Drysuit thickness

[sujo]

I dive in and around New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The 7mm wetsuit just doesn't seem to be cutting it very well and looking into a drysuit. What does the difference in the thickness of the drysuit makes? I just assumed you would vary the thickness of the underwear depending on the temperature.Thanks
John

 

[Saudi-Diver]

There are essentially 3 types of dry suit, Laminate, Neoprene and Crushed Neoprene. A Laminate Dry suit has no insulation properties and insulation needs to be worn underneath. A Neoprene Dry suit has insulation and needs less under garments but looses bouyancy with depth ( like a wet suit). A crushed Neoprene suit does not suffer from the loss of bouyancy with depth, is pretty hard wearing and has inherent insulation. Both sorts of Neoprene Dry suit can take forever to dry out. A laminate suit is quicker drying but can be more easily damaged. Neoprene suits seem to be a little less flexible than laminate suits as well. I am diving a 5mm Crushed Neoprene suit with Polar Fleece under garments and am nice and warm in water down to 6 C (43 F). But its all a matter of personal choice

 

[a22shady]

Best thing to do is try out on a few different suits and dive them if possible. Trying them on will at least allow you to feel some of the differnces between them. Other than those listed above one of the other downsides to the Neoprene suits is they are a lot heavier thean the Tri-lam suits or other brands Such as the Whites Fusion suit. The Neoprene definetly seems to be the strongest of the suits and takes a lot of abuse but dont let that alone sway your decision the other suits are very tough also just not as those. I dive a Bare HD Tech-Dry Tri-lam suit and its great. The other things about the trilam Vs Neoprene suits/Fusion type is there is more room to layer up in tri-lam for those colder dives.

Try some on and formulate some of your own opinons what we like/dont doesnt mean you will.

 

[TSandM]

I dive in Puget Sound, where water temperatures get fairly low. One can reach a point where adding more insulating layers under your drysuit becomes prohibitive either in weight required to sink you, or by limiting mobility to the point of being uncomfortable or unable to perform necessary diving tasks. A number of my friends dive compressed or crushed neoprene suits in order to add a bit more insulation. But the suits are heavy, harder to get in and out of, and do require more weight to sink them.

Full neoprene drysuits have the issue that they compress and lose some of their insulating qualities at depth. They tend to be the least expensive dry suits, though.

 

[lowviz]

Extremely good (and most refreshingly, no axes to grind) answers so far, I'll keep it going: Trelleborg Viking A rubber suit is easy to clean and repair, PSD divers prefer them -probably due to their ease of cleaning and the attached hood. However, they tend to damage easily. Nevertheless, rubber suits are often used with success by sport and tech divers.

Neoprene suits come in compressed and crushed. You pay more for crushed. Since the cells in the neoprene are really mashed in the crushed variety, there isn't much buoyancy change with depth. -I can't tell the difference. For me, neoprene is warmer and tougher. It is also much harder to dry and heavier. Neck and wrist seals are also something to look into before you buy. They are typically either latex or neoprene, very different.

 

[Troutmaster]

I don't dive a viking, but the PSD diver's for our department have them. They like the way they fit and they are resistant to chemical contamination/easy to decon (generaly not a big concern for sport divers). They are also very easy to repair compaired to other types of suits.

Everyone I know who wears one says they do not swim well at all, so not a great suit for anything where you are going to be covering alot of ground.

I dive a bare nex-gen. They are an inexpensive bi-lam, dry quickly and very light. I like mine but drysuits are a very personal purchase.

 

[sujo]

Thanks everyone. For me, weight and mobility are high on my priority list. Will have to take a trip to Halifax (largest LDS in the area) and possible try some on.
I appreciate your time

 

[Mr.X]

I've used all types of drysuits. My favorite suit is a cheapie nylon Dacor (discontinued) drysuit. It weighs next to nothing, allows me to swim easily, dries quickly and fits the job. I use it a lot for videography where movement and getting in and out is important.

For heavy duty use it's the crushed neoprene (DUI). For dirty work it's the vulcanized rubber suit.

 

[underwaterfrank]

I dive the Puget sound and use a Gates Pro Am 1050 rubber suit.
Very comfortable and dries super fast as rubber suits do.
Just tune the thickness and layers of what you wear underneath to suit the water temperature. In summer I can dive in this suit with just a jogging suit underneath, which means I need a minimum amount of weight as the suit material itself does not have buoyancy.
tried other suits such as Typhoon and didn't like them.
DUI suits too expensive. A rubber suit like Viking, gates or Amron is easy to find on ebay if you are patient, and easy to patch if you have a perforation.