Do I need a wetsuit?

[SeaHound]

I do tropical diving mostly and was thinking of buying a 3 mm suit. But then I thought why not wear a rash guard and bermudas? Its more freedom of movement! Less cost! Less gear to drag on planes, a simpler happier life...


thoughts??

 

[robint]

Some people don't like wetsuits as they don't like wearing extra weight to compensate for them.... I think everyone should wear at least a 3mm. Your body temp is 98 degrees, any water less than that temp is depleting your body temp. After 2 or more dives in a day over several days, you will be cold in any water.

The other consideration is injury. I see lots of people getting tossed up against coral or seafans or sponges due to surge or bumping into their buddy, etc. They end up with ugly cuts or in the case of coral, a nasty rash which doesn't go away for months. Fire coral burns like fire for weeks to up to 6 months - you touch it once and you will never forget it! A couple dived with us in Palau in December and wore only swimsuits the whole week - they were both experienced divers but still had cuts and scratches and burns or blisters (from little critters in the water you can't see) all over their arms and legs. My husband and I wore 3mm fullsuits every day and we had not one single injury.
In Bonaire last summer a guy came out from a night dive with a sea wasp injury - huge whelt about a foot long on one leg just below his shortie. He was in major pain and was headed for the hospital for treatment.

Okay, enough preaching. I am sure you will hear other opinions about this... I say everyone needs a suit.

robin
2 months til back to Bahamas on the Nekton!

 

[Jasonmh]

I do tropical diving mostly and was thinking of buying a 3 mm suit. But then I thought why not wear a rash guard and bermudas? Its more freedom of movement! Less cost! Less gear to drag on planes, a simpler happier life...


thoughts??

No reason why you can't dive with a rash guard and bermudas... lots of people do. But I agree with Robint. On our last liveaboard trip the people diving in shorts/bathing suits came out much worse for wear than those of us using a 3 mil full. If you really don't want a 2/3 mil full suit, I think even a full dive skin will give you more protection than shorts. A thin wetsuit or dive skin rolls up real small and should not restrict your movement much at all.

 

[dschonbrun]

If you dive more than once or twice a day, a 3mm full suit is advisable at a min. body temp declines slowly and steadily as the diver day goes on... I dive 4-5 times per day, so I often use a 5mm even in tropical waters.

 

[Cajuncru Diver]

We do a lot of tropical diving also and we found the 3m a little too restrictive....found Kona has a neop. 1m wetsuit(skin) that is really comfortable and does the job for us.

 

[rf_scuba]

I agree with wearing something for physical as well as thermal protection. A 3mm suit would be suitable for a wide variety of dive temps and conditions. But another solution for tropical diving would be a .5mm or 1mm neoprene jumpsuit. Thermal protection would be less than a 3mm but more than a rash guard.

*Edit*
Here's one example: Pinnacle Shadow

Ralph

 

[Stu S.]

I used to leave the wetsuit behind when the water temperature was into the 80's. I was told that using a suit gave more bottm time. I had to prove it for myself. An extra five minutes of bottom time became available when wearing a 3mm suit. Now the suit goes on until it reaches the mid-80's down there.

Shop around and the 3mm or 3/2 suit can be found for under $100.

Have fun with it.

Stu

 

[Walter]

That depends on your tolerance for cold and the water temps in which you'll be diving. If the temps are in the 80s or higher, I don't use a wet suit. In the 70s, I'll use a 3 mm suit if I'm planning to be in the water for more than 30 minutes or if I'm diving a second day. I usually dive with a wet suit about 6 months in Florida.

Some people don't like wetsuits as they don't like wearing extra weight to compensate for them

Some people don't like wet suits because they like the feel of the water on their skin.

Your body temp is 98 degrees, any water less than that temp is depleting your body temp.

This is a common misconception. Over time, even without a suit, you will overheat in water 93° F or warmer. Our bodies produce heat and must get rid of the excess. If we get rid of too much we can get hypothermia and that is extremely easy to do in water since its thermo conductivity is 24 times that of air, but we still have to get rid of excess heat. That's not normally a problem in water, but when the water temperature approaches our skin temperature (93°), not our body temperature, it becomes a problem. Shallow summer dives in the Gulf of Mexico are the only ones where I've actually gotten overheated, but I'm sure there are other areas where water temps get pretty high.

The other consideration is injury. I see lots of people getting tossed up against coral or seafans or sponges due to surge or bumping into their buddy, etc. They end up with ugly cuts or in the case of coral, a nasty rash which doesn't go away for months.

Perhaps they shouldn't be allowed to use a suit until they can stay off the coral.

Fire coral burns like fire for weeks to up to 6 months - you touch it once and you will never forget it!

Fire Coral is a minor annoyance and something you should never touch anyway, but even assuming one does screw up and get a burn, proper treatment will result in a slight pink color and no burn at all by the end of the dive. Proper treatment involves - don't touch the burned area. Do fan the affected area with sea water until no more burning is felt. Fan it every 2 or 3 minutes for about 10 minutes and the burn is gone for good. Unless you get burned at the end of your dive, you should be fine before the dive is over.

I say everyone needs a suit.

I think people can decide for themselves.

 

[RJP]

I think people can decide for themselves.

C'mon Walter, if that was true you wouldn't have 12,594 posts!

 

[diver 85]

I do tropical diving mostly and was thinking of buying a 3 mm suit. But then I thought why not wear a rash guard and bermudas? Its more freedom of movement! Less cost! Less gear to drag on planes, a simpler happier life...


thoughts??

You are exactly correct....until that 76 degree tongue of water rolls in & you're freezing your buns off somewhere in the tropics .....