Dive times - wet vs dry

[AndyScuba]

Just wondering if some people could give me some comparable dive times.

Depth, air time, temp, etc, etc.

Interested in how long your air runs out when diving dry vs wet.

Dry vs Wet.

Thanks.

 

[tfsails]

From a nitrogen absorption and PO2 standpoint there is little if any difference. It's all related to depth. From a hypothermia standpoint, I'd say that dry suits are almost always superior, even in warm water. That's because even in warm water, one loses body heat when wet. The loss is just slowed down when the body is encased in a wet suit.

 

[Peter_C]

Nor-Cal 48 degrees diving wet 28 minutes frozen beyond miserable, wearing 4mm wetsuit under a 7mm Pinnacle Polar. Depth less than 50'. Even colder temps diving dry...well over an hour and cold by the end of the dive, but not miserable. Depth doesn't matter since you just add more air/argon.

Otter Bay hoods go right along with the word drysuit. Also if it is under 75 degrees, I am going to be diving dry.

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

68 degrees in 5mm I can do about 40 minutes until am chilled.

68 degrees in drysuit and 200gr undies I can do well over 2 hours, still get a little chilled on deco but not bad.

 

[AndyScuba]

Is your air time because you choose get out or is this when your air runs out?

68 degrees in 5mm I can do about 40 minutes until am chilled.

68 degrees in drysuit and 200gr undies I can do well over 2 hours, still get a little chilled on deco but not bad.

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

Is your air time because you choose get out or is this when your air runs out?

Hell, sorry I was eating when I posted and missed that. My sac rate doesnt change when diving wet until I get very cold. I dive dry so I wont get very cold. Really no difference when I dive dry versus wet except when dry I am usually carrying multiple bottles so thats a bad example.

There s one site have done both wet and dry, about a 70ft profile and no difference in air consumption and 49 minutes on bottom with water temps I believe was 73 when wet and 71 dry.

 

[TSandM]

When we were out on the boat in the Channel Islands this summer, the two wetsuit divers were doing about 30 to 35 minute dives. The dry suit folks were almost never out of the water in less than an hour.

 

[Crush]

From a nitrogen absorption and PO2 standpoint there is little if any difference. It's all related to depth.

Dive tables and computers all assume normal tissue perfusion (capillary blood flow). This is true at the beginning of most dives (when you are loading N2) but may not be true near the end of a dive (when you are off-gassing on ascent) if you are cold as your capillaries constrict. The result of decreased tissue perfusion is that you are off-gassing slower than the computer or tables predict. This can make DCI more likely.

That being said, people have been diving cold water in wetsuits for decades. Try to get out before you get too cold, and avoid rapid heating (e.g., a hot shower or hot tub) for many hours after the dive.

Increased gas solubility as a result of cooling has no meaningful impact on DCI complicated by cold - it is all about perfusion.