Dry Suit Under suits

[VR78]

Santi ELite and Emotion:
25-30C water: DUI ActionWear 150
20-25C: 4th Element Arctic
15-20C: IceBreaker merino base layer (260 g/m3) + Arctic
10-15C: Santi BZ400x
5-10C: merino base layer + BZ400x
Under 5C or well over 1 hr at 5-10C: merino base layer + Bare MidLayer Vest + BZ400x (but likely to switch to two merino layers + BZ).

I have no experience with the Expedition. The Arctic is absolutely ineffective for me in cold water, even with the highest quality base layer. In my experience, Arctic shrinks a lot with washing. DUI, Santi and the base layer do not at all.

 

[Marie13]

Arctic does NOT shrink at all when washed if you're doing it per FE instructions. Wash on cold, gentle cycle, hang to dry - no shrinkage. Mine was washed frequently with no problems.

 

[VR78]

Arctic does NOT shrink at all when washed if you're doing it per FE instructions. Wash on cold, gentle cycle, hang to dry - no shrinkage. Mine was washed frequently with no problems.

Good for you. Mine no longer fits me and has been relegated to a cat bed. Cat likes.

 

[chrisch]

I would start with a low cost option like the Beaver. You can use layering to increase the insulation if you need to. I'm not convinced the more expensive items are much better (if any better at all) until you need to look at flexibility for valve drills. At that point you need the Santi (or maybe DUI) and they are mega money. I have dived happily on (mostly secondhand) cheap stuff for many years.