Drysuit Condensation

[MattPSI]

I recently purchased a new DUI drysuit. After some testing and reading, I am pretty sure that my undergarments become moist (primarly in the abdomen area) due to absorption of condensate. I have not yet done a second dive in the wet undergarments yet, but I plan to soon. It occured to me that I could try putting on a waterproof breathable shell (pants and windbreaker). Presumably my body moisture vapor would pass through and the drysuit condensate would not make my undergarments as wet. Has anybody experimented with a similar approach?

 

[DogDiver]

DUI = dry until immersed [emoji45].


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[boulderjohn]

Moist underwear due to condensation is very common when diving in cool/cold water in warm/hot weather. Between dives I use what I call the cormorant maneuver, exposing the underwear to the drying hot air and (hopefully) breeze.

 

[MattPSI]

Well I have been diving dry to test my new gear in temps exceeding 90 degrees. So maybe it will be less of an issue when I'm on the coast in California.


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[Adobo]

Well I have been diving dry to test my new gear in temps exceeding 90 degrees. So maybe it will be less of an issue when I'm on the coast in California.


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It will still be an *issue*.


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[FinnMom]

An undersuit intended for diving will do an amazingly good job of wicking moisture away from your skin to the outside of the undersuit. With my Weezle Extreme+ I can even have a slight leak (had a leaking seam a sleeve once for months) and after a dive my skin is dry and outside of sleeve is obviously wet.

If you can only wear light longjohns and not get heatstroke, try merino wool. It doesn't seem to hold moisture, dries fast wwhen soaked and doesn't take on odors much at all.

 

[MattPSI]

An undersuit intended for diving will do an amazingly good job of wicking moisture away from your skin to the outside of the undersuit. With my Weezle Extreme+ I can even have a slight leak (had a leaking seam a sleeve once for months) and after a dive my skin is dry and outside of sleeve is obviously wet.

If you can only wear light longjohns and not get heatstroke, try merino wool. It doesn't seem to hold moisture, dries fast wwhen soaked and doesn't take on odors much at all.

My undergarments do a really good job of keeping the moisture away from my skin too. I am just trying to picture wearing the same set of moist/wet clothes for repetitive diving. The set is too expensive to have more than one set, so if I could keep it more dry while diving, it would be optimal.


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[crunchiespg]

I'd say just dive and don't worry about it. My local summer diving is often 25-30c or more, outside air temp then into 7c or so water. So a days diving consists of getting absolutely soaking with sweat on the surface and then into very cold water. My thermals are often soaked with sweat. Even this spring I was diving on a day where the water was 1 to 2 degrees Celsius (35f) and we were still hot and sweaty on the surface. It was no problem. The thermals do an excellent job keeping the moisture away from your skin. Today we had a pretty strenuous hike down to the water, carrying all the gear so I was pouring with sweat, but I did an hour long dive in 10 Celsius water without issue.

 

[MattPSI]

I'd say just dive and don't worry about it. My local summer diving is often 25-30c or more, outside air temp then into 7c or so water. So a days diving consists of getting absolutely soaking with sweat on the surface and then into very cold water. My thermals are often soaked with sweat. Even this spring I was diving on a day where the water was 1 to 2 degrees Celsius (35f) and we were still hot and sweaty on the surface. It was no problem. The thermals do an excellent job keeping the moisture away from your skin. Today we had a pretty strenuous hike down to the water, carrying all the gear so I was pouring with sweat, but I did an hour long dive in 10 Celsius water without issue.

Thanks for the perspective. I'm gathering that you don't literally stay dry in a drysuit necessarily. But if you stay warm and not soggy then I guess the suit is doing it's job.


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[dirkadirk]

Something I've taken to doing for summer diving is getting hold of a job lot of silica gel sachets (those annoying little toxic things you get in electrical boxes), and drop one into each boot, and then tape a couple by their edges to the inside of my drysuit in various locations. Undersuit comes out toastie and dry. I just have to make sure I crack my zip or neck seal regularly after surfacing (and leaving the water) so I dont sweat up too much of a storm and overwhelm the gel while on the surface.