Drysuit air bubble management help please

[Doc Harry]

I had a much better day of diving with the dry suit today, after I made some changes.

I got rid of the gaiters. I still get air moving to my feet, but the air is no longer trapped in my feet by the gaiters. Anyone want to buy a pair of used Halcyon gaiters?

I switched from an Apex exhaust valve to a SiTech valve. Guess what? My suit actually vents now. No longer do I have a sleeve full of air that won't vent. That Apeks valve was a piece of ****.

I also moved the exhaust valve back about 2 inches so that the valve rests at the highest point on my sleeve. That helped too. Marcella and the folks out at DUI did a nice job of replacing and moving the valve for me.

Finally, when I couldn't reach my manifold valves because of the squeeze, the just pulled the tanks up toward my head so that I could reach the valves. (Yeow! Watch that crotch strap!!!)

My next project is to get the pee valve working properly...

 

[dave4868]

I had a much better day of diving with the dry suit today, after I made some changes.

snipped the specifics....

Congrats and thanks for the follow-up, it's informative! I don't think I'll ever use gaiters....

Dave C

 

[jepuskar]

Sounds like you are moving in the right direction.

As stated before, you should never be in pain...however you do want to be snug like a nice firm hug..not the death grip though.

Since you are/were having issues with the amount of air in your suit, this tells me you are trying not to feel any squeeze....which then yes..you will have a larger amount of air to contend with and this is not good.

This is why using just your suit for buoyancy underwater is not practical..the amount of air is just ridiculous. So you are on the right track using both BC and DS. For me, the line between pain and being comfortable is only a quick burst or two of air.

Dont play with ankle weights and especially dont add more weight than is necessary..ugh!!

As long as you keep your air volume down I dont see a need for any of the additional equipment. When you are neutral you are neutral...5ft, 10ft or 50 ft...doesnt matter...changing body positions should not send you to the surface at any depth. If you have the small amount of air in your DS then its easily managed.

I do notice though that when I come up from say 50ft to 20ft it can be hard at times to vent air from my DS...I can feel the bubble get larger and im not as snug as I was, but again..no big deal as there wasnt that much at depth. I just dump from my wing and at about 15ft to 10ft it lets loose.

keep at it.

 

[dave4868]

This is why using just your suit for buoyancy underwater is not practical..the amount of air is just ridiculous.

Actually, using only the drysuit for buoyancy control, even with quite a bit of air in the suit, can be practical and definitely advantageous (for warmth and simplicity), provided the drysuit fits fairly closely to the insulation.

My buddies and I prove it every time we dive....especially in winter! Most of us do it that way!

A loose-fitting suit that allows rapid air-shifting can make it impractical, but even then, it's not a general rule. It can usually be managed by using the BCD for some of the buoyancy and reducing the air in the suit, which is what I do when diving with almost no insulation.

It's not hard to do at all.

Dave C

 

[jepuskar]

Not saying it's hard, but in my experience with a good fitting drysuit I don't like having more air in the suit then is necessary to offset squeeze. Everyone has a different method, but for someone who is just starting out...I think minimizing the bubble is beneficial.

After experience is gained then im sure they will develop their own techniques.

 

[Thalassamania]

Jepuskar,

What buoyancy shift are you using the suit to offset? If you're diving a single in the range of an 80, you can deal with the shift do to gas just by moving your breathing cycle.

 

[jepuskar]

I'm not using the suit to offset any buoyancy changes. I dive a 100cu ft.