Drysuit and pool?

[DavidLoPan]

Hello,

I just got my drysuit and had a quick question.

Besides the initial training (which involves signing up for a class and first diving the suit in a pool), I've heard that i should not use a drysuit in a pool.
Is it because the drysuit is susceptible to the chlorine? Sorry, might seem like a simple question but I just wanted the community's feedback.

Thanks

 

[Eff]

From what I've heard chlorine is the reason.

Also applies to wetsuits, BCDs, wings, webbing... Pretty much everything?

 

[tstormdiver]

I wear one my drysuits several times a year in the pool, practicing & adjusting my technical equipment. It has faded it a bit, but otherwise it is doing fine,... in fact, it is doing much better than my normal primary suit (go figure) I just make sure when I get out, I get into a shower & rinse the clorine water off.

 

[TSandM]

Chlorine will FADE anything. And it clearly accelerates the aging and decomposition of neoprene, as I have learned from watching my husband's wetsuit, which he uses for teaching, fall apart.

 

[SubMariner]

Hello,

I just got my drysuit and had a quick question.

Besides the initial training (which involves signing up for a class and first diving the suit in a pool), I've heard that i should not use a drysuit in a pool.
Is it because the drysuit is susceptible to the chlorine? Sorry, might seem like a simple question but I just wanted the community's feedback.

Thanks

Most confined water training for the drysuit course is done in a pool (although PADI standards indicated any body of water having "pool-like conditions" is considered "confined water") so I confess that I've never heard that a drysuit shouldn't be used in a pool.

Other than continual use in a chlorine environment can be damaging to any piece of scuba equipment if not properly taken care of, the only reason I can think of for not using a drysuit in a pool is the fact that the temperature is simply too hot to use one comfortably for any reasonable length of time. For example, I my initial drysuit training was in a 5mm neoprene suit. By the time I finished my first confined water session I was soaking wet from sweating so much.

So...

 

[Bubbletrubble]

It only takes one dunk in a chlorinated pool to begin the bleaching/aging process on scuba gear.
Just make sure that you rinse/soak the gear very well after the pool session.
If I know that I'll have to be wearing scuba equipment in a pool, I prefer that the gear is rented.

I think the best approach to learning how to use a drysuit is to do several shallow dives in a benign environment that simulates your "normal" dive conditions. Shore dives with easy surf entries are wonderful for this. Skill practice can take place in fairly shallow water (approx. 15-20 fsw deep). As your comfort level increases, you can progressively increase the depth of your dives.

Just make sure you know how to guard against and recover from a feet-first ascent. You should also be prepared to disconnect the drysuit inflater hose in case of a stuck-on inflater valve event. During ascents, exhaust early and often to stay ahead of expansion of the drysuit bubble.

 

[String]

No problem with a drysuit in the pool. Just wash it in fresh straight after in the showers and its fine.

A few dips in a pool and wash won't fade or damage it half as much as the UV from the sun during a standard days wearing and use! Just don't leave it damp with pool water all over it.

 

[SubMariner]

I think the best approach to learning how to use a drysuit is to do several shallow dives in a benign environment that simulates your "normal" dive conditions. Shore dives with easy surf entries are wonderful for this. Skill practice can take place in fairly shallow water (approx. 15-20 fsw deep). As your comfort level increases, you can progressively increase the depth of your dives.

Just make sure you know how to guard against and recover from a feet-first ascent. You should also be prepared to disconnect the drysuit inflater hose in case of a stuck-on inflater valve event. During ascents, exhaust early and often to stay ahead of expansion of the drysuit bubble.

A drysuit is not a passive piece of equipment like a pair of fins that you just put on & off you go. It takes training to use a drysuit safely/effectively.

Many of the things you need to learn are NOT intuitive, like how to manage gas in the suit or get yourself out of feet-first ascent. So I strongly suggest that anyone who is a first-time drysuit owner get instruction from someone qualified to teach the Specialty.

Newbies CAN and DO get into trouble taking a suit out for a "test drive" in open water. Unfortunately, I've seen it far too often. So please be cautious when advising people who have never dove in a drysuit how to use it.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

A drysuit is not a passive piece of equipment like a pair of fins that you just put on & off you go. It takes training to use a drysuit safely/effectively.

Many of the things you need to learn are NOT intuitive, like how to manage gas in the suit or get yourself out of feet-first ascent. So I strongly suggest that anyone who is a first-time drysuit owner get instruction from someone qualified to teach the Specialty.

Newbies CAN and DO get into trouble taking a suit out for a "test drive" in open water. Unfortunately, I've seen it far too often. So please be cautious when advising people who have never dove in a drysuit how to use it.

@SubMariner: Ummm. Perhaps I was a little unclear in my previous post. I did not mean to suggest/recommend/imply that a newbie diver try to learn how to operate a drysuit on his/her own. To clarify, I think it's prudent for a brand new drysuit diver to either take a formal drysuit class with a good instructor (who is a very experienced drysuit diver) or be properly mentored by an experienced drysuit diver. To be sure, the learning curve does continue even after a class. I was just pointing out the value of skill practice in an environment that more closely approximates real-world diving conditions.

The underlying assumption in this discussion thread is that pool practice for learning how to operate a drysuit is mandatory.
I was simply making the distinction that an appropriate training environment could also include the ocean under the right conditions. In fact, since proper weighting is necessarily different in saltwater vs. a fresh water pool, one could argue that practice sessions conducted in the ocean might be more beneficial to the novice drysuit diver.

FWIW, I've heard of a few instructors who are "qualified" to teach the drysuit specialty but do a pretty crappy job of actually teaching someone else how to use one. These instructors had embarrassingly little experience conducting dives in a drysuit...and I think it was a farce that they were allowed to teach the class. Just because the instructor has the "ability" to teach the drysuit specialty course, doesn't necessarily mean that he/she will provide the best learning experience for the student (compared to informal mentoring by an experienced drysuit diver). I advise divers interested in taking a drysuit course to get word-of-mouth recommendations from other divers on which instructor they should work with. There are a lot of good instructors out there...but there are also some stinkers in the bunch. Good instruction or mentoring increases the likelihood that the student will learn how to operate this new gear safely.

 

[Jax]

If you dive your gear in a pool, head to the showers immediately after you're done and stand under the shower until everything is thoroughly rinsed. The faster you get the heavy chlorine off, the less time it has to act on your stuff.