Drysuit Student

[skeet]

I am going to take my drysuit class this friday from my PADI instructor. I am looking for words of wisdom, pointers, tips, etc.. The instuctor is very competent, not worried there, just trying to very prepaired.

 

[OE2X]

Diving dry is pretty different from diving wet for a variety of reasons. One of the things you will likely do in the pool is do a feet first ascent. It's pretty nerve racking, but it instills the reasons why don't want to add too much air in your suit.

Here is my advice for diving dry:

1. Put only enough air in the suit to prevent painful suit squeeze and to stay warm.

2. Don't use your suit for buoyancy.

3. Leave your shoulder dump 2-3 clicks from being all the way open during the dive.

4. Try not to use ankle weights if you can avoid it. These create leg fatigue and if they are too heavy give you a feet down swiming posture.

5. Before you put your tank and bcd on your back - hook up the inflator hose first. If you don't, your buddy will find the conector in the oddest of places.

6. Always double check that your zipper is closed on a front entry suit. If you leave it open 1/4" or more you'll wish you were wearing your wet suit.

7. Do a buoyancy check on the surface with a nearly empty tank and all your gear. You will need less weight than with a wet suit unless you are diving a neoprene drysuit. Your check should be such that with no air in your suit or bcd, when you exhale you sink. When you inhale you rise back to the surface.

8. If you own a wetsuit hood and it has a lot of neoprene covering the shoulders, you will likely want to get one doesn't have that feature.

9. Dry gloves are worth the expense.

Ooops, just looked at your profile.
Sorry if any of this sounds condescending. It's not meant to be in any way.

 

[Diver0001]

I am going to take my drysuit class this friday from my PADI instructor. I am looking for words of wisdom, pointers, tips, etc.. The instuctor is very competent, not worried there, just trying to very prepaired.

There isn't much you can do to prepare. I guess the best words of wisdom are just to relax and have fun. If your buoyancy control is pretty good then it shouldn't be hard. Keep in mind that you'lll learn the skills you need in the drysuit specialty but it takes a few dives (10?) for it to really fall in place.

R..

 

[CALI68]

5. Before you put your tank and bcd on your back - hook up the inflator hose first. If you don't, your buddy will find the conector in the oddest of places.


9. Dry gloves are worth the expense.

Too true!


It's gonna feel weird but the one thing you won't feel is COLD.

Relax and enjoy the fact that it's not as hard as you think or thought.

 

[FrediSub]

3. Leave your shoulder dump 2-3 clicks from being all the way open during the dive.

(Next week I'll buy my first drysuit too)

This is something that I don't have clear. What if I need to raise my left arm to touch something? Do I need to close the dump while on bottom to prevent undesired dumps?

 

[Diver0001]

(Next week I'll buy my first drysuit too)

This is something that I don't have clear. What if I need to raise my left arm to touch something? Do I need to close the dump while on bottom to prevent undesired dumps?

Depending on your body position it may dump without you making it. This may sound like a big disadvantage but it's acutally a major improvement in safety as compared to the dump valves we used to use, which were manually operated.

There are couple of things you can do about it. Most (if not all) dump valves "screw" shut so you can shut them either partially or entirely under water if you want to.

Another thing you can do is to avoid using your suit for buoyancy control, thereby limiting the amount of air in the suit that can migrate to the dump valve.

And for the rest after you have a bit of experience with the suit you'll know just which body positions to avoid....

R..

 

[Tobagoman]

My one recommendation is to get the insulated body suit (underware) if you are diving a shell suit in cold water. I was diving in 58 degree water last weekend and was wearing polypropelin underware and sweatpants and a sweatshirt and still became chilled. The second dive I put on the Polartec t-100 body suit and was just fine.

 

[NauticalbutNice]

2. Don't use your suit for buoyancy

As much as I bow before your mighty knowledge (not meant sarcastically by the by), I do use my suit for buoyancy. As far as I can tell, it's one of those things are that down to personal preference. I'm sure many flame wars have started because of it, so lets not start one .

If you do use your suit for buoyancy, be aware, as OE2X said, of feet first ascents. If you do start to go into one, do a somersault if possible, forcing the air up from the legs of your suit, and then dump it (The air...not the suit!).

Best advice I can give you sounds incredibly patronising (you've dived WAAAAAAAAAAY more than me), but I'm going to say it anyway - practice as much as you can. I found it took a little time to get used to, so I'm only talking from my personal experience.

Good luck and have fun!

Nauticalbutnice :fruit:

 

[mempilot]

If you do use your suit for buoyancy, be aware, as OE2X said, of feet first ascents. If you do start to go into one, do a somersault if possible, forcing the air up from the legs of your suit, and then dump it.

At the point you start an accent, go feet up, do your summersault to right yourself, and then dump the air, you've already accelerated through quite a bit of depth. This can really exceed 30 - 60 fpm, and if you hold your breath in this potentially traumatic situation, you'll be dealing with more than one type of embolism.

It's much easier to dump air from a bc quickly. That's what it was designed for. The only reason a drysuit needs air to relieve squeeze.

This is not to say you can't or shouldn't use the suit for buoyancy, but IMHO, it's not the best choice.

 

[Diver0001]

At the point you start an accent, go feet up, do your summersault to right yourself, and then dump the air, you've already accelerated through quite a bit of depth. This can really exceed 30 - 60 fpm, and if you hold your breath in this potentially traumatic situation, you'll be dealing with more than one type of embolism.

It's much easier to dump air from a bc quickly. That's what it was designed for. The only reason a drysuit needs air to relieve squeeze.

This is not to say you can't or shouldn't use the suit for buoyancy, but IMHO, it's not the best choice.

I agree with your analysis but I would add that not everyone accellerates through a lot of depth with a summersault. We teach students to summersault in the pool and most of them can do it on a dime. And incidentally when you're upside down dumping you BCD isn't easy either and if you ask me getting righted is the right first step no matter where you're dumping from. Something else to consider is that a BCD can generally dump faster/more efficiently than a drysuit. That's another good reason to not put too much air in the suit.

As for using the suit for buoyancy (directed at NauticalbutNice) .... we all do.... everyone, through every moment of every dive. The relevant question isn't if we use the suit to control buoyancy but to what extent we do it.

R..