How heavy undergarment for drysuit in 50 degree water???

[KidK9]

Hey all, how heavy of fleece undergarment should I get for my shell drysuit if I'm diving in the 40-55 degree water range?? Thanks.

 

[Blackfish]

I've been using an Andy's Drysuits ST1000 thinsulate garmet under my drysuit around Puget Sound (50ish water) & it is fine. A bit too hot in the summer when you aren't in the water, but that is expected.

This came with my drysuit--if I were springing for it, I'd probably just layer up with some expedition weight fleece, rather than spend $300 or whatever for a glorified union suit.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

With a shell suit I'd need quite a bit of insulation. I dive a 4 mil crushed and in current 41 degree water I'm using some basic fleece but it isn't very think, yet.

 

[H2O Photo Pros]

What suit are you using?? neoprene?? shell? the manufacturer and type of suit is going to make a huge difference on your undergarment...and do you tend to be a warm or cold person?

 

[ChrisA]

Hey all, how heavy of fleece undergarment should I get for my shell drysuit if I'm diving in the 40-55 degree water range?? Thanks.

You say "fleece". I'd say the 200 gram thickness and some polypro under that. With thinsulite you can use less thickness. 40 to 55 is a big range, I don't think 200 fleese wuld do well in 40F water. My experiance only goes to 50F

40 is colder than it gets here. It's low 50's here and 100 gram fleese with possibly a vest of the same is OK

At 40F the danger of hypothermia if the suit floods is geat. I don't dive in 40F water but I would think you'd need a quick exit if a shell suit flooded. I know of one diver who uses a 5mm wetsit under the drysuit appearently as a backup in case of a massive flooding

 

[jduncan]

With our trilam shell suits we are using Patagonia Capelene long underwear and Pinnacle Evolution undergarments which are thinsulate/fleece/nylon one piece suits. Coldest dive was 39F and we were perfectly comfortable for two tanks. They run about $240 bucks.

Here is a basic article/review on some products. You'll see temp ranges....

http://www.sportdiver.com/article.jsp?ID=38071&destinationID=

 

[JimC]

You have to be crazy to dive fleece in water that cold. $300 for a thinsulate undergarnment is some of the best money you'll ever spend on diving. Remeber, you WILL flood your suit eventualy. WHEN it happens, you want undies that WORK.

I wouldn't get into water that cold without atleast 200g Thinsulate, Thinsulate core vest and dry gloves. Toward the lower range I'd want 400g Thinsulate and a vest.

 

[Tom Winters]

You are all some manly men diving in insane waters like that. I die a thousand deaths every time the waters down here slip a degree at depth. It just went from 73° down to 72°, and it's only going to get worse.
They should do a Great American hero beer commercial saluting those of you who willingly plunge yourselves into those frigid, turgid depths...

 

[cyklon_300]

The temp range you state is quite large, you don't say what duration of dives you're doing, and there is no way to determine your personal thermoregulation tolerances.

All anyone can do is state what they wear for various temps, but whether that has any relevance to you can't be evaluated. You can only try various combinations and see what works.

I wear 200 wt polar fleece top/bottom/vest plus polypro under that and can still get chilled in 50F on a 60-70 min dive.

For 40F, there's no way I would try to use fleece.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

I wear 400g Viking thinsulate undies with a pair of expedition weight underwear from Bass Pro Shops under that. I'm learning to be comfortable in that set-up.
Ber :lilbunny:

Hey Winters--don't you have something else to do besides whine about 72 degree water--a do-it-yourself root canal maybe