Drysuit questions

[Mel.B]

I've got my first drysuit on order Hopefully it should here in a week or so.

I know weight with drysuits is very individual and depends on undergarments, but can anyone give me a rough idea. I'm 165cm tall (5;6) and weigh about 90kg. I current dive a 7mm semidry with a supersteel tank and need 9pounds of weight, using a backplate and wing. My drysuit is a shell type. Do you think I am going to need more weights or less?

Also with regards to undergarments, the water temp is heating up at the moment - it's currently 64F and will get up to about 69F over summer. Do you think at first I will be able to get away with just wearing some good tracksuit pants and a thick sweater? I have friends that have worn their jeans but that's with a neoprene drysuit (and not very comfortable I'd imagine!)

Thanks,
Mel.b

 

[Rainer]

You'll likely be around the same weight. Just do a check! You'll want something more substantial for an undergarment with a shell suit. 64F is not warm.

 

[chrisp]

Here in Florida a lot of people wear sweatpants/sweatshirt under a shell suit in the winter when the water gets down to 68-72 degree range.

 

[divebutt]

A drysuit in 70 degree water???????? Wow, come to Ontario some time. Thats about when we think of switching from the 3/5 to the 7/5!!

Probably need a couple more pounds. What I did, was took one of my tanks and drained it to about 400psi at a shore site. I set my weight so I could still descend, and that was that.

As for undergarments, a buddy of mine dives BC in a shell with a sweatsuit underneath and is comfortable. If you do go for proper undergarments, for that water temp, I think anything over a 100 weight might be too much.

Just my 2 cents!

 

[cummings66]

First off congrats on the new drysuit, it really expands the diving possibilities.

Second, the weight will vary according to the undergarment chosen for that dive. I have some that require 10 lbs more weight than others, however a simple sweat pants and shirt will probably not require more.

I would caution you to avoid cotton, if it gets wet you get cold. A drysuit is kind of a misnamed creation, it's more like a damp suit in that you will sweat in it and that creates moisture. Create enough of it and in cotton you will get cold when you shouldn't. I'd suggest a set of polypro underwear under the sweat suit, it will wick away the sweat from the skin keeping it dry.

Now the important question, where are you from to have such a narrow band of temperatures?

 

[Mel.B]

A drysuit in 70 degree water???????? Wow, come to Ontario some time. Thats about when we think of switching from the 3/5 to the 7/5!!

LOL! I used to wear this suit in anything to 50F to 69F, but have lost a lot of weight over the past 12months and get a lot colder than I used to. I guess that extra blubber does at least have one good purpose Now even wearing 10mm I can't do more than one dive a day as I freeze on the second. It doesn't help being a photographer as I often don't move a whole lot on my dives.

Now the important question, where are you from to have such a narrow band of temperatures?

We don't actually have such a narrow band of temp - it really varies from 50F to 70F, but it's almost summer so the water is now only going to heat up a little bit more from its current temp. I'm hoping I can get away with just trackies & jumper during summer as drysuits are expensive in OZ ($1850 for mine and that's a cheaper one) and I would prefer to wait to fork out for undergarments if I can.

Thanks for the advice - looks like I won't have to add too much (if any) extra weight which is good...I like my nice light weight belt

Mel.b

 

[Cheekymonkey]

Yea man get a nice mix for undergarments, since they are your warmth in a drysuit try to arrange them so you can change layers so you dont have to buy 3 different undergarments.

 

[CompuDude]

Here in SoCal, the advice I hear most often when moving from a 7mm to a DS is add 4-6 lbs for your first dive, and keep things easy until you have ironed out your DS skills. You may be able to drop some, but in the beginning, particularly with a DS, it's best to be slightly overweighted than underweighted.