto neoprene, but I don't expect 5mm to compress too much...

Warm Dry. SEAC discontinued the Dry Plus.

 

[tamas970]

Warm Dry. SEAC discontinued the Dry Plus.

Seems some remaining stock is sold over here in Europe at nice prices (<500$). What are the drawbacks of a 5mm uncompressed neoprene suit? Does it dry much slower? is it much heavier than a trilam suit? Is the neoprene compression so drastic at ~30m/100ft depth?

 

[Dive-aholic]

The Dry Plus is high density as well so you won't have any compression issues with it. It is heavier than the Warm Dry suit and it also doesn't have the molded sole boots like the Warm Dry. Otherwise it is a good suit. I own one myself for the times I venture into water colder than 15C.