Hood thickness?

[pepperbelly]

I use a SP Everflex 5/4 suit.
Would a 5/4 hood be the correct thickness, or thicker/thinner?
I don’t plan on diving in water colder than my suit can handle. Some of the water I dive in has sharp thermoclines, especially in Spring.

 

[Lorenzoid]

As you know, what your suit "can handle" depends on YOU, and I would say it's the same with what your hood "can handle." I wear my 5/4 full suit with a 3 mm hood (or hooded vest) in 72-79F water, but I have low cold tolerance. With my drysuit in 50-72F water, I wear a 6 mm hood. If I had to generalize, I would say it's unusual to see anyone with a hood that's thicker/warmer than their suit. I'm afraid the only accurate answer is that you have to try a 3mm hood and see if it's warm enough for YOU. Those thermoclines can be unpleasant.

 

[drbill]

As you know, what your suit "can handle" depends on YOU, and I would say it's the same with what your hood "can handle."

Precisely. I have a dive buddy who gets cold in a 7mm after 25-30 minutes (but she's an excellent diver and instructor) in the same water that I wear a 3/2mm full suit. I have used 3mm and 5mm hooded vests and generally prefer the 3mm (unless I penetrate a thermocline and am hit with 46° water!).

Your mileage will be... your mileage. It is hard for others to make recommendations without knowing the water temps you dive in and your thermal tolerance. The 5mm would probably be a good choice for you. Good luck!

 

[tbone1004]

I use thicker hoods than my suits in general. They're easy to flush if you get too warm, and if you have one with a zipper on the neck you can always leave it unzipped. I will dive in 50* water in just a 7mm hood before I will dive it in a drysuit with a 3mm hood....

 

[pepperbelly]

I wasn’t sure if my head and neck might need thicker since they lose heat faster.
I will try both. If the 5 isn’t uncomfortably thick I may just use one. I can always flush water to cool off.

 

[Marie13]

I wear a 3/5mm hood most of the time. Waterproof brand.

 

[pepperbelly]

As you know, what your suit "can handle" depends on YOU, and I would say it's the same with what your hood "can handle." I wear my 5/4 full suit with a 3 mm hood (or hooded vest) in 72-79F water, but I have low cold tolerance. With my drysuit in 50-72F water, I wear a 6 mm hood. If I had to generalize, I would say it's unusual to see anyone with a hood that's thicker/warmer than their suit. I'm afraid the only accurate answer is that you have to try a 3mm hood and see if it's warm enough for YOU. Those thermoclines can be unpleasant.

I may have worded that badly. I didn't mean what mu suit can handle. I meant I am comfortable in that suit at those water temps. I have only been diving in the Caribbean a few times- cruise excursions. I have seen a few other divers wear wetsuits, but I was comfortable doing 2 dives in a quick-dry shirt and swim trunks. If I were going to do more dives I would want a 3mm full suit, but I am not especially cold sensitive.
Most of the dives I do here in lakes and quarries I do without a hood, but that one quarry was cold enough at the bottom- 50*, that I did need a hood a gloves. I borrowed them- it was an AOW checkout dive. It was a short duration dive so I have no idea if that thickness hood is what I need. I think it was a 3mm.
I want a hood for diving early in the season and for deeper dives through the thermoclines.

 

[DerekR]

I wasn’t sure if my head and neck might need thicker since they lose heat faster.

Is most body heat lost from the head? That's a myth! It’s about how much skin you expose, not where that skin is. Skin loses about the same amount of heat per square inch, at the same rate, no matter where it is on the body.

 

[pepperbelly]

Is most body heat lost from the head? That's a myth! It’s about how much skin you expose, not where that skin is. Skin loses about the same amount of heat per square inch, at the same rate, no matter where it is on the body.

There is a lot of blood going through the neck to the head.
I know on land I am warmer longer if I wear a hat than if I am bareheaded.

 

[DerekR]

All of "that blood" does not amount to any more heat loss that all of the blood that circulates over any other part of your body. The thought that heat loss is greater from the head is an old wives tale. Read the medical and survival research.