Bopper
Contributor
I thought I'd post this just for informational purposes.
I just started diving dry recently and - among all of the other things that you must adjust to - there was one thing that I was really disappointed in. Properly fitting Rock Boots will typically make your foot one size bigger in fins. I had about 5 pairs of size "Large" fins and one pair of "Medium" fins when I was diving wet. When I got the drysuit, the only fins that would now fit were the first pair I ever bought - Aqualung Blade 2s.
So over the holidays my LDS was having a sale. I thought I'd just pop in to see if there might be a solution to my problem at a discounted price. After all, I could end up spending <$100 to save over $500 worth of fins. Sure enough, the guy at the store new exactly what the problem was. He pointed me to some boots made by Poseidon called the One Shoe 3MM boot. He explained that traditional drysuit boots start sloping upward too soon. This quick rise in the profile prevents the shoe from sliding forward far enough (I had always assumed the drysuit boot was too wide but after he explained it I realized I was wrong - it was too tall not too wide). The Poseidon boots fit more like a traditional wetsuit bootie. They have a rise in the profile that is set further back and it allows a deeper entry of the foot. Sure enough when I got home all my fins - including the Medium - fit as beautifully as when I wore booties.
Experienced divers will know that Converse Chuck Taylor shoes are very popular w. drysuit divers. I always assumed this was because they are cheaper than most drysuit boots and it was a kind of thumbing of the nose to the dive industry. But I guess this was a known problem and this was their solution.
These boots are a lot like the Chuck Taylors, except that they have a "softer" feel due to the neoprene lining and have a zipper at the heel which make entry and exit much easier.
Again, just posting this in case other divers new to drysuits encounter the same dilemma I did.
I just started diving dry recently and - among all of the other things that you must adjust to - there was one thing that I was really disappointed in. Properly fitting Rock Boots will typically make your foot one size bigger in fins. I had about 5 pairs of size "Large" fins and one pair of "Medium" fins when I was diving wet. When I got the drysuit, the only fins that would now fit were the first pair I ever bought - Aqualung Blade 2s.
So over the holidays my LDS was having a sale. I thought I'd just pop in to see if there might be a solution to my problem at a discounted price. After all, I could end up spending <$100 to save over $500 worth of fins. Sure enough, the guy at the store new exactly what the problem was. He pointed me to some boots made by Poseidon called the One Shoe 3MM boot. He explained that traditional drysuit boots start sloping upward too soon. This quick rise in the profile prevents the shoe from sliding forward far enough (I had always assumed the drysuit boot was too wide but after he explained it I realized I was wrong - it was too tall not too wide). The Poseidon boots fit more like a traditional wetsuit bootie. They have a rise in the profile that is set further back and it allows a deeper entry of the foot. Sure enough when I got home all my fins - including the Medium - fit as beautifully as when I wore booties.
Experienced divers will know that Converse Chuck Taylor shoes are very popular w. drysuit divers. I always assumed this was because they are cheaper than most drysuit boots and it was a kind of thumbing of the nose to the dive industry. But I guess this was a known problem and this was their solution.
These boots are a lot like the Chuck Taylors, except that they have a "softer" feel due to the neoprene lining and have a zipper at the heel which make entry and exit much easier.
Again, just posting this in case other divers new to drysuits encounter the same dilemma I did.
