Freezing My Ass Off...
- Thread starter laikabear
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Why not discuss the situation with your GUE instructor? A drysuit will definitely be the way for you to go since you are sensitive to cold. Your instructor would be the best person to guide you at this point when preparing for class. Some students do well with new drysuits in GUE-F and some don't. In my experience with GUE classes (Tech 2 diver and I have shot a lot of video for fundies) the weighting affects divers more than the suits. In my experience the fundies students in twin AL80s often do better than those in twin steel 104s. But, ask your instructor what approach he/she thinks will benefit you the most and disrupt your team the least.
Shop around for the dry suit. There are some shops that include the class with the price of the suit. It is not as hard to learn to dive a drive suit as you might think. I do, however, agree with Kevin that you should not be learning that while you are trying to learn the content of a Fundamentals class.
When diving in colder water, a lot of dry suit divers will add some lead to become heavier. They can therefore add more air to their suits and stay warmer. A friend of mine used to say that more lead equals more warmth.
That one has me baffled. I have no idea why you would not add as much air to your suit on a shallow dive as a deeper dive. One of the great things about a dry suit is constant buoyancy. As you descend with a a wet suit, the suit compresses, you become less buoyant, and it loses warmth. As you descend with a dry suit, you add air to the suit, the buoyancy remains the same, and the thermal characteristics remain the same. The volume of air needed to achieve proper buoyancy and warmth is the same at all depths.
When diving in colder water, a lot of dry suit divers will add some lead to become heavier. They can therefore add more air to their suits and stay warmer. A friend of mine used to say that more lead equals more warmth.
I too believe lead is warmth. When your weighting is really close to the minimums it is harder for me to hold a depth when shallow. Every little change is magnified.
scjoe
Contributor
A 7 mil farmer john/jane will be significantly warmer than a one piece 7 mil. You will have doubled the insulation around your core. If you get a custom wetsuit, make sure you get it skin-in. They are harder to get on and off, but warmer than a wetsuit with a nylon interior as they really cut down on the water flushing through the suit. Also, a spine pad helps in that area. Finally, ask about the available grades of neoprene the shop uses. They have different compression characteristics. Generally, the stretchier the neoprene the more easily it compresses and the colder you get.
Huh ? Only in the most narrow definition of volume. The air in the suit compresses with increasing depth and you add air. If you ignore the effect of pressure on volume (throwing Boyles law into the dumpster) you are correct. I'm certain what you said is not what you meant.
sea_otter
Contributor
I was in a similar situation a few months ago. My GUE instructor basically told me not to do Fundies in a wetsuit, so I bought a drysuit. Best decision ever. It took about 3 weeks for a custom sized order from DUI (quicker than expected).
He did also mention that using Fundies as an intro to drysuit diving would be okay. However, I'm glad I have had some time to practice with it before the class, as it took several weekends (as well as a class with another instructor) to get truly comfortable with buoyancy in it. I'll have enough to learn without worrying about getting used to a new drysuit.
He did also mention that using Fundies as an intro to drysuit diving would be okay. However, I'm glad I have had some time to practice with it before the class, as it took several weekends (as well as a class with another instructor) to get truly comfortable with buoyancy in it. I'll have enough to learn without worrying about getting used to a new drysuit.
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Another vote for the drysuit. When you've become comfortable in it, you'll never look back. It may take a few dives, though.
Around here, people take their OW dry. It isn't rocket science. I know exactly one (1) diver who dives wet in our waters.
Around here, people take their OW dry. It isn't rocket science. I know exactly one (1) diver who dives wet in our waters.
cool_hardware52
Contributor
No need to ignore Robert Boyle.
Volume is routinely misused. Does the throttle in a spark ignited internal combustion engine control volume or density of the intake charge?
When you drain a scuba tank does the volume of the cylinder change, or does the density of the gas decrease. (Tanks do actually lose a tiny bit of volume from full to empty)
"Volume" is exactly the right term to use here. Total mass (and of course the density of suit gas) changes WRT depth, but an "ideal" drysuit is a constant volume device, descend a little add some gas to maintain the volume, ascend, vent a little, again to maintain the volume.
Tobin
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