Drysuit for Pacific Northwest

[DK_Scuba]

Dive Instructor up in BC here. I highly recommend you do a drysuit specialty course with your LDS. After that you can rent varying types of suits Neoprene vs Trilam. Back zip vs front zip etc and really get a feel for what you want. Drysuit are fairly big purchases so if your gonna dive a decent amount the rental cost will be worth it.

 

[MacDuyver]

My seaskin was worth the wait.

I spent a day with an instructor getting the feel for the suit as well which was time and money well spent. There’s some nuance to drysuit that isn’t present in wetsuit.

 

[hsakols]

I bought a SeaSkin, and often recommend it to others. It is the best value suit on the market, but you're right, it will take a few months. To my mind, a few months is better than a few thousand dollars, but you may not agree

My suit arrived in the early months of the covid pandemic, so no courses were being taught at the time. I just taught myself, it's really not rocket science. You need to understand how the suit actually works, how to don and doff it, and to get used to keeping a minimal amount of air inside the suit

The easiest way to manage the air in the suit is to just leave the valve open whenever you are underwater, and when you feel it getting kinda stiff on descent, add a few squirts of air in there. Just like managing your BC air bubble, the differences feel bigger in shallow water than in deep water. If you get cold, you need more air inside the suit, but not in the form of squirting a bunch more air in there. Rather, in the form of wearing more / thicker underclothing on your next dive. A good hood and drygloves also go a long way toward keeping you warm. Best of luck

Edit: oh, and if you are a person with male junk, just go ahead and get a P valve, you will want one some day or another. All of the alternatives are pretty unappealing. For folks with female junk, a P valve is a little more involved... I can't speak to it from firsthand experience, but I can see why some folks would prefer an alternative. But if you can pee standing up, a P valve is the way to go

How did you measure yourself for your SeaSkin? Did you wear you regular clothes or undergarments similar to what you would wear in the suit? It sounds like latex seals are the best if you aren't allergic. On Sunday, I had reservations for Point Lobos, but there was no way we would dive. The waves crashing against the rocks were impressive and even Monterey had the largest waves I've ever seen in the bay.

 

[ChefMatt]

Welcome to Portland! If you are interested, I am putting up a 7mm Scubapro Sport Semi-dry suit (size Med) used 3 freshwater dives up for sale, if you are local. I moved out from the East coast, did some quarry diving in 45-50F water, it was pretty good for those temps. What was the underwater park temp?

 

[DrakeTheDiver]

How did you measure yourself for your SeaSkin? Did you wear you regular clothes or undergarments similar to what you would wear in the suit? It sounds like latex seals are the best if you aren't allergic. On Sunday, I had reservations for Point Lobos, but there was no way we would dive. The waves crashing against the rocks were impressive and even Monterey had the largest waves I've ever seen in the bay.

I wore jeans and a normal long sleeve t shirt. I then had someone else measure me again and was wearing shorts and a t shirt. You do not need to be in undergarments. Seaskin does have a video for measurements and I would recommend watching that and printing their form for measurements.

 

[admikar]

Also, measure yourself at least 3 times, best over a course of a week. Go with biggest numbers.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

@hsakols

So when you take your course and are in the pool, one of the things that you need to get a handle on is the affect of gas in the dry suit versus your BCD/wing. Practice maintaining a constant depth with dumping gas from your BCD/inflating your dry suit and vice versa. The pool is the best place to do this. Good luck.

 

[Brett Hatch]

How did you measure yourself for your SeaSkin? Did you wear you regular clothes or undergarments similar to what you would wear in the suit? It sounds like latex seals are the best if you aren't allergic. On Sunday, I had reservations for Point Lobos, but there was no way we would dive. The waves crashing against the rocks were impressive and even Monterey had the largest waves I've ever seen in the bay.

It's too hard to measure yourself directly, best to get help. I had help with getting measurements, and ended up doing them twice. First measurement, I printed out the instructions and brought them to a local tailor (who alters regular clothes). I wore normal street clothes, and paid $15 or $20 for his service. Second measurement, I asked my girlfriend at the time to follow along with the video on SeaSkin's website, and just wore boxers an a t-shirt

Like @admikar recommends, these were done a week or two apart, and all of the measurements were within an inch / 2-3cm, so I just used the larger figure. Except for one measurement where the tailor had one figure 2 inches / 7cm bigger than my girlfriend's measurement. I think it was either the wingspan or the body cord, can't recall. For that one, the two numbers were so far apart that my GF decided to double-check it, and got the same number she got before. So I went with the figure she measured twice, which was the smaller than the tailor's figure

That process worked out well for me, today is almost 5 years later. Over that time, I have gained 10-15 pounds, lost the 10-15 pounds, and picked up a workout routine along the way that has given me a more muscular body shape. So the suit has enough +/- built into it that 5 years' worth smallish changes in physique has not given me any grief... I think that the telescoping torso has really helped out here. Best of luck