Drysuit problem? Help

[sirpatty79]

Hey everybody,
I got a shell suit the other day second hand. It was a lightly used factory demo so I got a great deal. This was my first time diving dry and the squeeze was pretty bad. I'm wondering if the suit fits me well enough or not. When I treid to add air to solve the squeeze deal, only the torso portion of the suit seemed to fill up, leaving the waist and below still shrink-wrapped to me really tightly, which was very uncomfortable. I only wore shorts underneath so I'm sure that's part of the reason the squeeze was painful around my mid leg area. The suit is baggy on me so I thought maybe that was the reason it was so hard to equalize the squeeze. That it would require much more air to equalize than if the suit was less roomy inside. You obviously dont want to have to add too much air right? Because that will make the suit more bouyantly unstable (inverted leg launch) won't it? So, could this problem just be from inexperience w/ drysuit diving or does it sound like a bad fit?
I'd like some of you guys and gals w/ drysuit experience to weigh in on this issue if you wouldn't mind. Thanks a bunch!

 

[Spectre]

undergarments will give you a little more 'padding' to help with the squeeze. When you add gas to the suit, the intention is to provide enough space for the natural loft of the undergarment; without the undergarment, it tends to be a little more displaced.

It could just need some getting used to.

The other thing that could very well be the case if you are noticing too much air in the top section and not enough in the bottom..... is quite simply your trim being off. However be careful with that, as if you're not experienced in with drysuits you could end up with a little bit of mess if you have too much gas in it and end up trying to even out your trim, but go to far and get all the gas trapped in the feet.

When you said it was "too much squeeze", are you certain of that or did it just feel funny. Drysuits feel weird, expecially drysuits without undergarments. Now if you have suit hickeys, then yea, it might have been too much... but it could be you just aren't used to it.

 

[Deep Sea Alan]

Hello sirpatty79,

I see by your profile that you are a Instructor/ Assistant/ or DM. Are you learning to dry suit dive on you own or have you taken a class or have another Dry suit qualified Instructor helping you? Dry suit diving can be a little tricky at first but opens up a whole new world of diving once you get used to it. Hang in there! Regards
Alan

 

[tangfish]

try staying more horizontal so the air can find its way evenly around your body. Also, dry diving just plain feels weird at first. Kind of like putting you foot in a garbage bag and stepping into the water. You'll get used to it. Thicker undergarments should help as well.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Several things come to mind regarding this. First diving dry in just shorts w/out some type of undergarment can be really uncomfortable. As was stated even a light one will offer some padding. Second fit is important. Baggy is not necessarily bad, balloon tentlike baggy is bad. When you squatted to remove the extra air on the surface(before getting into the water) was it still loose or were you shrinkwrapped then? Next how tight was your weightbelt or cummerbund, or waist strap. If you were not wearing an undergarment that added some loft and allowed air to flow thru it and therefore thru the suit, a tight weightbelt could conceivably restrict air from going to the lower extremities. Also you might try going to the pool and just try to relax on the surface, lay your self out with reg in and try to see if you can get the air to distribute evenly before going under at all. If this doesn't work you may indeed have a gear problem, weight belt, cummerbund, etc that is restricting the air flow.laid out horizontally the air should go thru out the suit. It was already mentioned but you need to talk to an experienced drysuit diver in person, preferably at the pool, who can observe and see what's exactly going on. If an instructor is available so much the better. Try this and get yourself some type of undergarment that's made for your suit. Wearing just a pair of shorts is really asking for trouble. It is not inconceivable that a drysuit squeeze could possibly leave welts or even blood blisters on unprotected flesh given the right conditions and the right wrinkle in the right place. And remember a drysuit is not just exposure protection like a wet suit. Due to the inherent nature of it in that it requires an lp hose connected to it, has inflate and exhaust valves, and can turn you into a missile if you don't respect it, it is LIFE SUPPORT EQUIPMENT just as your reg and bc is. I don't believe that proper training for a new drysuit diver can be stressed enough. If you are not experienced with one take a course, yeah it's a few bucks but so was learning to use scuba. I dove mine 11 times before I took the course. Including two deep dives and two drift dives. While they were fun and I did well I wish I'd taken the course first just to be sure I knew how to get out of a problem should it have arisen. Luckily all my dives were with my instructor and I'd had it in the pool a few times first under his supervision. I know now that had he suspected there might be a problem he'd of suggested I not dive it. However I'm fortunate that things come easy to me in regards to diving because I listen to instruction and put safety first.