Drysuit Insight

[coreypenrose]

I have a Signature Series DUI drysuit and I find it much easier to use my suit for buoyancy. The little inflation button is right there on my chest and all I have to do to dump air is lift my left shoulder - no worries.

 

[Firecracker]

Our DUI drysuit manual actually says to "Add air to the BCD to attain neutral buoyancy."

I should have mine here tomorrow and plan on getting my first dive with it next week...in the pool, of course! LOL

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I have a friend who was taught to use the suit for buoyancy. I have tried explaining to her why it is difficult to maintain trim when the air shifts all over the place in a drysuit but she believes that her instructor told her the truth. One problem this has caused her is that because of the extra air she adds to her suit when she can't control her trim, she feels she can't dive without 30 pounds of lead. She's a skinny girl, about 130# and should really be using ten pounds or less.

 

[TSandM]

I just HAVE to take exception to the statement about diving 30 lbs of lead. It may well be that this particular diver is using too much air. But I'm 120 pounds, dive a dry suit, and with a LP 95 I need 28 pounds of weight. My GUE instructor tried very hard to take some of that weight off me, because he could not believe it was needed, but in the end, he had to conclude that it was. With the new Al 80's I was given, I'm up to 34 pounds, and at the end of my last dive, had trouble staying down at 8 fsw with 1000 psi, and no air in anything. (In fact, the dry suit was full of WATER.)

Weight requirements vary. If you have no bone mass, you need more weight. Not everybody diving "heavy" is doing anything wrong.

 

[coreypenrose]

I just HAVE to take exception to the statement about diving 30 lbs of lead. It may well be that this particular diver is using too much air. But I'm 120 pounds, dive a dry suit, and with a LP 95 I need 28 pounds of weight. My GUE instructor tried very hard to take some of that weight off me, because he could not believe it was needed, but in the end, he had to conclude that it was. With the new Al 80's I was given, I'm up to 34 pounds, and at the end of my last dive, had trouble staying down at 8 fsw with 1000 psi, and no air in anything. (In fact, the dry suit was full of WATER.)

Weight requirements vary. If you have no bone mass, you need more weight. Not everybody diving "heavy" is doing anything wrong.

Dude, I'm more then twice your size and I carry 34 pounds with a steel 95 and drysuit with thick undergarment. Do you really need that much weight?

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

Steel 100, crushed neopreme suit and I use 24 pounds. I'm old, fat and bouyant as heck but that's all I need. In a wet suit I use 12 pounds with the same setup.

 

[TSandM]

Corey, I'll just reiterate that we did a formal weight check, at the end of a dive (so presumably all air out of suit/BC), with about 400 psi in the tank (tried to bleed it to 500 but got a free flow and overshot a little), and we could not remove any of the 28 pounds I was carrying with the LP 95 and allow me to stay under the water at all. I have no bone mass and I wear a lot of undergarment. I wish like crazy that I didn't HAVE to carry so much weight -- it really affects my enjoyment of diving to have to put on and haul around all that weight on land -- but this does not seem to be a matter of novice anxiety, and it's certainly not a matter of overweighting.

 

[mtsidford]

Scubaliz,
It sounds to me like your main concern is maintaining neutral bouancy. I agree with everyone that use the bc for it's intended use and only keeps enough air to avoid suit squeeze.

What no one has mentioned yet is the functionality of gaters. My suggestion is buy a set of Halcyon Gaters. They are cheap and can be used when you eventually purchase your own suit. Their function is to keep the air pocket away from your feet, near your torso, where it belongs. They work very well. If you use these, no matter how bulky your rented dry suit is it will help. Using ankle weights to trim your legs down will also help you minimise the air you keep in your suit as it's easier to vent air when it's already near your shoulder vent.

Sid

 

[creamofwheat]

I admit that I am still very new, but I dove with 36 lbs and couldn't hold a safety stop. I added a couple more pounds on the next dive and voila! safety stop was acheived. (And I am only 110lbs...). This is probably a matter of being new and nervous, but that's what i needed to hold the stop. I expect i'll be shedding more weight as i gain experience (which would be VERY nice. I don't like lugging that much weight around on land.)

As for dry suit, I have never dived without one, and thanks to some suggestions by Lynne, I think I have finally figured them out. I used it as a BCD, because that's what I was taught. Lynne told me to just inflate it enough to get rid of the squeeze, and use my BCD for buoyancy. Wow, it made a huge, huge difference. All of a sudden I wasn't struggling as much. Give it a try. It works so much better for me, and many others as well.

 

[hvulin]

hmmmm, I don't remember when I was so light....
I'm 95kg (210lbs?) and use 11kg (25lbs?) of lead with my steel 15l cylinder and a dry suit (+undergarment)...

why don't you girls grow some bones? it should be much easier

and as I previously said, use the suit to stay dry