How effective are drysuits? I feel the cold!

[Storker]

When diving A drysuit with thick undergarments for cold waters on a hot day you can sweat excessively and feel super cold because your undergarments are damp and transfering the cold.

In other words, your choice of undergarments is important. Get a good undersuit and a good wicking layer to wear under it. Not only will you feel better, but it will take longer before the undersuit starts to smell funky. Don't do the mistake of thinking that your cotton sweatpants and sweatshirt can do the job, because cotton is by far the worst to wear if you're damp or wet. And we really shouldn't call it a drysuit, it's a mostly-dry-most-of-the-time-suit. You will get damp from condensation.

I've used my drysuit in water temperatures from 20C down to 3C. With either no undersuit, a light undersuit or a heavy undersuit. What I always wear under the DS is a good merino wool underwear set.

 

[emoreira]

One of the possible reasons of why you could feel cold with a drysuit is sweat.
This happens when you are diving in cold water, but outside temperature is high.
If your undergarments are not dive specific (like using wool or cotton clothes) sweat can wet your clothes and when underwater they cannot keep you warm.
Dive specific undergarments (like Polartec and Thinsulate) do keep you warm even slightly wet with sweat.
Time before dive and surface interval in high outside temperature makes you sweat. The drysuit will not allow sweat to ventilate.

 

[broncobowsher]

Sweat is also one of the reasons people thing there drysuit leaks. Not leaking, condensing. Especially when it is a uniform level of moisture. Leaks tend to be very specific.

 

[Jack Hammer]

Merino wool is awesome in cold water. Keeps you warmer(er) and more comfortable even when wet

 

[grf88]

One additional item is to fuel up before the dive, you need your body to make as much heat as it can.

 

[Esprise Me]

One additional item is to fuel up before the dive, you need your body to make as much heat as it can.

I find getting enough sleep to be important, too. I just can't seem to regulate my temperature when I'm jet-lagged or otherwise sleep-deprived.

 

[Storker]

Merino wool is awesome in cold water. Keeps you warmer(er) and more comfortable even when wet

I've been ranting so much about this that I figured I shouldn't do it again. Thanks for bringing it up

The reason that wool is so awesome (and also why some people think it itches, me included, but that's a price I'm willing to pay for all the advantages) is that the fiber isn't smooth. It's covered with microscopical "shells", which make wool the only fiber which can absorb up to 30% of it's own weight in water and still feel dry. And to give a half-decent amount of insulation even when it's soggy.

But while I'll always use a wool wicking layer, I'd choose a synthetic insulating layer under my drysuit. Typically fleece and/or Thinsulate. Lighter and fluffier.

 

[Storker]

Btw, one thing which may not be obvious to wetsuit divers is that if you change your undersuit, your weighting requirements will change. And running your drysuit really tight with the absolute minimum of weighting isn't necessarily a good thing in cold water. A kilo or two extra on the belt make for a liter or two more of air inside the suit, and it's the air that provides the insulation.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Btw, one thing which may not be obvious to wetsuit divers is that if you change your undersuit, your weighting requirements will change. And running your drysuit really tight with the absolute minimum of weighting isn't necessarily a good thing in cold water. A kilo or two extra on the belt make for a liter or two more of air inside the suit, and it's the air that provides the insulation.

Yeah, there's an odd-sounding saying about drysuit diving that "lead is warmth."

 

[Gone for diving]

My first open water experience was in 30 degree (86F) water in a shortie, and for several hours afterwards I was shaking uncontrollably and felt very unwell. I quit diving there and then, but tried again a year later, again in 30 degree water, with my own 5mm suit and 5mm boots. My head was cold, but once I added a 5mm hood I was ok. My wife and I then enjoyed several diving holidays in Mexico (29/30 deg water again) and I was comfortable throughout with the 5mm boots, suit and hood. A change in circmstances means we can’t really access ‘warm’ water anymore, so I’ve been considering diving at home in the UK. Sea temperatures here most of the year are about 10 to 17 degrees (50-62F). Would I manage in a drysuit? I realise thousands of divers are happy here in drysuits, but are any of these divers like me, or are they all more resilient? I tried a drysuit course at my local dive centre, but they didn’t have a drysuit that fitted me - the neck and wrists were baggy on all of them - as you may guess I’m fairly thin with little body fat.

Thanks.

I thought I got cold easy......
76f is shorty time for me but I do like to have a thin hood on, better for my ears....

My buddy has more natural insulation.. he over heats at that temperature...

At (50-62F) I love my 7mm semi-dry with built in hood...