Dry suit top three pieces of advice

[Marie13]

Oh, and while some poo poo the drysuit class, having that card can come in handy -

1. You want to rent a drysuit. Seems you need that card to rent one.
2. I read a post elsewhere here on SB that someone was denied diving somewhere because he didn't have the drysuit cert, even though he was diving in his own drysuit.

 

[boat sju]

Don't over-inflate the drysuit. But, if you're being taught to use the DS for buoyancy, don't forget during ascent that there may still be air in your BC - so vent it too.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I believe there is some wisdom in buying a suit made in the country you live in. For the US, that means DUI and USIA. If any others are made here, I'm don't know which they are.

Santi is very high quality--some divers believe Santi is the best trilam suit available. In any case, those Poles know what they're doing. When I compared a Santi and DUI side by side, I could tell that the workmanship and attention to detail on the Santi are amazing. That said, my advice is simply to use a US dealer that knows Santi in and out, such as Extreme Exposure or perhaps DRIS.

 

[WarrenZ]

Oh, and while some poo poo the drysuit class, having that card can come in handy -

2. I read a post elsewhere here on SB that someone was denied diving somewhere because he didn't have the drysuit cert, even though he was diving in his own drysuit.

That was me I got thrown out of deep diver class for wanting to wear my own drysuit I went on to pursue tec diver through another agency and other instructors since no one has even questioned my not having the drysuit card.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

That was me I got thrown out of deep diver class for wanting to wear my own drysuit I went on to pursue tec diver through another agency and other instructors since no one has even questioned my not having the drysuit card.

That's the sort of stupidity that kept me away from teaching through a shop for most of my dive instructor career. I have over 3,000 dives in a drysuit, have issued dozens of drysuit certs in the 12+ years I was teaching, and have never owned a drysuit c-card.

I can see a shop refusing to rent you a drysuit without a c-card due to liability concerns, but if you're using your own suit their only concern should be whether or not you show competence in its use ... which can be determined within about a minute at the beginning of the dive.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[WarrenZ]

That's the sort of stupidity that kept me away from teaching through a shop for most of my dive instructor career. I have over 3,000 dives in a drysuit, have issued dozens of drysuit certs in the 12+ years I was teaching, and have never owned a drysuit c-card.

I can see a shop refusing to rent you a drysuit without a c-card due to liability concerns, but if you're using your own suit their only concern should be whether or not you show competence in its use ... which can be determined within about a minute at the beginning of the dive.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

We hadnt even got into the water yet, this conversation happened after he zipped my back zip for me.

 

[Keith.M]

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

2. It ain't rocket surgery.

3. Enjoy yourself.

I see this mentioned a lot. In fact before I started diving dry, I always thought is made sense and figured that is exactly what I would do.

However in reality, I have found this to not be the case.

I feel that I am properly weighted as I have no issue holding my safety stops at the end of my dives, but if I was to look at using my wing for buoyancy I would have to add additional weight in order to do that. The amount of air I add to my suit to take off the squeeze and allow some loft to my undergarment, is enough air for my buoyancy.

Do the divers that currently just take off the squeeze in the drysuit and then use their wing, feel that that have somewhat overweighted themselves in order to do this?

 

[stuartv]

I see this mentioned a lot. In fact before I started diving dry, I always thought is made sense and figured that is exactly what I would do.

However in reality, I have found this to not be the case.

I feel that I am properly weighted as I have no issue holding my safety stops at the end of my dives, but if I was to look at using my wing for buoyancy I would have to add additional weight in order to do that. The amount of air I add to my suit to take off the squeeze and allow some loft to my undergarment, is enough air for my buoyancy.

Do the divers that currently just take off the squeeze in the drysuit and then use their wing, feel that that have somewhat overweighted themselves in order to do this?

What Doby posted and what you said are the same thing, in my book. His #1 was for squeeze AND comfort. The comfort part is the key here, if you're wearing undies that need some loft. In that situation, I add enough air to eliminate squeeze, then enough more for some loft in the undies. The important point is, once you have put that much air in (enough to achieve your comfort), then IF you need more air, you add it via the BCD, instead of adding even more air in the suit. If you don't need to add air to the BCD at that point, then cool. It sounds like your undies just happen to be a good match for your body and rig's overall buoyancy, so the point is moot for you. But, if you dived somewhere warmer and needed thinner or no undergarments, then adding air to the suit to achieve comfort might still leave you negative - so you would add air to the BCD, not the suit.

Being over weighted would mean that you get to your safety stop, at the end of your dive, and you are negative with an empty BCD. Some people determine weighting in a drysuit based on letting the suit exhaust all possible air by the time you're at the SS. In that case, you'd need less weight. Others weight so that they can keep enough air in the suit to maintain loft of the undergarments (with an empty BCD at the safety stop). In that case, you'd need more weight, but I don't think it would be fair to say you're OVER weighted at that point. It just depends on your circumstances and what you need to do to keep yourself comfortable. But, if you have the exhaust valve all the way open and have dumped as much air from the suit as you can (and your tank is near empty), and you are still negative, then you are over weighted, regardless.

 

[Doby45]

I see this mentioned a lot. In fact before I started diving dry, I always thought is made sense and figured that is exactly what I would do.

However in reality, I have found this to not be the case.

I can see why you would feel that way as you are a "PADI Pro" and PADI's training for drysuit is to use it for buoyancy..

 

[Keith.M]

I can see why you would feel that way as you are a "PADI Pro" and PADI's training for drysuit is to use it for buoyancy..

Why not answer the question Doby45 instead of providing a dig at PADI?

FYI, I am self taught in the drysuit. My point was that I find that after I take off the squeeze, I have no need for adding air to the wing. So my question to you is that you must be adding more weight in order to now start using your wing for buoyancy.