Floaty feet. Dry suit boot inversion.

[AlphaDuff]

[QUOTE="AlphaDuff, post: 9090652, member: 518801"I wear ankle weights and ND power fins.

Plastic fins with a drysuit? That is not quite optimal for most of us. Get some heavy enough rubber fins. Also make sure they come with spring straps.
These have been the gold standard for decades: Scubapro JetFins
I have been using Scubapro JetFins for a decade, and they work well with drysuits. If the suit is too big of course, then the feet will be a bit floaty, but manageable.

Another thing to consider is your boot size. Are they too large?

Third, have you tried gaitors?[/QUOTE]
I haven't tried gators yet. I'm looking at options at the moment. They seem very expensive for what they are! Might try some home made velcro straps and fin keepers.

The boots are just too rigid and bit too much volume as opposed to being to big size wise unfortunately.

I'm going to look at heavy fins like the jet fins or hollis f1s (which seem to be rare in size L).

 

[AlphaDuff]

Is it cheating if I have exhaust valves in my boots? I have an Apollo drysuit so I avoided the floaty feet issue.

I now have the DUI TLS 350 SEAL and a Whites Fusion Bullet. I'm wearing neoprene socks outside my drysuit socks and wearing one size larger booties. It squeezes the foot well enough that air doesn't get trapped and my foot is insulated enough to keep warm. I don't like ankle weights because they shift about when finning.
View attachment 602602

That valve is genius! Does it ever accidentally vent when kicking?

I wear ankle weights but never liked them when finning. Particularly after compression they can go loose and flop around.

 

[Edward3c]

Posted to the wrong thread

 

[AlphaDuff]

There are a few places in the world where holding a diving certification is a legal requirement, that said I’ve never heard of anyone getting prosecuted.

You can learn from ‘experience’ and find out what works and what doesn’t yourself; or from ‘wisdom’ other peoples experience - that’s what you pay for on an elementary diving course.

I suggest using wisdom, it can be less painful.

Interesting sentiments but not sure how any of that would apply to my question?

 

[Edward3c]

Interesting sentiments but not sure how any of that would apply to my question?

Ops. Wrong thread.

 

[crzyfish]

That valve is genius! Does it ever accidentally vent when kicking?

I wear ankle weights but never liked them when finning. Particularly after compression they can go loose and flop around.

During my Drysuit course, I tried to invert and fill my feet with air but the valves would auto purge and my feet would come back down.

It's a one way valve and air would vent occasionally but I never got wet feet. Never a reverse squeeze either. You could contact Apollo or their dealers to see if they sell those valves separately. Apollo is a Japanese company. Mobby (also Japanese) once include those same valves on their suits.

 

[Brett Hatch]

It sounds like the root cause here is that the boots don't fit very well, they're too big on the inside -- perhaps made for taller or wider feet. Do I have that right?

How much more expensive is it to have the work done to replace the boots with a compressed neoprene sock, and then a pair of either neoprene booties or rock boots on the top of that? A new pair of fins is already $150 or so, and doesn't really solve the original problem. If you can swing it, I'd say go for getting dry socks on there which fit you well.

 

[Subcooled]

tec boots are also nice (e.g. Tech Dry Boot · Tech Dry Boot XXS · Ursuit)

Personally I prefer bigger boots as then I can have thicker socks while diving in cold water. Rubber fins, in addition to beeing heavier and more robust and simple, tend to be rigid enough to facilitate reversing (it that's something you ever plan to do).