Dry Suit Newbie!

[phxcamera]

My apologies if I missed coverage of my question in any previous posts....

My wife is about 95lbs and literally freezes in any water temperature, so a drysuit is definitely required. My question is regarding the difference between the neoprene and the trilaminate dry suit varieties. Which is better in your opinion?

The LDS strongly suggests neoprene over trilaminate as the tri-lam varieties tend to "pinch" you. Thoughts?

Also, in your experiences, how much additional weight is required to compensate for the additional bouyancy of a neoprene drysuit? With gear and weights, my wife is close to carrying almost 50% of her bodyweight above water...

How much flexibility is there in choosing additional layering of undergarments in a tri-lam drysuit? i.e. do you fit with the typical undergarments, or should you fit with a little extra room for layering? Can you even wear any additional exposure protection with a neoprene drysuit, or are you stuck with just the neoprene as protection?

Thanks in advance for your patience and replies!!!

 

[turnerjd]

Originally posted by phxcamera

Also, in your experiences, how much additional weight is required to compensate for the additional bouyancy of a neoprene drysuit? With gear and weights, my wife is close to carrying almost 50% of her bodyweight above water...

1. If you have to have a lot of weight then consider diving with steal tanks. These are less buoyant than AL, and should take a good 6Lbs off a weight belt.

Neoprene drysuit - I dive with 28Lbs weightbelt...... (I used 18Lbs with a non drysuit) There isn't overly much difference in weight needed between neoprene and tri-lam.

In terms of the percentage of bodyweight:-

28Lb (12Kg) weightbelt, 16Kg Tank (approx), 5Kg suit, 2Kg BCD, 2Kg Regs, 5Kg 'Tat' =42Kg My weight 67Kg,
=> I carry approx 62.68% of my body weight
However this is excluding mask, fins, snorkel, hood, gloves, delayed SMB, torches, etc...... which I am sure is far more than the 5Kg I have allowed for 'tat'

And this is also only with my 300Bar 12L cylinder, now add a pony, or change to a twinset and the % rises even more.

Whilst the ammount of weight you carry is important for shore dives I do most of my diving from a RIB, and get kitted up on the sponson, and enter by rolling backwards, so I generally avoid running arround with this ammount of kit on!

How much flexibility is there in choosing additional layering of undergarments in a tri-lam drysuit? i.e. do you fit with the typical undergarments, or should you fit with a little extra room for layering? Can you even wear any additional exposure protection with a neoprene drysuit, or are you stuck with just the neoprene as protection?

Thanks in advance for your patience and replies!!!

Tri-Lam - fit isn't super important like it is in a wet suit. I would suggest fitting her whilst she is wearing LOTS of clothes under the suit. This will result in a suit that is a good fit whatever she wears underneath. - generalisation - fit not overly important, although there are certain exercises that you must be able to do in the suit to ensure that eg the legs are long enough.

Neoprene - here it is not the neoprene that insulates you, it is the air layer. don't forget that neoprene compresses at depth and looses its insulating properties. I wear nice fleecy tracksuit bottoms, T shirt and 2 sweatshirts under a 5mm neoprene drysuit, and have never been cold in water as cold as 2°C (cold!!). In general it is more important to have neoprene suits that are a better fit than tri-lam simply for comfort.

You mention wearing additional exposure protection. Don't. ( I assume by this you mean putting a 3mm shorty or full suit on under). Drysuits use air as the insulation, shorties use a combination of a captive layer of water and the insulating properties of the neoprene to keep the captive layer of water warm. With another neoprene suit under a drysuit, you will get very sweaty (as you are exercising) and this will stay between you and the suit, and will be exceptionally foetid when you take the suit off! it also won't work particularly well as you will lose the insulation of this undersuit as you go down.

For tri-lam suits propper 3M Thinsulate undersuits are what you really need, and a good set of thermals and a sweatshirt or 2 work fine with a neoprene suit.

For me the advantage of a neoprene suit is that IF I am doing a deco dive and I have a leak (not a major water gush 5 inch hole type leak - but a small leak) I then have pretty much a conventional wetsuit and won't get overly hyperthermic decompressing, whereas in a try-lam you lose all your insulation and it gets COLD doing deco stops. (This works for leaking seals etc.. but not for big tears in the suit or failed zips obviously)

Hope this helps

Jon T

 

[Kevin]

Here is my opinion.
I dive with a compressed neoprene suit with neoprene seals at the wrists and neck. Under this I wear normal thermal underwear (long johns and a long sleeved top). I like this set up because the material is much thicker and therefore less likely to tear and I also find that the neoprene seals better around the wrists and neck. I dive in cold water in England all year round and I do not get cold.
I did my open water training in a trilaminate suit and found that I was cold even though I wore a track suit under the dry suit. I found that wearing more garments under this type of dry suit to stay warm made me feel like the Michelin man and restricted my movements both above and below the water.

 

[SubMariner]

Compressed or crushed neoprene is a good choice, but since only a few manufacturers make this material, it makes the suits rather costly.

My first drysuit was a full 1/4" neoprene; I currently dive with a trilam (DUI 350 TLS). By far I prefer the trilam:

1) It gives you much more flexibility/mobility.. being in a neoprene suit is like being "The Mummy" or "Frankenstein's Monster". BTW, if at any time the trilam suit feels like it is "squeezing", you simply add a bit of air. Bye-bye "suit squeeze".

2)It doesn't require as much weight...even with steel tanks, I wound up with about 19 lbs (wt belt & ankle wts) in fresh water. That puts the weight of the total neoprene kit (tanks, belt, suit, etc.)at about 80-100lbs! Also, I needed ankle wts with the neoprene, while the Rock Boots on the trilam act like gators, hence no need for ankle wts. So my current freshwater setup is about 10-12 lbs on my belt with my steel 80.

3)It can be worn in a much wider variety of temperatures... simply vary the undergarments. In some conditions the neoprene can be too warm, but diving wet would still be uncomfortable. So I go with the trilam.

Does that help at all?

~SubMariner~

 

[jobowker]

My brother switched to dry suit about three years ago ( a DUI trilaminate) and he loves it. He has the matching undergarment that look like really thick green pajamas, but he never gets cold anymore, even in 38 degree water, except for his hands. He never has any suit squeeze issues and he has plenty of mobility. The only downsides are cost (way more than my wetsuit) and increased drag (he has to fin a lot harder than me now). If you do get one, I'd recommend taking a drysuit class. A feet first uncontrolled ascent isn't a good thing. As far as a trilaminate suit flooding, it happened to him once when he was wearing a rental, and yes it ruined his day, but since he bought his own and it fits properly, he's never had a problem.

 

[WetDane]

Hmm, I ive an old Typhoon rilam suit - I have to say that it is great - I'm scandinavian and don't get cold that easily so I don't wear a whole lot of stuff under it.
I have a lot of friends who dive the Diving Concepts compressed neoprene suits and love them - naturally we only have cold water around here so the issue of wearing the suit in warmer water is less of a concern and I think most peple who do go to tropical climates bring a shorty or someting and just enjoy the warm water.
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