Hood neck size?

[northcave]

I was given a nice Xcel hood for my birthday and it goes right down inside my drysuit. I have not used a hood with a drysuit before so unsure of the fitting.

When I put the hood on it is fairly loose around the neck so when I put the drysuit over the top and fold the neoprene neck seal in, then it leaves little gaps because the neack of the hood is not totally tight against my skin.

Am I to presume that a hood should fit perfectly to you neck and be just tight enough to sit against the skin without strangling you... like a dry suit neck seal basically?

 

[spectrum]

That does not sound right.

It sounds like you have a bibbed hood meant to layer under the collar of a wetsuit or the apron of a drysuit neck like a DUI warm neck.

On a neoprene neck seal nothing goes between it and your neck. The hood will have no apron an be just long enough to have a short overlap on top of the neck seal.

Pete

 

[g1138]

Let's clarify first: For a drysuit, the drysuit seal should be against your neck and the hood's neck should be layered outside the drysuit.
Some drysuits have a second collar that is used to tuck the bib, some drysuits don't in which case your bib flaps out in the wind.
DUI drysuits market it as a Warm Neck Collar.

The second collar serves no purpose for a watertight seal, just aesthetics to keep a bibbed hood tucked and prevent water flushing inside the hood.

Some hoods come without a bib and are usually marketed as drysuit hoods and have little to no neoprene fabric lining inside. The neck is also cut tighter.


To your question: No it shouldn't fit tightly on the neck; based on the hood you received.
Wetsuit hoods (Wet hoods) like those made by Xcel, don't have tight necks. Bibbed hoods usually don't either because you're suppose to tuck the bib in your wetsuit to help the seal. The loose neck allows for easy application at the cost of fit.
Drysuit hoods (Dry Hoods) don't have a bib and so require the neck to be tighter to actually serve any warming purpose.

It is ok to use a Wet hood with a drysuit, but the neck often won't be tight and can make for a chilly area during the dive; depends on the diver's personal tolerances for cold. If you have a second collar this is often negated.


<- Hood with bibbed untucked/no second collar