Drysuit diving - continual issues with air in legs/feet.

[wetb4igetinthewater]

@joshua.d.vise

Also practice using air/gas in your BCD versus dry suit and see its effect on your trim.

Good luck.

 

[MrVegas]

I found that if I got horizontal (as we should when at the bottom) the legs and feet would fill with air as I kicked, slowly at first and then more quickly as time went on.

Did anyone ask yet whether the suit had built in boots or whether the suit had socks and you were using some form of boot over the drysuit socks? If the suit has built in boots and they are too big, your feet might feel too light because there is excess air in the boot. I have socks on the drysuit and wear rockboots over those and have somewhat heavy fins.

 

[berndo]

Out of curiosity, do you use Quattros or a lighter fin but similar to a jet fin?

I use Quattros alot for SM diving and for ccr now. I also have original Jet fin and used them for diving doubles but I think they suck.
Jet type fins make it slighty easier to back kick and turn, but you can do that with pretty much any fin.

When I got my first drysuit I also bought ankle weights. At some point I lost one and didn't even notice at. Heavy fins are kinda like ankle weights, you might like them better when you dive top heavy double... but even then you certainly don't need them to keep gas out of your legs.

 

[BlueTrin]

I use Quattros alot for SM diving and for ccr now. I also have original Jet fin and used them for diving doubles but I think they suck.
Jet type fins make it slighty easier to back kick and turn, but you can do that with pretty much any fin.

When I got my first drysuit I also bought ankle weights. At some point I lost one and didn't even notice at. Heavy fins are kinda like ankle weights, you might like them better when you dive top heavy double... but even then you certainly don't need them to keep gas out of your legs.

I only dive steel doubles at home, I understand your point about the balance of doubles vs singles.

Thanks, makes sense.

 

[Dann-Oh]

One thing that worked for be was to get a rubberized weight belt (the kind freedivers wear: Link). Synch this belt nice and snug. It will help keep air our of your legs while you're learning to dive with your drysuit. Its not so tight that air can not escape from your feet when on the surface and getting ready for the dive but once you descend the air tends to stay around your torso.

 

[boat sju]

I was taught to use the first 15 ft to get as much air out of the drysuit as possible. At 15 ft feel the squeeze and then try to maintain that feeling throughout the dive. As a fairly inexperienced drysuit diver that seems to work for me and keeps me out of trouble. But using this logic also leads me to believe there's not much to be gained practicing in a pool.

 

[Landau]

As I read this the OP has done 1 pool dive in a drysuit. I have a different recommendation than all the equipment changes listed above (ankle weights, different fins, gaiters, rubber weight belt etc)

More Practice.

Especially with an instructor helping. Everyone takes a while to get used to controlling the drysuit. Some are quicker than others, but no one is perfect after a single pool dive.

You will get better at it with each dive. Some dives a tiny bit better some dives a lot better.

I struggled at first, but now drysuit is way easier for me to trim than a wetsuit as I can control where the air goes. In my old BC I was a little foot heavy so would wiggle around a bit at the start of the dive to get a little more air in the feet. My new BCD has integrated weights a bit higher than the old one so now I need to do a bit of the opposite.

 

[PEDiver]

More Practice.

This.

If you only have a pool dive under your belt, ignore all of the other comments about additional gear (ankle weights, gaiters, etc.). If you are truly going to make the switch to a drysuit, bite the bullet and get a suit that fits you with the right undergarments. And then, dive, dive, dive. Controlling the air bubble in your suit is the hardest part of drysuit diving. Once you are comfortable with that, drysuit diving will become easy. I hate diving in wetsuits now.

 

[pauldw]

I was taught to use the first 15 ft to get as much air out of the drysuit as possible. At 15 ft feel the squeeze and then try to maintain that feeling throughout the dive. As a fairly inexperienced drysuit diver that seems to work for me and keeps me out of trouble. But using this logic also leads me to believe there's not much to be gained practicing in a pool.
Swollen Agitator

Dude, that sig might have something to do with you putting up with that much squeeze.

OP: My 2 cents is that Quattros are great fins for general use. I use them. For dry suit diving, though, the ones I have don't fit over the boot, so I got Power Planas that do. The reason has a lot to do with the Power Planas being both beefier and heavier. Floaty fins in this situation didn't seem to my inexperienced mind like that way to go. Also, I note that my dry suit has ankle straps on the outside to try to keep air from expanding in my feet, which I hear can possibly cause problems with fins staying on.

(My first fins ever were Power Planas, but that was back when they were the Quattros of that time, and they were whitish color instead of just black like everything else, and that was so cutting edge then!)

 

[leglessmatt]

I know a solution (see username ;-)) - sorry, couldn't resist.