Dry suit top three pieces of advice

[stuartv]

Remove "going head down" from your diving maneuver tool box.

 

[Michael Guerrero]

1. Don't waste your money on a class. If you have a suit, just go dive it in 15ft of water and practice your somersaults.

2. See #1.

3. See #2.

 

[OMANDIVER]

Discover the minimum temperature you are going to tolerate. Get the right thermals for it. Then get the suit. I have never needed a pee valve as
I am an OC tec diver and rarely do dives over 100 minutes. I avoid caffeine prior to diving to prevent dehydration. It seems to work. There's always the diaper option although I have never used it.

 

[Diver0001]

Hi guys/gals.
This week I'll be working in Wyoming and I've got a few extra days that just fit for a dry suit cert course.

I've been considering this for a few months and because it's cold enough and there are some good lakes near where ill be working, I've set up the course with a LDS. The bonus is that I've met these folks before and really like them, and they seem to do a lot of dry suit diving.

So, although I've been doing my own homework in preparation for this eventual course, I'd like to throw it out to the SB forum: what are the top three pieces of advice/keys to success/"wish I would have known this before" bits you have to offer?

There isn't anything new that you need to know about the drysuit course that isn't in the book. It's pretty straight forward to learn how to dive in a drysuit PROVIDED you are in good trim.

Whatever you do get your instructor to spend as much time as necessary on that. If you are in poor trim everything you do will seem harder than it is. When you know that you are in proper trim is when you stop moving and just hang there like you're hanging from a string. In fact, hanging still and motionless in a drysuit is normally very easy if you are in proper trim so if you're not getting the hover properly, then don't look at your hover, look at your trim.

I could ramble on about this but I think you get the picture. Your instructor will show you everything you need to know about the suit itself but this is part where you need to be prepared to be communicative with him/her.

In terms of trim, there are several attributes I usually have on hand when I'm teaching this course in order to get students trimmed out properly. One of those, which isn't common is an extra tank-band that I took off of an old trim vest. I use it to attach a weight to the bottom of the tank, if necessary, in order to keep the feet down. Many instructors will work with ankle weights in this case but I often find ankle weights too heavy and they make finning feel heavier too, so I don't like to use them. So if you have an old vest laying around then take the band off of it and throw it in your bag because your instructor might not have this.

Finning is different in a drysuit because your feet are normally up. When I do this course I sometimes have to spend quite a bit of time teaching frog-kicking to the student. If you don't have any experience with this already then look it up on youtube and try as best you can to learn the basics of it before the course. That will save time. If you have time before you go to try it in the water (even in a pool) then do it if this is new to you. Officially this isn't part of the course at all so some instructors will either gloss over it or skip it entirely. Talk to your instructor about this and tell them that you want to learn frog-kicking. If they are experienced at all, they probably won't need to be told, but you know how it goes.

All the other important tips I'm sure your instructor will cover in the course. One last tip, maybe, is that while it is possible to learn how to dive in a drysuit without taking a course at all, the learning curve can be shortened by taking it. Someone above suggested to skip the course. When I learned how to dive in a drysuit there was no specialty and we all had to just "figure it out". While that's possible, this is old-school thinking and I would not recommend it. For the price of the course, it's better to learn the ropes from someone who already knows it.

R..

 

[mmerriman]

Briefs not boxers.

unless you've got a pee valve...

 

[Storker]

Pee valve

P-valve

As has already been mentioned, this isn't a must for everyone. Sure, if your reason for wearing a DS is to do 2-3-4 hour long dives in moderate temps, by all means install a P-valve. If your reason for using a DS is to avoid freezing your cojones off during a normal rec dive in chilly water, don't bother.

Best advice I can give you is dont ever get in a hurry or place yourself in a position to need to be in a hurry:
For example:
Plan out buoyancy changes before it becomes a critical emergency maneuver

Amen, brother! Being able to anticipate and handle buoyancy changes before Boyle takes the wheel is IMO perhaps the biggest difference between wetsuit and drysuit diving. A DS shoulder valve vents noticeably slower than a BCD dump valve, so it's definitely a good idea to nip any corking tendencies in the bud.

 

[Diver0001]

I don't have a pee valve and most divers I know who have them seldom use them. I can manage a 2 hour dive most of the time without discomfort. If you need to dive for longer than that then yeah, it could become an issue to consider.

Another bit of advice is about hand warmers. I don't have an electric vest because, frankly, they're really expensive. When it's really cold, however, I use the sodium acetate hand warmers. These are the clear liquid ones with a little metal disk inside to start the reaction. They are reusable and they "burn" for about 1/2 hour, which can turn a 40 min dive from 30 minutes of freezing your butt off to about 10 minutes of freezing your but off.

I use two of these just in the pockets of my undergarment. PLEASE NOTE that you MUST have the sodium acetate ones. Some hand warmers burn by a chemical reaction that reacts to oxygen and as you submerge and the partial pressure of oxygen goes up chemical hand warmers can get hotter to the point of becoming dangerous. The sodium acetate ones burn at the same temperature regardless of depth.

R..

 

[Diver0001]

Amen, brother! Being able to anticipate and handle buoyancy changes before Boyle takes the wheel is IMO perhaps the biggest difference between wetsuit and drysuit diving. A DS shoulder valve vents noticeably slower than a BCD dump valve, so it's definitely a good idea to nip any corking tendencies in the bud.

This is also a critical point. I didn't mention it because I'm sure his instructor will go through it at great length but venting a drysuit is MUCH slower than venting a BCD. Anticipation is always necessary for optimum buoyancy control but in a drysuit you need to anticipate even sooner and/or go slower, especially when following a sloping bottom during ascent.

R..

 

[Doby45]

1. Use BCD for buoyancy and drysuit for squeeze/comfort.

2. It ain't rocket surgery.

3. Enjoy yourself.

 

[KevinNM]

Make sure to get a suit that FITS.

Do not cut corners on this. Get measured by somone who does this a lot and will stand behind you when the manufacturer sends you a suit that doesn't fit. Which happens with depressing regularity.