Drysuit Pee valves

[Rob_whee]

I am looking buying a Whites Fusion dry suit, and I'm trying to decide on Whether to ad the pee valve option. What's the general opinion on using pee valves on dry suits? Does anyone have a recommendation?

 

[TSandM]

Pee valves are wonderful, if you do long dives or dive off small boats. (Or sometimes even if you're diving off big boats!) Not having to climb a slope or a ladder with an incredibly full bladder is just a joy. You do have to accept that you will have the occasional leak, because nothing is perfect, and they do require some care to avoid bladder infections, especially for men, but it isn't onerous.

I have used the Halcyon and Light Monkey valves. Both are low resistance and have a cap that closes off the valve when you aren't "accessorized". I like the caps better than bolts that you can unscrew too far and lose.

 

[Skooter]

Ditto to the above post. There is nothing like being able to drink all the fluids you want, and need and still be comfortable diving in a drysuit!

 

[Gombessa]

I have used the Halcyon and Light Monkey valves. Both are low resistance and have a cap that closes off the valve when you aren't "accessorized". I like the caps better than bolts that you can unscrew too far and lose.

Have to agree wholeheartedly. I've had a couple of different bolt-types (balanced and unbalanced) on my suit before my current valve, and the cap type has a MUCH better and more comfortable flow rate, easily making it worth the "H tax" for me.

 

[Tom Winters]

I put a p-valve on my main drysuit a few years after I tried the Depends route. The Depends were pretty popular a while back, but it seems like most people have gone the p-valve route. Now, I gotta tell you, I never actually p-tested a Depends since in the back of my mind was always the question after I got back on the boat of "Now what?" Plus, putting the damn thing on at home before I left was always made me feel like a todd. It is a diaper after all. Soon enough, some CNA is going to be strapping one on me, so why rush the experience?
Now with the p-valve, life is easier, but once you're in the suit, you still have to hook-up the plumbing. No problem if you can go belowdecks and lock-in with the quick-connect. On an open boat, you're going to have to sorta self-grope yourself. Plus, unless you use a catheter glue release afterwards, just wait until you try peeling off the thing. I use isopropyl alcohol which just melts the adhesive, plus it has a cooling effect if you got yourself worked up connecting the plumbing. You won't forget the alcohol bottle twice
The downside is you CANNOT keep the p-valve too clean. After I put my suit away during the summer/fall diving season down here in 2009, I thought that I had cleaned everything pretty well when I dived in the bitter winter down here of 2009/2010, but apparently, I hadn't. I got a urinary tract infection that still makes me shudder. So much so that after I cleaned my-valve, I still couldn't use it so I bought a new one.
I'd probably pop for the p-valve option. You can always try the Depends. But clean the valve until you think that it can't be any cleaner, and then clean it again.

 

[Doppler]

Been using pee-valves for more than a decade and would never hesitate to add one to a drysuit... I do have a suit without one but never wear it, and have four suits with various versions and they all work more of less the same... There are a couple of things that make life with an off-board dump easier. A 10 PERCENT solution of Dettol (or equiv.) in a spray bottle is useful and essential for rinsing after a day of diving .

 

[TSandM]

With regards to the groping . . . those of us women who dive with men who use p-valves learn very quickly to recognize that self-conscious, hunched posture, and we just look away.

 

[KRL1973]

I do not have a pee valve and have been very uncomfortable. so much so that I have been diving wetsuit instead, and the drysuit stays in the closet. Debating whether of not to install the valve or just sell off the drysuit and stay wet (glueing on catheters to the privates does not sound fun and may be worse than the chill of the wetsuit IMO)

 

[Aqua-Andy]

I do not have a pee valve and have been very uncomfortable. so much so that I have been diving wetsuit instead, and the drysuit stays in the closet. Debating whether of not to install the valve or just sell off the drysuit and stay wet (glueing on catheters to the privates does not sound fun and may be worse than the chill of the wetsuit IMO)

Once you go through the process a few times you will not think twice about "accessorizing" for a dive. A couple of things that may help, use Rochester wide bands of the proper size and cut the about half of the "attachment" end off the cath so it does not kink.

 

[Nwcid]

My current dry suit does not have one and I have been surviving. I have about 30 dives on it. There have been a few times I wish I would have had a valve. Nothing real bad, but being able to go would have been nice.

I am picking up a newer suit this evening and it has a pee valve. I too have some apprehension about it. Like all new things they can be scary at first, but I am sure after a couple uses it will become "normal" vs new and scary.