Dry Suit - First Dive

[MCD]

I've done my first dry suit dive. A trim form Norhn Diver. As I expected, and that is why I went to a spot about 12m deep, my feet where up down. With a wet suit I used 5,5kg on my belt. For the DS , 8,5kg, and it seems I nedeed more. My body weight is about 45 kg, and I'm wearing the under suit Flecthaton.

Pls give me your experienced opinions. I know that I must be training more. This was the first, on salty water. I think my next weekends will be spent training the DS.
Should I use anckle weights ?

Have a nice day

 

[scubasean]

I am far from being an experienced DS diver, but have twelve dives or so on my drysuit (a DUI TLS350).

The way I dive right now is to keep only as much air in your suit as necessary to prevent squeeze...You'll know it when you need it. Minimizing the amount of air means that less air is available to move around.

You might try moving your weight around first, rather than using ankle weights...You may find that lowering the weight a bit (assuming you don't already have it all around your beltline) might lower your feet.

Also, I found that I like diving my DS with two or so pounds "extra" on, so I am not feeling neutral with no air in the BC and DS at the safety stop...It is much more comfortable for me to have the extra two pounds on, and have a slight amount of air in my DS/BC. ...so, if I end of with 200 psi in my tank, I can still comfortably hold the stop)

In cold water, I ended up wearing 28 lbs which is two lbs more than I wore with a 7mm wetsuit/hooded vest combo.

Good luck!

 

[Redshift]

I noticed you're from Lisbon... I'm from Porto And I also have a ND drysuit. But it's new and I've only tried it in a 6m swimming pool. I didn't need to add weight and with the valve open there's only a minimum os air inside the suit, enough to make it comfortable. Which flectalon do you have? how did you feel? Warm, cold? I'm going to dive in the north of Spain in December. I've been there with a 2 pieces 7mm wetsuit and a 9ºC water and it's cold! Hope to be warm this time

 

[MCD]

Olá Redshfit

The under suit is the 100. It was very confortable. The trim seems to me very good. Not a drop inside it. My problem it was really the amount of air inside it.
I think I must keep the valve, always open, and work always with the BC.
Any suggestions about this ?
Next weekend I' going to practice more, and more, tili I confortable with this new gear.

Thanks you all for your help

Constança

 

[MechDiver]

MCD once bubbled...
I think I must keep the valve, always open, and work always with the BC.
Any suggestions about this ?
Next weekend I' going to practice more, and more, tili I confortable with this new gear.

Thanks you all for your help

Constança

Scubasean gave you some very good advice. Also, you're not going to learn to dive a drysuit in one or two dives. It takes a while. I also agree you don't need ankle weights.

Keep the suit as tight as comfort and movement allow and use the BC for buoyancy. If your feet feel "light", pull them down. If your arms feel cold, put one up above you to let a little more air in for warmth. You need very little air in the suit, and you can move it around as you need to. It will come with practice and patience.

MD

 

[SubMariner]

The first post in this thread is the typical cautionary tale about why you should take a drysuit course from an Instructor qualified in the Specialty before you set off on your own in open water.

For the record: I don't care whether your use your suit for buoyancy control u/w or the BCD, just get properly trained in how to use it safely & effectively!

 

[spurtill]

something to think about here more than anything else. When you invert in the water, it really should not affect you. If your legs go above your head it mans they have gone up mabe a meter but there is still the same amount of air in your auit as before asd you are still (more or less) at the same depth. so if you were happily neutrally buoyant before inverting you should still be neutrally buoyant. The problem is that people expect to shoot to the surface and start to panic, breathe faster and deeper and it is this that causes you to shoot to the surface. if can remain calm (neat trick if you can manage it ) you can take as long as you like to correct your position.

just something to think about...

S

 

[Wreck Wench]

SubMariner once bubbled...
The first post in this thread is the typical cautionary tale about why you should take a drysuit course from an Instructor qualified in the Specialty before you set off on your own in open water.

For the record: I don't care whether your use your suit for buoyancy control u/w or the BCD, just get properly trained in how to use it safely & effectively!

Great Advice....and this thread not only gives you good reasons for getting that training but it also gives some excellent supplementation to that training!

I'm in the process of getting a dry suit as we speak! Still debating which one...will look to see if there are any threads on this topic.

 

[kavka]

For the first few dives I needed 12 kg weights on my belt + 1kg on each anckle. After 10 or so dives I realised that I can also dive with 6 kg total for fresh water and 7 kg for salt. No ankle weights, but less air in the suit and better undergarment.

 

[Redshift]

I didn't have formal training but had a talk with my instructors and other divers and read what I could find. Then I was able to go to a 6m deep pool with my instructos while he was giving some ow lessons. I first ajusted my weights. Then submerged and tried different valve positions and the air that I had to have to feel comfortable, wandered around at different positions trying to mantain a certain depth. After feeling comfortable I started overinflating the suit and trying to stop the uncontrolled ascent. Then, while grabbing a cable attached to the bottom I could inflate the suit to its maximum... it's impossible to stop the ascent dumping air through the valve, I had to open the neck seal. And it works great! Never thought I could stop so quickly. At the surface I also practiced reverting from a situation where I'm upside down whith my legs full of air and out of the water. Always with the supervision of my instructor but I didn't pay for a course. Oh, and besides all that learning I also had a blast

I'm in the process of getting a dry suit as we speak!

When you try them see if they fit when you're reaching for your feet because many ppl don't do that and after they have a hard time putting their fins...