Drysuit Insight

[cummings66]

You'll be fine and have a pretty easy time operating both devices, just remember to insure on the ascent to keep your exhaust valve at the high point so the suit doesn't become too bouyant, i.e don't fixate on dumping the BC and forget the drysuit.

 

[Scubar]

Use your BC for its purpose, buoyancy control. Add air to the drysuit just to take the squeeze off.

 

[hvulin]

what others have said and go slow with the ascent so the suite will vent all air by itslef... (you can allways roll on the side from time to time to make sure that air is going out)

 

[Scuba_Steve]

Although I was taught by a Padi guy to use suit over BC for primary inflation, I did that for about a dozen dives and dumped that dumb idea.

When I teach it, it's the opposite than what Padi has in their books. I poll students about this when I haven't taught them dry suit diving, and it seems to me most Padi instructors our way do in fact teach using the BC as primary inflation.

I suggested that Padi get with the program on this to a CD once. I guess he wanted me to call instead.

 

[Dan Gibson]

With one small exception. Some valves may leak while descending if you don't close them until you reach depth. This really sucks when it's cold. However, new drysuit divers should probably just leave the valve open until they get enough experience. Besides, they need to experince a wet drysuit like the rest of us have

Liz,

Dive with the valve always open.

 

[PepperDM]

Like everyone else, despite being taught to the contrary, I too only use my dry suit to reduce the squeeze. In addition, try spreading your weights around to avoid uncontrolled ascents. Put some weight in your BC, some on the ankles and some on a harness you wear. I tend to dive a touch heavy in case I do have to perform an emergency ditch, this still allows some weight so I do not shoot to the surface.

After my course, the guy I started to dive with (Tec Diver) told me not to be afraid to bend certain rules if it makes your diving easier or more comfortable. Obviously certain rules are hard coded but others can be altered, consider the big picture and the impact it will have when attempting to bend a rule. If it is not breaking a hard rule then I say why not....Just my opinion!!!

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

It sure does feel wonderful on a cold day to add a little argon to the suit though. When it's cold I add a bit more air than when it's warmer.

aaaah, almost tropical down there wiht argon

 

[caribou]

Two things for dry suit : fit and proper weight.
Having the right fit for a wetsuit is recommended (and more confortable), having the right fit for a drysuit is critical.
make sure that you are weighted in a way that you can do your safety stop with no air in drysuit, no air in BC, without kicking.
to do this, I remove weights until at the end of the dive I HAVE to hold on to the line to stay at my safety stop.

This way I realized how overweighted I was before. As your experience grows you know how much you need for a certain configuration (dry suit + undergarnments+tanks) and you just find it in your log book to pick the right weight.

Even at 85 feet, I don't have much air in my drysuit, and I certainly don't feel like a big bubble. I never used my BC while underwater in a drysuit.

Take out 2 pounds, and dive with an ascent line, you could be surprised you might not need them after all.

 

[RonFrank]

I'm no expert with five dry dives under my belt.

I use the suit for exposure protection, and the BC for buoyancy control. Here are a few reasons....

It's too easy to trap air in a suit, and end up upsidedown and pissed off I've actually not been upsidedown, but I've got air in my legs that was difficult to shift to the dump.

The dump valve on the suit does NOT dump air as well as my dump on the BCD. This means that you have to be very careful ascending if using the suit as a BCD.

I'm more comfortable adding air to my BCD to control buoyancy vs. the dry suit. While this is not a huge factor, I've found that I like to add as little air to my Drysuit as possible, and in very small doses as needed. With my BCD however, I'm comfortable with adding about what I need as I decend.

As for the valve, I left it full open for the first three dives. After I became more comfortable, and was having to add air often to my suit (which uses up air) as it was dumping, I cranked down my valve to about half way. This seems to be a good spot for me, but results may vary.

There are those that use the suit as a BCD, but I'm not one of them, and I'm already becoming comfortable with how I dive the suit after a short amount of dives, so I'll likely continue with what is working for me. It will be interesting as I'm going to take a PADI drysuit class (mainly as an excuse to dive, and because I got the class for no cost) but if they force me to try and use the suit alone for buoyancy, I may fail I'm not interested in screwing with something that is already working well for me just to attempt to prove that I can fill my suit with air :11doh:

 

[Solitude Diver]

No need for me to repeat everything that’s been said. Both systems work. I personally dive both ways depending on what gear I’m packing and what I am doing, and am equally comfortable with either system.

In the event of extra weight beyond what makes you slightly negative (large tanks, etc.) it is necessary use BC to offset some of the weight, and keep from having to managing too big of a bubble in the suit. If properly weighted (and fitted) the suit method works fine. You shouldn’t need a lot of air in it with just an alum 80, etc. The suit is a little easier to manage (such as on a nice slight uphill swim, etc.) to easily vent a little as you go without using hands.

Exception…larger tank(s) require added weight to offset air loss at end of dive, and so you can be as much as 8-10 (or more with twins) lbs heavy at beginning. That is a lot of extra air to manage in suit, especially if it is oversized.

Just get out and practice, practice, (and do whatever it takes to have fun doing so). 8-12 dives with your own fitted suit, and it will start to feel good (and warm).