Florida Wetsuit Thickness

[Orlando Eric]

Here in Florida we certainly have a closet full of underwater wear. Personally I (like some other posters here) still perfer the Long sleeve shorty with a Farmer John backup. I wear the Shorty through most of summer. When it gets warm at depth or doing shallow dives in the Keys I wear a Skin and my wife prefers the 1/2 mil suit. We dove Venice Beach last year in October and it was mighty cold! Temp was in low sixties and over cast. I wore the 3mm FMJ and the 3MM Shorty. What is great about that is I now have a 6mm trunk or core and my arms and legs are 3mm. On that dive I also added a hood. Just recently My Wife and I dove Jupiter. I thought it would be cold but on the boat the Dive master said that it was 80* at depth. I opted to leave the FMJ on the boat and dove my shorty. The wife having only brought her 3mm full was zippered down most of the dive. The rule of thumb is that you can unzip and vent at depth but I have never found additional neoprene on the sea floor yet. 6mm in the KEYS!?! Most of my Keys diving is relativley shallow fourty feet and less. With the shorty last October I was hot. Which lead to the purchase of the skin. I can not image wearing a 6mm in the keys.

 

[victoriawtx]

and also a hood and gloves. I get very cold, very easily, so even in warm water diving I wear all of that. I really feel a difference without my hood. But, I have gone diving in warm water without the hood and I'm fine, although I notice a difference and get colder faster.

It also depends on what depth your are diving to. The deeper I go, the colder I get, and the faster I get colder. (If that makes sense.)

I am always cold natured, both above and below the water.

good luck!

 

[Zerogravity]

I get cold easily, so I wear a 5mm if the temp is below 80, or on deeper dives where a thermocline is a realistic possibility. If it gets a bit too warm you can always let a little water in to cool off. If you don't have enough insulation and get cold your SOL. For this reason I always opt for the warmer option..a little more rather than a little less. For +80 degrees I use a 3mm. Don't forget to keep your head warm. Most heat is lost from the old noggin, so you can sometimes get away with a little less insulation with your head covered. ZG

 

[ScottyK]

victoriawtx once bubbled...

It also depends on what depth your are diving to. The deeper I go, the colder I get, and the faster I get colder. (If that makes sense.)

That makes perfect sense Victoria. Your wetsuit compresses and loses some of it's insulating value as you go deeper.

My lovely lady/buddy also gets cold relatively easily. She uses a 5mil semi dry, which is a wetsuit with seals inside the wrists and ankles to keep water movement to a minimum. A Lycra skin underneath completes the outfit, and she can dive comfortably into the low sixties this way (with hood and light gloves). Above 75 she loses the Lycra skin and the hood, and above 80 is skin only. It makes a pretty nice modular system that works well through a 30 degree temperature range.

Scott

 

[saltwater taffy]

The water tenos un the Keys can get a tad chilly during the winterr and early spring months. I opt for either a 5mm full suit or a 3mm two piece suit. I always wear a hood or beanie during these months. Summer is different. I like my polertech or just a skin.

Stay warm and dive safely,

 

[Charlie99]

Below H2O, it is quite possible that 3mm is right for you, the 5mm is right for the diveshop guy --- sensitivity to cold varies greatly from person to person.

Wetsuit thickness is mostly a tradeoff between thermal comfort and the extra buoyancy (and buoyancy change with depth) of thicker wetsuits. Thicker wetsuits also tend to be more difficult to put on and take off.

New divers are generally moving a lot more, have shorter dives, and are staying shallower. All three of these items make thinner wetsuits suitable.

A hood or beanie will help a lot in keeping you warm.

I use a 3/2mm full wetsuit for Florida summers and fall, 5mm when it gets down below 78F.

Think about what rental wetsuits you have used for what temps and how comfortable they were. That should be your guide.