Drysuit trouble...

[beachdude]

Thanks for all your replys. I'm still concerned I had too much weight. My weight is 200 lbs. The shop at Sea d Sea tells me to have 26 lbs in BC even with a 130 tank which gives me 8 more pds adding up to 34 lbs. I noticed I was bottom heavy. The dump may have been sagged in my fleece under garment. I will wear some neoprene band next time. I had the dump valve turned counter clockwise so it would dump. In fact when I surfaced I blew up the DS with air to see if it would work it did. I guess it all comes down to practice. I was thinking of dropping 6 lbs. I will try the BC. My instructor told me not to. Just use the DS. Nice being warm but more difficult to learn. Thanks....

 

[Airforce Diver]

Well, everyone has offered up good suggestions, I'm inclined to agree with both comments on your suit for bouancy, being a Harness and backplate kind of guy, most of the time my only inflation comes from my suit, but as a new to dry suit diver I would suggestion for the time being try to just fill your suit enough to keep the squeeze off, at least until you are in better contro of your venting. And from the sounds of things you have boots built into your suit, so my only other suggestion would be to try sum ankle weights to help keep settled and in better control of your body positioning. All that aside welcome to the darkside, up here in the frozen north we love our Dry Suits

 

[Web Monkey]

Thanks for all your replys. I'm still concerned I had too much weight. My weight is 200 lbs. The shop at Sea d Sea tells me to have 26 lbs in BC even with a 130 tank which gives me 8 more pds adding up to 34 lbs. I noticed I was bottom heavy. The dump may have been sagged in my fleece under garment. I will

Nobody can tell you how much weight you need, any more than they can tell you what you feel like eating for dinner. Only you can do that.

You'll need to do a normal buoyancy check, just like you would do with a wetsuit.

You need just enough weight to sink you with an almost-empty tank and however much air you need to eliminate suit squeeze in the drysuit (not make a big comfy bubble, but just enough so that it isn't trying to crush you).

If you're properly weighted, it will be easy to manage your buoyancy with either your drysuit or your BC. If you're overweighted or underweighted, it will be a nightmare.

Next comes venting:

You need to vent your suit any time you ascend, since the air in your suit expands making you more buoyant. If you don't keep ahead of the curve on venting, you'll find it almost impossible to vent fast enough to avoid an uncontrolled ascent.

In order to vent, the exhaust valve needs to be open and it needs to be the highest point on the suit. If you're upside down or your arm is below the body of the suit, it will not vent, and you'll be on an elevator ride to the surface.

It will also not vent if the valve is closed (even part-way) or if there is soft, wet fabric against it on the inside of the suit, so these are all things you'll need to watch.

If you haven't done it already, you should take an actual drysuit class, or at the very least go to a pool with an experienced drysuit diver. You'll learn how to right yourself when you become inverted, how to avoid becoming inverted, and how to vent the suit in an emergency, among other things.

Many shops will give you the class for free when you buy the suit, and if yours didn't you should ask. Then make sure you get an actual class, not just some pool-time and a few pointers.

Also, don't let this scare you off. If you ask around, you'll almost never find a drysuit diver that has ever gone back to diving wet. Once you become proficient and really comfortable (which could easily take 20 or more dives), diving dry will be as easy as diving wet.

Good luck!

Terry

 

[HBDiveGirl]

... I'm still concerned I had too much weight. My weight is 200 lbs....

Had you done a "weight" check in your wetsuit by breathing your tank down to 500psi, completely emptying your wing, and trying to hover motionless at 10-15fsw?

Have you tried this in your drysuit?
This would normally be part of a d.s. cerification class, but if you were using a different tank during the class, or different undergarments, or were even a little bit anxious, your "weight check" may not have been accurate.

Do you have an dive buddy who is experienced with drysuit diving who could assist you with this?

What's your diving experience in cold water? (How many, how long, how often...)

You're getting many good suggestions here, even though none of us have a clear picture of your experience level.

~~~~
Claudette

 

[liuk3]

I was literally in the same exact place you were in 5 weeks ago. 3 things helped me.

First, you will likely have to play around with different positions until you find the optimal valve/body position to be in in order to best dump the air out of your drysuit. I remember it being much like my first times using different BC's. I had to play with different body positions to find the most optimal position to dump the air from my BC.

Second, one thing I noticed is that sometimes my valve would close partially when diving around. Before ascending, I always double check to make sure that my dump valve is fully open.

Finally, per HBDivegirl's suggestion to me when I was trying to figure out my suit, dump your air early and often when ascending. You don't want to get behind on venting the drysuit when you are ascending.

Good luck with it. You'll get the hang of it with practice. I'm still practicing.

 

[contender]

One problem I see with many new drysuit divers is that when they raise their arm to vent, they actually raise their hand higher than the valve. This will not work, you need to make sure you bend your elbow and actually have the valve at the highest point. Also like many others have said, make sure you don't have your undergarments caught up in the dump valve. Another tip: I run just enough air inside the suit to keep the squeeze off. Try this, get all the air out of your suit and drop down to about 20 feet and feel the squeeze, that's about how your suit should feel throughout the dive. Of course you can make small adjustment to get proper loft of the undergarments. Hope this helps.

 

[msg]

My drysuit class also said to use the suit for buoyancy, but I found that the BC works much better. I only use enough air to keep the squeeze off, then use the BC for adjustments.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

I agree with the "Do a weight check" crowd. I had the same experience when I started if you are over weighted you are going to have a big air bubble. To me it doesn't matter where the bubble is (DS or BC) it will be hard to manage. Think of a 1/2 liter drink bottle that is how much air you are trying to manage for every pound you are over weighted. If you are diving with a single tank and correctly weighted it won't matter as much if you choose to use you DS or BC for buoyancy.

 

[meesier42]

I agree with the "Do a weight check" crowd. I had the same experience when I started if you are over weighted you are going to have a big air bubble. To me it doesn't matter where the bubble is (DS or BC) it will be hard to manage. Think of a 1/2 liter drink bottle that is how much air you are trying to manage for every pound you are over weighted. If you are diving with a single tank and correctly weighted it won't matter as much if you choose to use you DS or BC for buoyancy.

This is it, simply practice and get your weight check solid (with the tank you are actually diving), if you change your tank, redo the buoyancy check. Then get your trim set, going a little feet heavy may help, some, not a good long term answer but it may be a good short term to help prevent feet first runaway ascents.

 

[RJP]

I went one week ago to Catalina Scuba Luv and got dry suit certified. Everything was fine. ...yadda, yadda, yadda... Not really sure what went wrong. Any thoughts?

Don't take this the wrong way, but it is inconceivable that you could have been certified in dry suit diving a week ago and then have had all the problems you cited, yet be "not really sure what went wrong."

I'm not saying you should be an expert right after the course, but for Pete's sake if you paid attention at all during the course you should be able to come up with SOME IDEA about one of the only 3-4 things that could have "gone wrong."

Did you course include academics, a confined water session, and two open-water dives?

I truly believe that you should go back to Scuba Luv and tell them you need another try at the course, and ask them this time to ensure that you actually meet the performance requirements for the certification.