Dry Suit Question

[HPT3]

Try releasing all the air out of your suit through a value at the surface. Next, descend to 90 ft. or 30 ft for that matter, but the deeper you go the more you will understand why one needs to put air in a drysuit. I want to 65 and came up with a large bruise on my shoulder and lines running down my torso. (hickeys) One last think, pull your neck seal in a very very shallow pool, say 6 ft down, and see how much water you get in your suit. Make sure you have a lifeguard present.

 

[Atticus]

HPT3 once bubbled...
Try releasing all the air out of your suit through a value at the surface. Next, descend to 90 ft. or 30 ft for that matter, but the deeper you go the more you will understand why one needs to put air in a drysuit. I want to 65 and came up with a large bruise on my shoulder and lines running down my torso. (hickeys) One last think, pull your neck seal in a very very shallow pool, say 6 ft down, and see how much water you get in your suit. Make sure you have a lifeguard present.

Hmm... Everyone seems to be refuting the BCD buoyancy option with discussions about not putting any gas at all in the drysuit. That's not what we're taking about!

We're talking about only putting enough gas in the suit to be comfy at all times and adding any additional gas needed for buoyancy to the "buoyancy control device".

 

[JCARR]

I own a some OS-Systems Drysuits that were purchased for water-skiing, i.e. they do not have the valves for controlling air. As I understand all the information in the previous posts, the best plan for me, is to put enough air in the suit to keep the undergarments from collapsing but not enough to make an air bubble. I think I will send a suit back to OS and get some valves added. I may try it out first without the modification to see how bad the squeeze can be. I will be using the suit in about 25 feet of water to service slalom course buoys. Seems more a comfort issue rather than a safety issue.

 

[Atticus]

In my opinion you will not be comfortable. You may be able to inject a big bubble of air into the suit prior to your descent, but then you would have a weighting issue and a problem getting down.

You definitely want a suit with a valve on it.
You probably don't want a retrofitted skiing suit (but I haven't looked at them, so talk to someone more knowledgable than myself).

This issue is how much, not if gas should be put in the suit.

Best of luck with your endeavors.