Hi All,
I just went out for my first drysuit dive this weekend using my new Pinnacle Evo 2. Must admit I have mixed feelings about it at this point as I really didn't enjoy the dive all that much. Yes, coming back up dry was very nice, but the following much less enjoyable things make me think I would have far more enjoyed the dive using my faithful wetsuit:
First donning and doffing. VERY awkward. With time and practice, I am quite sure I could manage to get the suit on alone. Getting it off on the other hand, no way. I am a tall guy with very wide shoulders, and the zip (front) just doesn't seem to open far enough. I followed recommendations and pulled out the right hand first, but there is no way I will ever be able to get the suit off my shoulders without assistance or wriggling along the deck on my back.
Next, weight. With a 12lt steel and my 5mm full length wetsuit, I use 12 lbs of lead. That's usually enough to be comfortable all the way through the dive. If I am a little light during the wetsuit dive, moving a little deeper gives relief as the wetsuit compresses. If I am a tiny bit light during my safety stop, I can just swim around and slighty down gently for 3 minutes, no trouble at all. With the dry suit, I took 30 lbs of lead and was too light all the way through the dive. I kept the suit bubble to the minimum. (Any tighter, and my partner and I would never need to worry about contraception again if you get my gist). As you have to add a little air to the drysuit as you decend, there is no relief to being a little light by descending a little. As for the safety stop... I wasn't able to do it. I had the dump valve all the way open, but it would not dump automatically. To be able to dump during ascent, I had to raise my shoulder to the highest point making it impossible to gently swim down during the safety stop. Maybe the dump valve is malfunctionning... Unsure at this point. When I manually depress it, it dumps VERY slowly with just a trickle of bubbles coming out.
And now finally, comfort. Yes, it is nice to be dry after the dive, and not have that cold rush when you first hit the water. But the dry suit squeezes very tight during the dive, nothing unbearable, but certainly not as comfortable as a wetsuit. This is probably due me having to keep the bubble too small due to being underweighted... but how much weight am I going to need? I have already added 18lbs to my normal amout of weight. My feeling is that I am going to need another 6 to be comfortable. That's getting a bit excessive IMO.
Anyway, I'll give myself a few more dives before I make an opinion, but at this point, not overly impressed.
I just went out for my first drysuit dive this weekend using my new Pinnacle Evo 2. Must admit I have mixed feelings about it at this point as I really didn't enjoy the dive all that much. Yes, coming back up dry was very nice, but the following much less enjoyable things make me think I would have far more enjoyed the dive using my faithful wetsuit:
First donning and doffing. VERY awkward. With time and practice, I am quite sure I could manage to get the suit on alone. Getting it off on the other hand, no way. I am a tall guy with very wide shoulders, and the zip (front) just doesn't seem to open far enough. I followed recommendations and pulled out the right hand first, but there is no way I will ever be able to get the suit off my shoulders without assistance or wriggling along the deck on my back.
Next, weight. With a 12lt steel and my 5mm full length wetsuit, I use 12 lbs of lead. That's usually enough to be comfortable all the way through the dive. If I am a little light during the wetsuit dive, moving a little deeper gives relief as the wetsuit compresses. If I am a tiny bit light during my safety stop, I can just swim around and slighty down gently for 3 minutes, no trouble at all. With the dry suit, I took 30 lbs of lead and was too light all the way through the dive. I kept the suit bubble to the minimum. (Any tighter, and my partner and I would never need to worry about contraception again if you get my gist). As you have to add a little air to the drysuit as you decend, there is no relief to being a little light by descending a little. As for the safety stop... I wasn't able to do it. I had the dump valve all the way open, but it would not dump automatically. To be able to dump during ascent, I had to raise my shoulder to the highest point making it impossible to gently swim down during the safety stop. Maybe the dump valve is malfunctionning... Unsure at this point. When I manually depress it, it dumps VERY slowly with just a trickle of bubbles coming out.
And now finally, comfort. Yes, it is nice to be dry after the dive, and not have that cold rush when you first hit the water. But the dry suit squeezes very tight during the dive, nothing unbearable, but certainly not as comfortable as a wetsuit. This is probably due me having to keep the bubble too small due to being underweighted... but how much weight am I going to need? I have already added 18lbs to my normal amout of weight. My feeling is that I am going to need another 6 to be comfortable. That's getting a bit excessive IMO.
Anyway, I'll give myself a few more dives before I make an opinion, but at this point, not overly impressed.