Gaiters, best way to prevent floaty feet?

[BORG]

I'll be getting my Pinnacle EVO2, custom, in about a month or so. This will be my first drysuit and I will be seeking professional and drysuit friends instruction and advice. I have heard about floaty feet in a drysuit and I will getting the suit with the attached vulcanized boots.
Current veteran drysuit divers, would you recommend that I get a pair of gaiters to speed up my learning and confidence curve and prevent the dreaded floaty feet situation that I hear so much about?

Thanks.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Hi Borg, You will get different opinions on this like Ankle Weight Vs. No Ankle weights. I would reccomend mananging the bubble (keep it small) instead of adding more gear.

Make sure you are correctly weighted, if you are you will not need much more air than just enough to ease the squeeze.

 

[tstormdiver]

Although certainly a concern, air going to the feet is not as prevalent as you might think. I have rock boots (unattached) on my drysuit & that seems to help a bunch. Sometimes attached boots can tend to let the air move easier to the feet, but not always. I also started with some ankle weights until I learned to control the air pocket, then got rid of the ankle weights & have done fine ever since. I just used them as training wheels.

 

[TSandM]

If you're going with integrated boots, I would highly recommend fin keepers. They collapse the boots a little bit around your feet, and prevent the phenomenon of getting enough air in the boots that you kick them off. I have done that twice, and it instantly immobilizes you and renders you pretty helpless, and a feet first ascent ensued on both occasions (luckily both from very shallow depths).

Gaiters help some people in the beginning, but the key is to learn how much gas you can run in the suit safely and comfortably, and how to manage the bubble. It's often easiest to start by minimizing the gas in the suit, and using the BC or wing as primary buoyancy control. Just put enough gas in the suit so that you are comfortable and can move your arms and legs. Later, as you get more facile with venting and moving the bubble around, you can get more liberal with the gas in the suit (which makes you warmer, among other things).

 

[BORG]

Thanks, I know with a custom suit I should have a more closely fitting suit so that should help manage the bubble better as well. I have always dreamed of diving when it's cold out so I will really enjoy diving year round in relative comfort.

 

[BORG]

If you're going with integrated boots, I would highly recommend fin keepers. They collapse the boots a little bit around your feet, and prevent the phenomenon of getting enough air in the boots that you kick them off. I have done that twice, and it instantly immobilizes you and renders you pretty helpless, and a feet first ascent ensued on both occasions (luckily both from very shallow depths).

Gaiters help some people in the beginning, but the key is to learn how much gas you can run in the suit safely and comfortably, and how to manage the bubble. It's often easiest to start by minimizing the gas in the suit, and using the BC or wing as primary buoyancy control. Just put enough gas in the suit so that you are comfortable and can move your arms and legs. Later, as you get more facile with venting and moving the bubble around, you can get more liberal with the gas in the suit (which makes you warmer, among other things).

I have Apollo Bio Fins in Large. And TUSA XLARGE Zoom Fins that will probably be used with the drysuit. Who would make fin keepers for those fins? Or could I come up with something that I could make that would work just as well to prevent being turned into a "one finned diver" unexpectedly.
Thanks.

 

[ucfdiver]

I have a drysuit with integrated boots, and I think you're finding a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Just learn to manage your gas bubble and you'll be fine. I like having some air in my feet personally.

 

[TSandM]

I think Trident makes fin keepers -- they're just stretchy bands that slip on over the dry suit boots and compress them. They come in small, medium and large. My husband and I both use them.

Ucfdiver, your boots may fit better than mine, but it is a problem that does exist, and it came very close to causing me an accident. I like my finkeepers (but I like my Converse High Tops on my Fusion socks even better ).

 

[Doc Harry]

The problem that I have run into is a trade off between air in the legs of my dry suit and a functioning pee valve. Let me explain.

I find that if I keep a very slight squeeze on my dry suit to prevent "floaty feet" then my balanced pee valve leaks into my dry suit.

If I expand "the bubble" by adding air to my dry suit then my balanced pee valve works properly but I have to deal with air in the legs of my dry suit.

I use gaiters now but am thinking about plugging the balance valve and converting the pee valve to an unbalanced system. The I can keep a very slight squeeze in the dry suit without always pissing on myself.

P.S. The dreaded "floaty feet" thing is not a big deal, just a minor PITA.

 

[gorcio]

I have just got a new suit, and started immediately without any gaiters or ankle weights. It takes a bit of time (I am still on the learning curve) to figure out how to handle the air in the legs, but ... I am not using suit as primary buoyancy source, so amount of air is not really big. It is just for thermal comfort and as a secondary source of buoyancy for me. To keep proper trim, especially when frog kicking, I got a fixed 2 kg at the bottom of my tank, that works perfectly for me. And why not ankle weights ? Well, I just happened to have to tow a guy on the surface, smaller than myself, but still with all the gear on, and ... I was (and so were my feet) happy of not having any 'anchors' at the feet ;-).