Help - need 7mm by next weekend

[TexasKaren68]

Good God in Heaven, whoever the sadistic ***** was who invented the 7mm wetsuit should be strung up by his toenails :shocked2::shocked2:

Got my new wetsuit delivered today. The wetsuit fits OK - I can get it on but I felt almost instantly sick with heat exhaustion the minute I zipped it up. Holy freakin' cow that thing is hot.

So then I tried on the hooded vest. Mindful of the tragedy that can happen with unsupervised donning of a hood http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/near-misses-lessons-learned/140626-close-call-dressing-room.html I left my bathroom to go to a room with more air circulation and made sure the phone was within arms reach.

Well, the hooded vest doesn't fit quite as good as the wetsuit. The problem I think was that I didn't have the wetsuit pulled up as far as it could go, and therefore the vest didn't go on as far as it needed to. I felt like the hood was pulling down on my head, and the shoulders weren't a good fit - I could only raise my arms 90 degrees. I took off the vest and peeled down the top half of the wetsuit and worked on getting the legs pulled up a bit higher. I think I got them as far as they can go, but I couldn't stand the thought of putting the whole outfit on again - I might have passed out.

I figure I'll wait until Sunday when it's 90 degrees and humid outside to try again.

All joking aside, I'm actually a bit worried about putting on the wetsuit in that kind of heat. I know the water will be 60 degrees at depth, but sheesh! I don't know if I'll survive the heat long enough to get in the water.

I'm wondering if the hooded vest is overkill in 60 degree water, or if a 7mm and a hood (no vest) would be good enough for a short dive. I can return the hooded vest as long as I don't go diving in it.

I'm taking my 3mm with me to the lake because if I'm not going that deep on my second and third dives, why suffer

 

[KY_BOB]

Good God in Heaven, whoever the sadistic ***** was who invented the 7mm wetsuit should be strung up by his toenails :shocked2::shocked2:

Got my new wetsuit delivered today. The wetsuit fits OK - I can get it on but I felt almost instantly sick with heat exhaustion the minute I zipped it up. Holy freakin' cow that thing is hot.

Welcome to the world of cold water diving in a wetsuit. Is it a PITA? Yes. I've done quite a few dives in 42 degree water in a 7mm farmer John. In warm weather, it's a fight to keep from dehydrating.


FWIW: I now typically cold water dive in a drysuit and doubles. It's not as big of a fight to get in but it's even hotter on the surface.

 

[TexasKaren68]

crap crap crap

I'm returning the wetsuit and hooded vest.

A second try-on of both tells me the 12+ is just not the right size. I'm not sure whether I made the right decision on the new size though, 14. I'll return the other set and should get the 14 by the end of next week. I do plan to do more local diving up at Medina Lake in June so I don't feel like it'll be a waste of money. My big "worry" is that I'll lose 30 pounds on my latest diet and it'll be too big by the Fall. I guess having to spend $600 on another 7mm because I lose 30 pounds really isn't a "problem" though, is it

My measurements right now fit the 12+ perfectly but the wetsuit/vest are just too short. The suit doesn't go all the way up to my armpit which makes it so that I can raise my arms more than 90 degrees in the wetsuit. It was not the vest that was stopping me from doing that, it was the wetsuit. However, trying on the hooded vest alone I could see it had the same problem - the arm opening didn't go all the way to my armpit, it stopped two inches down. I'm hoping the size 14 will have more height in the torso.

Also, the wetsuit felt a little loose around the middle, although the legs and arms felt perfect.

Sigh - I'm off to my dive shop to pick up my tanks & weights for tomorrow and hopefully they'll have a 7mm suit & vest/hood that fit me.

Gah!