Drysuit exhaust valves on boots?

[DivingCRNA]

I actually like my cuff dump. I can raise my hand to dump and not change body position.

 

[scottmc]

Some use ankle weight when learning, once they feel good with their skills you can lose them. If you noticed all the top drysuits don't come with this option. Must be a reason.

Quite a few smaller manufacturers have them:

Seatec

Apollo

But I dont recall ever seeing them on DUI, Viking, Bare or Northern Diver Suits...

It's a nice idea to give a new drysuit diver peace of mind while learning (no fear of an inverted accent - although this only lasts for the first few dives), but floaty feet are easy to overcome through technique and training.

Having the valves down there means they are going to cop a lot of abuse over time - which could be a bit of a worry...

Still - anyone like them?

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[kjundvr]

I have been diving and apollo for years and I love the foot valves. Now I get that many think of them like training wheels and indeed in some respects they are however one you learn how to properly use them they are indispensable. I dove a shell suit for some time and never had a problem keeping my feet down so I chose the apollo more on fit and my diving style. For my preferred way of diving it is not always easy to get my shoulder up to vent air, so the convenience of the foot valves for those times is great. The air vents fast and with proper method little air will vent when you don’t want it to. As far as leaking I have never had a problem with them and the majority of my diving is from shore with both fine and coarse sand. I would not tell a new drysuit diver to use the suit, believing that one should learn how to prevent a feet first ascent however i do recommend it to people that sometimes dive in awkward positions (eg scientific divers) that need options for getting air out of the suit.

 

[cummings66]

I'm firmly in the camp which says no to the vents there. I understand some people have a perceived need to not change their position in the water no matter what, but while you're at that depth you're not going to be venting air anyhow until you ascend at which point you can dump the air normally.

IMO adding additional valves is adding additional failure points and should be avoided, and yes I've had them fail on me. They've always failed closed for what it's worth but I know friends that had them fail open and got wet.

 

[Eileentk]

The only problem that I've found with the ankle valves is that they can chaff your ankle while walking in the suit. This is especially painful when the valve is on the inside of the leg as it was in the suit that I tried out.

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

Thanks kjundvr for the insight and possible advantages for some styles of diving. Interesting that you wouldn't recommend them for a new drysuit diver as I thought boot valves would appeal to them the most: I argee - learning the basic drysuit skills is vital and I will be getting her a standard shoulder dump suit.

Cheers,
Rohan.