Drysuit undergarment with a collar?

[stuartv]

I just got my first drysuit (Bare XCS2). I've read a number of posts here that it's perfectly fine to use technical undergarments from other sports as my drysuit undergarments. Good.

The question is, if I wear, for example, a North Face fleece, is the collar going to be a problem? At first, I assumed it would, so I started looking online for scuba undergarments. But I saw that a lot of drysuit-specific undergarments/tops have collars like my NF fleece has.

If you wear a collared fleece jacket under your drysuit, do you lay the collar down when you have the suit on? Or does it stand up inside the suit (and keep your neck warmer)?

My suit has a latex collar seal, just for the record, which seems like that might affect the answer. I could see how a fleece collar could stand up inside a neoprene neck seal, but it seems like a latex seal might have a problem because of the way your wear it versus how you wear a neo collar. Yes or no?

 

[Ken T]

The neoprene seal will keep your neck warmer vs a latex seal.

If the fleece collar on your jacket is interfering with the seal, then bringing the collar down, so that it is not like a turtle neck will be fine.

Everyone has different tolerance to being chilled.

Regular backpacking fleece or wool work well in the local diving around here. Water temp currently here is just above freezing.

I think layers are the key, with a good moisture wicking base layer.

 

[Stoo]

If it fits, wear it. I use two drysuits... a Viking ProTech with latex seal, and dryhood, and a Santi e-Motion with silicone seals, and a neoprene "neckwarmer" outside of that.

With both of these seals, it's nice to have a little something around my neck, but make sure it isn't restricting breathing (duh) or mobility... looking down especially.

In spite of what the manufacturers would have us believe, the only point of the undies is to put some air between our bodies and the water. Light weight is good. A wicking layer is critical, and as Ken mentioned, layers are good too.

You'll love diving dry once you get the hang of the suit, when the water is cold. I don't "picture" Virginia water as being especially cold, so you may not need much underneath that suit at all... A layer of light poly fleece, and maybe a fleece top... As with my western neighbour, our water tends to hover in the upper 30s year 'round below 60' - 70' so we tend to stuff as much stuff in our suits as we can!

 

[Hawkwood]

The neoprene seal will keep your neck warmer vs a latex seal.

If the fleece collar on your jacket is interfering with the seal, then bringing the collar down, so that it is not like a turtle neck will be fine.

Everyone has different tolerance to being chilled.

Regular backpacking fleece or wool work well in the local diving around here. Water temp currently here is just above freezing.

I think layers are the key, with a good moisture wicking base layer.

I agree - the collar is not going to be an issue. All the Whites undergarments and Zeagle undergarments I wear have a collar. Never been an issue.

Just as Ken says, layering works just fine. Just keep track of your weighting with each combination.

 

[Pedro Burrito]

I don't "picture" Virginia water as being especially cold, so you may not need much underneath that suit at all...

Lake Millbrook, near Bristow, VA is always 42F at the airplane. Except in the winter when it's colder. I wore everything from fleece pirate pj bottoms with Carthart construction top to Fourth Element Halo 3D undergarments there. The biggest problem was dressing for the cold water in bright sun, 100F air temperature and 90% humidity in the parking lot.

 

[stuartv]

Cool. I have plenty of technical base layer gear that I use for riding a motorcycle in the cold. It sounds like I should be all set on that front.

Regarding neck warmers, I bought a ScubaPro dry suit hood. It says it's something like a 6.5/5/3, I think. It has a short skirt that should fit down in between the latex neck seal and the suit's outer neck collar/seal cover. That should give me some measure of thermal protection for my neck, right? So I won't have anywhere on my body, except possibly just around the lower edge of my mask, that is directly exposed to the water.

Thanks for the info, all!

 

[Storker]

Cool. I have plenty of technical base layer gear that I use for riding a motorcycle in the cold.

What does "technical" mean here? Thin and wicking, or thick with lots of trapped air? You need both. A wicking layer layer - preferably high quality wool - next to your skin and a thick, lofted layer for insulation. Any "technical" wool underwear works perfectly for the former, but for the latter you'll probably want a specialized one-piece drysuit undergarment if the water is really cold.

 

[TSandM]

Layering garments made for other purposes works fine, but I will tell you that you will pay a higher price in lead to sink them than you will if you purchase purpose-made garments. Or at least that's what I found. In addition, be very careful to be sure that the garments you are using are designed to retain most of their insulating properties when wet. Dry suit floods are not an "if", they're a "when", and being 30 minutes swim from your exit when you are soaking wet in cold water can be downright scary.

 

[ontdiver]

I had the collar removed from my White's undergarment because of the overall fit when wearing a couple of extra layers in the Spring/Fall. Other folks I know routinely roll their collars down. All to say like so such else in diving you may need to tinker a bit to get optimum fit/performance.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

When I started diving dry, I used those military surplus under layers...the kind with a quarter zipper and high collar. Yeah, once I bought the drysuit I didn't have the scratch to get proper undies. When I put the suit on, the collar just seemed to "move out of the way".