DS Skin-Diving

[spectrum]

I'm thinking of skindiving at some point in my drysuit and I'm noodling with options. Since the buoyancy of the suit is not fixed I realize I need to be careful not to become dangerously negative.

I have seen an older drysuit that has a 1 inch hose and oral inflator. I have never come across this as a plug-in accessory for a drysuit QD. Anyone know of such a gizmo?

The second and safer option would seem to be adding a small cylinder as a belly bottle, sling or on a back-pack. That would allow buoyancy recovery at any time.

I'm looking for any experience or ideas regarding these configurations.

Thanks,
Pete

 

[MarkH]

I used to have one of those oral-inflator suits (Brooks Sealsuit). The problem with it was that the inflator (it had a power inflator on the same hose) leaked like a bc inflator hose (maybe that was just a maintenance issue). I never tried it free-diving.

 

[kidspot]

you could always put on some "natural" bouyancy material by eating a few extra bowls of ice cream and pie each week... not only effective, but fun and tasty

j/k

 

[spectrum]

I'm still working on the leftover chestnut stuffing..... yum.

you could always put on some "natural" bouyancy material by eating a few extra bowls of ice cream and pie each week... not only effective, but fun and tasty

j/k

 

[kidspot]

So do you want to be able to change your bouyancy, or simply be a little positive at the surface? If you just want to be positive at the surface, that's easily accomplished by not purging all the air out of the suit before jumping in. If you want to have the ability to adjust your bouyancy, what about wearing a snorkel vest over the DS - then you could inflate it orally...

 

[spectrum]

I think the biggest concern is going down and having an unplanned venting or burping of the suit. Since I'd already be wearing significant lead the scenario could be bleak without loft recovery. This would a cold water situation in Maine so we are talking about some undergarments and all, not just an empty bag.

Pete