Decision time: Bottom Time or Drysuits?

[sabbath999]

Thanks for all the input.

We are getting the dry suit training because folks around here won't rent you a suit without it, and I want to try before I buy.

Right now I am leaning towards getting us a pair of DUI TLS350's, but that may change when I get in the water...

As it stands now, we are leaning towards getting the dry suits and taking a "limited" vacation in the south... if we dive it will be shore diving, we will have to see how that goes.

Cruises are also dirt cheap right now, but on the other hand I am not sure I want to be stuck on a ship with 3000 other people if the flu gets bad this winter.

Set up to take the class 9-19 and do the OW dives 9-20... we may go down to Mermet Springs the next weekend to participated in the DUI Dog Days as well, dunno. Will have to see.

The temps in our favorite local diving holes are already falling off... New Melle is down 4 degrees over the last week, putting it into the mid-70's... which is fine and all, but we tend to get about an hour and a half per tank and that gets pretty chilly if you want to dive two tanks a day in a 5 mil (the heaviest either of us has...). We haven't gone any heavier than 5 mil because we had decided if we were going to do that, we would look dry before 7 mil.

Anyway, that's where we are at.

My biggest thought about dry is the winter is when the water is the most clear around here, and we can extend the season 5 months with dry... that's a lot of diving we otherwise wouldn't get in.

Additionally, one of our local diving spots is Bonne Terre Mine, which is 58 degrees all year round... too cold for our current gear, but perfect for dry. It's expensive to dive Bonne Terre, but I hear it is pretty neat as well.

Dry would also let me do something I REALLY, REALLY want to do... I want to dive Socal in the kelp forests... that looks WAY fun.... as well as the PNW area.

So... right now we are leaning towards dry...

PS: as far as the suggestion about breaking the credit card and buying them both goes... we are strictly no-debt pay up front kind of folks. If we can't pay for it the day we buy it, then we don't buy it... gonna have to pass on that idea....

 

[Kingpatzer]

Excellent choice!

Be prepared to take a bit of time to get accustomed to the dry suits, they are different than wet suits. Otherwise, have a blast!

And Bonne Terre is one of those things that everyone should do once. And then realize there's no reason to do it again

 

[Scubadam]

I like to dive in warmer salt water, such as the water in Aruba and other Carribean Islands. I do not own a drysuit because I am mostly in warm water, except when I dive in quarries in my home town which only reaches temps. of 40 degrees F. But even in the quarries I wear a wetsuit, hood, boots, and gloves, and not a drysuit.

 

[it_mike]

Great choice! As has been well covered here, you'll get a lot more dives out of it and they'll be better dives since you won't be chilled.

As others have mentioned, dry suits are great anywhere, even in the south. Once you get past the air consumption from diddling with your suit, you may even see an increase in your bottom time as your body 'works' less to overcome the thermal impact.

 

[Kingpatzer]

Great choice! As has been well covered here, you'll get a lot more dives out of it and they'll be better dives since you won't be chilled.

As others have mentioned, dry suits are great anywhere, even in the south. Once you get past the air consumption from diddling with your suit, you may even see an increase in your bottom time as your body 'works' less to overcome the thermal impact.

And you can always just hook up a small tank to be your dry suit gas. They're small enough to pack onto a plane, and they really help extend bottom time by not using your breathing gas.

 

[DCBC]

And you can always just hook up a small tank to be your dry suit gas. They're small enough to pack onto a plane, and they really help extend bottom time by not using your breathing gas.

One reason why some divers prefer a separate inflation system is to facilitate the use of Argon as a dry suit gas. The advantages of this have been disputed by the Norwegian Underwater Institute / Royal Norwegian Navy. They found that it failed to improve either thermal comfort or skin cooling (see Undersea Hyperbaric Medical Journal, 2001 Fall;28(3):137-43.

Personally I believe that for recreational diving purposes, there's no advantage to a primary self-contained dry suit gas system, but others may see things differently.

 

[Gerbs]

+1 on the dry suits as well. Just accept that there is a learning curve for the next ~10 dives.

Some thoughts:

Do you know anyone who dives dry local to you? Consider getting them along to the dive shop when you buy - having an experienced 2nd set of eyes is never a bad idea.

Don't buy cheap, it just wastes money - buy good stuff and get a good price on it.

If you are going to dive in water with a thermocline (implying water temp <10° (50°F)), consider getting dry gloves while you're at it, the extra money is well spent! (Get a system that keeps the wrist seals intact, you *will* have a glove flood at some point)

Don't forget the undersuit! (synthetic sweat-wicking T-Shirt+200g Thinsulate + Wool Socks + Neoprene "Ninja" oversocks is what I have under my 3mm crash-neoprene suit)

I dive the year 'round in fresh water with water temperature down to ~4° (39°F) with air temperature down to -4° (25°F). Most of my diving friends do the same, most bought a dry suit before their 30th dive. Remember the dual independent regulators for cold water - a single 1st stage is a single point of failure as far as icing is concerned.

If you have complete iced-over conditions for mid-winter, then consider a sub-ice technical course. Something I've been meaning to do for a while.

Good luck and have fun!

Gerbs

 

[luckydays]

Hi Sabbath, I will see you at the DUI days in Mermet if you make it. I went in June to Pearl Lake. It was wonderful to dive dry and since then I have gotten my DUI CLX450 and have dove every weekend since. It look 10-15 dives to get really comfy but now it is old hat for me. I even just replaced my rock boots with Chuck Taylor Converse Shoes. I wanted some color since my drysuit is all black. (It was used but fits perfectly)

At the DUI days, you will be able to try on every suit they make, so long as they have it in your size. You will also be able to try on the dry gloves. This was wonderful to me. I know that you can take the dry suit class the same weekend at Mermet. My LDS is going down there and will be teaching and I know that others will be as well. You could avoid the suit rental fee for the weekend you are planning on taking the class if you took the class then. For me that would have saved me an extra few bucks.

At the DUI Days, you will get a coupon for a free undergarment with the purchase of a suit. Or $200 toward the polar stretch suit (great deal btw) so it might be worth heading over just to get the coupon so you can get the undergarment for less if you go DUI.

I hope you enjoy the drysuit and it should broaden your diving emensly as I know it has mine. I love my suit and have to say that besides my HP100 tank it is favorite piece of dive gear.

 

[HatchetJoe]

dry suits = more diving

what else is there to say, Maui will be there