Dry Suit Thoughts and Experiences?

[Marie13]

So once warm and no squeeze they teach adding weight to use the wing?

BC for buoyancy, not the suit.

 

[lexvil]

BC for buoyancy, not the suit.

So if I take off the squeeze and am warm and neutrally buoyant what now?

 

[Water_is_my_blood]

So if I take off the squeeze and am warm and neutrally buoyant what now?

I dont know about you but I would keep diving

 

[Jonn]

Dampsuits (let’s be real here) come with a host of problems, but they do what wetsuits just can’t. Just did a dive in Twin Lake around Edmonton, AB today and the water was 4C. That’s basically an ice dive; you just can’t wear enough neoprene to cope with that!

 

[lexvil]

I dont know about you but I would keep diving

I guess that’s my point.

 

[inquis]

once warm and no squeeze they teach adding weight to use the wing?

No, the weighting is the same in either case. The thing being compensated for is the weight of the gas yet to be breathed, so the difference in approaches is most pronounced at the beginning of the dive. Then you would have an extra 2 liters of air (AL80) either running around in the suit or nicely contained near your center of gravity in the wing. Your choice.

 

[lexvil]

No, the weighting is the same in either case. The thing being compensated for is the weight of the gas yet to be breathed, so the difference in approaches is most pronounced at the beginning of the dive. Then you would have an extra 2 liters of air (AL80) either running around in the suit or nicely contained near your center of gravity in the wing. Your choice.

I do that with my lungs, suit provides the perfect center of gravity, that’s how I do it and I admit I may not know what I’m doing, only been diving for 50years. Dry for 20

 

[edhjr]

Another question concerns me, how do you buy the diving gear you want when dive shops do not offer what you want? I bought my regulator, octopus and dive computer from manufacturers' websites, not scuba wholesale stores, yet dive shops discourage online purchases.

I understand the importance of getting a feel and fit on items such as exposure suits, boots, fins, masks, undergarments and so on, but what if a particular item is not available to try on? If you buy directly from the manufacturer online, getting the gear you want would not be a problem.

 

[Marie13]

Another question concerns me, how do you buy the diving gear you want when dive shops do not offer what you want? I bought my regulator, octopus and dive computer from manufacturers' websites, not scuba wholesale stores, yet dive shops discourage online purchases.

I understand the importance of getting a feel and fit on items such as exposure suits, boots, fins, masks, undergarments and so on, but what if a particular item is not available to try on? If you buy directly from the manufacturer online, getting the gear you want would not be a problem.

Find a different dive shop? When it comes to things like a drysuit, if you’re getting a custom/made to measure one, you’re not going to be trying anything on, anyway. I order most stuff online. Get some stuff from a dive shop two hours away that my tech instructor owns. Fills come from two different shops in my area, depending on what I need.

 

[Wibble]

Dry suit should be dry... I would not dive with leaky suit

Depends on the water temperature and length of the dive. If it’s cold, say less than 10 degrees, no leaks are acceptable. Warmer than that then small leaks are tolerable, but not a full soaking. For long dives it’s the time you’re hanging around at decompression doing nothing that sucks the heat from you.

Dive with a heated vest, then you have the choice of switching it on when you’re feeling cold.

The main point is that eventually all drysuits leak. Be that from neck & wrist seals, zips, inflate and dump valves and the myriad holes that will eventually appear when it’s well used.