dry suit and buoyancy

[mania]

Tomorrow for the first time in my life I’ll try diving in the dry suit. I’ve got to learn this because otherwise the diving season would be over for me – it’s already rather cold, water temp 4 – 7 Centigrade.
In Poland we have now a debate what should be used for buoyancy – dry suit or BCD. Some of the very experienced divers say – dry suit, others – BCD. I would like to know your opinion and maybe some tips? To be honest I’m a bit scared hearing in the past stories about air trapped in legs and so on….
Mania

 

[Tractor Tom]

Tomorrow for the first time in my life I’ll try diving in the dry suit. I’ve got to learn this because otherwise the diving season would be over for me – it’s already rather cold, water temp 4 – 7 Centigrade.
In Poland we have now a debate what should be used for buoyancy – dry suit or BCD. Some of the very experienced divers say – dry suit, others – BCD. I would like to know your opinion and maybe some tips? To be honest I’m a bit scared hearing in the past stories about air trapped in legs and so on….
Mania

You're going to hear both ways...but everyone I know uses a BC. We were diving in Gilboa Quarry in Ohio last weekend and one of our group made multiple dives in a wet suit, but most everyone else was wearing a drysuit. We made a deep dive, 55 degrees F at the surface and 38 degrees F at 123ffw. Too darn cold for a wet suit!

It's just a matter of learning and being aware how much air is in your suit. When I go deep, I add quite a bit of air to it, too keep me warm. But on shallower, and warmer dives I tend to wear it very tight, to minimize problems. It's all a matter of training and experience.

I did try to use my drysuit for a BC one time on a wreck dive, when my pony tank had blocked my inflator valve for my BC. I hit the inflate button and found that it just doesn't move air around a quickly as I can with my BC. Bounced off the deck of the wreck, then off the railing and then did a 'face plant' on a mud bank just off the wreck. Embarassing! Then I got to my BC inflator and learned to rig my pony on the other side.

Good luck with the drysuit! I really love mine, and wouldn't trade it for anything in these cold northern waters of the Great Lakes.

 

[Potapko]

Hi Mania,
Let me share with you my vast experience in dry suits. LOL, OK it consists of 5 dives. I can tell you what problems I had during my first few dives. I did my first dive in my (new to me) trilam drysuit in Svobodne hermanice. I thought the normal amount of weight I used with my double thickness 7mm would be enough. At the end of the dive I was underweighted and my buddy/instructor had to hang onto me at our safety stop. (embarrassing) Being underweighted exacerbated the air in leg problem because when I began to ascend involuntarily I had to invert and swim down which caused all the air to go to my feet and made me unable to release it with the valve. My wing was empty but that wasn't enough.

My first advice for the "first dive" is to be sure you have sufficient weight. A little too much won't hurt you in the beginning while you (like me) are learning how to control the use of air in the suit. On my most recent dive here in Brno I was sufficiently weighted and we were just doing a "search for fishes" dive. We were peeking into all the holes in the rocks and at times would be inverted causing all the air to go to my feet. But, being properly weighted meant that this was no big deal. I simply kicked a little flipping myself over and regaining a good swimming position.

Like i said, i am no expert. But I am going through the same thing as you right now. By the way. I LOVE MY DRYSUIT! never wnt to go back to wet.

Have fun,
Jeff

 

[616fun]

Please let me know how your class goes. I just ordered my first drysuit yesterday and should have it in 10-12 days. I'll take the class shortly thereafter. I think I'm actually more excited to take the drysuit class than I was the OW!!

Tomorrow for the first time in my life I’ll try diving in the dry suit. I’ve got to learn this because otherwise the diving season would be over for me – it’s already rather cold, water temp 4 – 7 Centigrade.
In Poland we have now a debate what should be used for buoyancy – dry suit or BCD. Some of the very experienced divers say – dry suit, others – BCD. I would like to know your opinion and maybe some tips? To be honest I’m a bit scared hearing in the past stories about air trapped in legs and so on….
Mania

 

[scubadoguk]

Tomorrow for the first time in my life I’ll try diving in the dry suit. I’ve got to learn this because otherwise the diving season would be over for me – it’s already rather cold, water temp 4 – 7 Centigrade.
In Poland we have now a debate what should be used for buoyancy – dry suit or BCD. Some of the very experienced divers say – dry suit, others – BCD. I would like to know your opinion and maybe some tips? To be honest I’m a bit scared hearing in the past stories about air trapped in legs and so on….
Mania

