drysuit undergarment

[gcbryan]

I have an undergarment that is made of bunting and is very bulky and buoyant.

Rather than spending a lot of money on dive wear that is more neutrally bouyant what are the options for using non-dive wear clothing.

Has anyone tried polypropelene (sp?) hiking underwear and a lightweight fleece jogging suit?

Would this be fairly neutrally bouyant?

I'm 6'1", 175lbs and I use 40 lbs on my weight belt with a trilam drysuit. With the right undergarment I'm thinking that I can get rid of some weight.

Would this work?

 

[ERP]

I've never tried jogging clothes for insulation, but 40lbs is a lot of weight.

I'm 6ft 160lbs and I wear 22 (6 in the plate and 16 on my waste) in a trilam suit wearing 300wt fleece undergarments. And I'm probably still a little heavy at that.

 

[scubasean]

I'm going to be a new drysuit owner in six weeks or so, and am probably going to buy softwear from

http://home.att.net/~gchev91/

but I'd also be interested in hearing other options.

Seems to me that a custom garment has many benefits (one of which is that the garment won't "bunch" up.

Thoughts?

 

[Jetwrench]

Many divers up here use poly and fleece undergarments. I started with this when I first got a drysuit. I have since purchased a Weezle Extreme undergarment that I use when the water gets colder(fall-spring), but during the summer I go back to my old stuff and still stay quite comfortable Wool socks and sweaters are also common to see. Layers instead of bulk works for me.

Jetwrench

PS: You can try my Weezle suit the day they can pry it from my old, cold, dead body!

 

[SubMariner]

Has anyone tried polypropelene (sp?) hiking underwear and a lightweight fleece jogging suit?

Would this be fairly neutrally bouyant?

I'm 6'1", 175lbs and I use 40 lbs on my weight belt with a trilam drysuit. With the right undergarment I'm thinking that I can get rid of some weight.

1. that is a LOT of weight to be using! Am I correct in assuming you are new to diving, esp to drysuits? IMHO you need to do a good in-water buoyancy check.

2. Yes you can use the hiking underwear under a jogging suit. It works just fine. Pearce, who tends to get less cold than I, wears one of those long shirts with lined biking tights and thick socks. Meanwhile, I put a sweatshirt over the shirt, but still have the biking tights & thick socks. Basically, you can layer on as much or as little as you need.

There's no doubt that if you are diving in very cold conditions, "wooly bears" are very good. But they don't leave you with a lot of options.

Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.

 

[netmage]

gcbryan once bubbled...
I have an undergarment that is made of bunting and is very bulky and buoyant.

Rather than spending a lot of money on dive wear that is more neutrally bouyant what are the options for using non-dive wear clothing.

Has anyone tried polypropelene (sp?) hiking underwear and a lightweight fleece jogging suit?

Would this be fairly neutrally bouyant?

I'm 6'1", 175lbs and I use 40 lbs on my weight belt with a trilam drysuit. With the right undergarment I'm thinking that I can get rid of some weight.

Would this work?

Dude - 40lbs on the belt is a ton. What type of tank are you diving? Steel or AL? I'm 5'10" and we'll just say I have lots of extra insulation and I used 30lbs in my 7mm w/ AL tank. By switching to steel I was able to go down to 20lbs comfortably.

I just got my drysuit in and was able to go down to 18lbs using Cabela's PolarFleece longjohns... I imagine I could drop another pound or two, I havn't dove w/ the software yet - looking forward to it this weekend (But it was dang comfortable for sleeping when I forgot my sleeping bag out camping last weekend!)

 

[spurtill]

Guy i dive needs 35lbs to sink in his dry suit. Experienced diver, blah , blah just the way he is. But he's the exception to the rule.

Fleeces and stuff will suit you fine.

Dry suit undersuits are not that dear. Borrow one and see what you think of it before making any final decisions. You'll probably end up spending almost as much on other undergarments.

 

[String]

35lbs is not overly excessive for a dry suited drive i guess.

I use 12kg (26lb) and most people i know use between 22 and 28lb. I have dived with 31lb in winter wearing t-shirt, jumper, tracksuit bottoms, undersuit, 3 pairs of socks and undersuit booties.



If you've got a fluffy undersuit it can be very buoyant.

 

[sasdasdaf]

Something must be wrong... what kind of tanks are you guys using? It's no coincidence that most divers are overweighted.

If you have a fluffy undersuit that requires 40lbs of lead to sink, you should get rid of it and buy a new one. It might save your life one day.

Are you guys in singles or doubles? AL or steel tanks? Salt or fresh water?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I have a thinsulate undergarment that is supposed to be quite warm but frankly my heavy wooly bears are warmer. They are also bulkier but only to the tune of about 4 lbs more weight.

I normally dive about 28 lbs with thinsulate and 32 with my wooly bears in really cold water. In the summer I can go with a pair of sweats for underwear with about 12 lbs of weight, although to be honest I prefer a wet suit.