drysuit hood vs. wetsuit hood question

[Peter_C]

Josh, at some point you will want to be warm while diving, so just wait until you finally step into a drysuit, and are forced to contend with something constricting around your neck. The silicon neck seal will help. Funny though once you are underwater, you will forget all about your neck seal...

Otterbay's 12mm hood is the only hood I recommend for diving locally.

 

[spectrum]

Poomero

If a hood is tight around you neck you have the wrong hood, they are not created equal nor are divers.

What style is the right one? If you are in warm to temperate you can listen to anyone and be OK. However in addition to protecting your head the other key function of a wetsuit hood is to seal of that pesky neck opening. That is what the bib does when properly tucked in. Personally I skip the bibbed hood and go straight to either a hooded chicken vest or a hooded step-in vest (See here)

With a drysuit you can use the same bibbed hood if you have something like DUI warmneck collar, otherwise you look like a haphazard Sir Walter Raleigh with that useless bibb flopping around. If you have an ealborate neck dam (most suits don't) the neck opeing is taken care of and you have more lattitude.

If you can't find something comfortable that's why we have folks like Otter Bay. They can get you comfortable and warm in a custom hood. It's not uncommon. I ended up tailoring a patch into the chin of a hood to relieve jaw stress.

Pete