As I was taught to use my suit for UW buoyancy I have never used my BCD other than on the surface.
We were taught how to deal with a inverted situation IE grab your legs and try to roll out, anyone who knows me would pay money to see me try this
I have never had a legs up ascent, so I can't say how well I was trained, I also have been told about gaiters to stop air rushing around your legs, what I say is don't put air in your suit with you legs higher than your head! you could find the whole issue is moot, a non happening, a issue that is no more.
I also wear a weight belt this I find is better than a weight integrated BCD I believe the BCD should not weigh more than a small family car.
trim and proper weighting is very important much more than is believed it will stop all kinds of problems, also my own opinion is the one that matters to me and my wife says I can have it most weekends when she is not there so, If you want to wear them wear them all your own preference.
By the way this year is my 20th year of dry suit diving, that 20 worries me more than the suit does.

 

[Desa]

Mania, I agree with Tom in Frankenmuth. I use the air in the suit to prevent squeeze. BC for bouancy control. With that said, most people new to drysuits will intially feel "overtaxed" and to help with that, a lot of instructors will have them use thier suit for bouancy instead of the BC. That way, they are only dealing with one airspace expanding. Then after you become more comfortable, start using the BC more and the drysuit less. Eventually you will stop using the suit for bouancy all together.

I might add, proper weighting is of the upmost importance. Spend some time and get it right. Are you using a trilam or neoprene? With a trilam style, each time you adjust your underclothing, you may need to tweak your weights. With neoprene its usually not that big a deal.

As for the fear of the air trapped in the legs. I did some playing around in the 12' section of the pool. With a safety diver next to me I would go inverted, put so much air in my suit that my legs would float out of the pool past my knees. I could still use just my hands, fold, twist, and turn and get my feet below my head and exhaust valve without a lot of struggeling. So practice that in a confinded water setting and it will help relieve a lot of the fear.

Once you go dry, you will not want to dive wet unless the temps are really warm. I use my drysuit even in water thats cool, not cold, I just don't wear gloves or a hood.

I use the hood and gloves to help regulate body temp. In some of the dep quarrys arround here in the summer the surface temp will be in the mid 80's (F) and the temp at depth (below about 60'/20M) will be in the low 40's high 30's even in August. With air temps in the 90's I sometimes wait until I am at 5-10M before even putting on my hood or gloves. If I start getting warm, I will just remove my gloves or pull the hood back and cool off. Works for me.

Let us know how it works out. Dive safe.......

 

[The Chairman]

You know... I was worried about the weight issue when I went dry. So far... it's not a problem. My single HP PST120s are all I need to descend. I am diving a Kydex back plate made by Deep Sea Supply and the fact that I need no additional weight is SWEET!!! I hope to do my first saltwater dive tomorrow if the weather eases up a bit.

As for buoyancy, I also think the BC is the best... it reacts far more quickly and I am already used to using it. But really, it doesn't matter how you control bouyancy, just as long as you do it!

 

[OE2X]

I went dry a while ago and have a couple of hundred dives just diving dry. Here is what I do: I use my BPW for bouyancy and my suit for warmth. I spent a lot of years diving wet and in tropical waters. I still like to dive in warm waters, so from my past and for future trips it has always made sense just to use my BPW. Call it muscle memory. If I do a tropical trip, I don't want to have think about how to control my bouyancy because I'm not wearing my drysuit.

Another factor is that it is far easier for me to dump out of my wing than it is my drysuit. I wear a CF 200 that is a pain to dump air out of. Not sure if it's the suit or my undergarmet, but I have to go vertical to get the air out of it. My technique is to ascend horizontally, so having to vertical is a pain.

Bottom line if you dive warm water and cold, then use your BCD for bouyancy.

 

[Boogie711]

Bouyancy Compensator - compensates for bouyancy.

Dry suit - keeps you dry.

Any questions?

 

[MonkSeal]

Bouyancy Compensator - compensates for bouyancy.

Dry suit - keeps you dry.

Any questions?

Straight and clear nothing to add except that you can use dry suit as backup bouyancy source if your BC is damaged.