I think WetSuits are Safer and Better than Dry suits for the vast majority of divers

[danvolker]

[FONT=lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]In regards to safety in semi tropical to tropical waters---say 68 degrees to 80 degree water, it would be my contention that wetsuits are far better and safer than are drysuits for recreational divers.[/FONT]

[FONT=lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]Better and safer because they create far less drag, allowing the diver much better ability to propel themselves and to be as functional in the water as the conditions dictate( whereas the drysuit compromises propulsion to such a degree as to be dangerous in all but still water conditions).[/FONT]

[FONT=lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]Better because they cost a fraction of what drysuits cost...[/FONT]

[FONT=lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]And safer because drysuit use creates a need for special instruction and skills which for most divers are never attained, and in comparison, skills performed in a wetsuit are typically far better for the vast majority of recreational divers than the same skills attempted in a dry suit....[/FONT]

[FONT=lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]Most Divers can be much better divers( higher skilled) with a wetsuit than they can be with a dry suit, and this suggests a much smarter direction for most divers, is that of wetsuits, and of a product like the heated Thermalution suits when the water gets below 75 degrees to as cold as the 50's--or even below this. [/FONT]

[FONT=lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]There is no good wet suit solution for tech, but that is a tiny market I am not concerned with when discussing the needs of recreational divers.[/FONT]


[FONT=lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]So my agenda here, is to tell those considering a Drysuit, to consider that they cost 3 times what a good wetsuit costs, and the additional costs of poor safety, poor ability to move around with the safety margins of a wetsuit, and the attendant reduced skills makes this just another money maker for the dive industry--and something really bad for most divers.[/FONT]

 

[tracydr]

You dive in South Florida. I dive in California. Our POV is different. Being warm increases my ability to off gas, allows me to move more freely and prevents me from getting hypothermic on surface intervals. Hypothermia is not safe.
My diving comfort and safety has greatly increased since diving dry. I started in Puget Sound, diving 14mls on the core, unable to move comfortably, cold for dives longer than 30 minutes, exhausted after getting my wetsuit on. No fun! Now, with my older joints, I won't even consider diving wet if temps are less than 75 degrees.

 

[Bopper]

I think that the skills required of drysuit diving are oftentimes exaggerated. There are a lot of very good recreational divers who have excellent buoyancy skills and diving sensibilities. They just don't have the ambition to go "Tech". I've found that these people easily migrate to drysuits. Also, its nice to have a good backup buoyancy device.

Buy yeah, if ppl are regularly diving in 68-80 degree water, I personally can't imagine getting cold. So no drysuit needed there. Let's spend our money elsewhere. But I wouldn't say these are the "vast majority" of divers, as it seems there are a lot of cold water divers.

EDIT: I should add that I hardly ever dive warm water. Usually I'm diving dry in 50 to 60 degree water. Just so happened that I dove wet in 82 degree water about a month ago. I wished I had my drysuit. There's just something about being able to peel away a drysuit and being (mostly) dry that you unwittingly get used to and learn to love. Has nothing to do w. the actual temperatures involved.

 

[00wabbit]

Indiana diver here: +1 for drysuit.

Perhaps the vast majority of divers only dive when they can find warm water and because of this they are less practiced in their skills. The drysuit divers I know are all more skilled than the average diver but then we don't let little things like water temperature dictate our dives.


That being said I did find it silly when I was on a boat in West Palm Beach in Feb and the Air temp was in the low 80's and the water temp was 72 that people were putting on drysuits to dive. I was just sitting there in my 3mil.

 

[boulderjohn]

I think Dan's point is valid for people diving in the right temperature range. People in other ranges are better off with dry suits.

When I dived in California this spring, I was happy to be warm as toast in my dry suit, and on one day of diving I felt very sorry for the people I saw shivering on the boat after diving in their wet suits.

When diving in Puget Sound a couple years ago, I was sweating after an hour in the water because I wore needlessly thick underwear under my dry suit. I would not have attempted that dive in a set suit.

When I dived West Palm Beach this past February, I was happy as a clam in my wet suit.

It also depends upon the individual. When diving in caves in the Yucatan, I was completely comfortable in a 5 mm wet suit and no hood, even on a two hour dive. My primary dive buddy, on the other hand, wore a 7mm wet suit and hood and was cold on every dive. Today she is happily doing all those dives in a dry suit.

 

[Akimbo]

I would rather dive a wetsuit any day, as long as I can stay warm enough. Drysuits suck less than being cold though.

 

[meagicano]

Indiana diver here: +1 for drysuit.

Perhaps the vast majority of divers only dive when they can find warm water and because of this they are less practiced in their skills. The drysuit divers I know are all more skilled than the average diver but then we don't let little things like water temperature dictate our dives.


That being said I did find it silly when I was on a boat in West Palm Beach in Feb and the Air temp was in the low 80's and the water temp was 72 that people were putting on drysuits to dive. I was just sitting there in my 3mil.

Canadian diver here and at 72 I would still be in my 7mil! I was cold all summer, even when we hit 74-75. I bought a drysuit in the fall but haven't really had the chance to use it (I moved and now the closest active divers to me are over 2 hours away). When I get back to Ontario I suspect I will only be diving wet in August... I spent most of the summer doing underwater somersaults and spins to try and stay warm.

 

[Wookie]

What I would say here, Dan, is that all things equal, I'd give you a qualified maybe, but my worst panic/near drowning (personally) was because of too tight of a wetsuit. I hadn't worn it in years, and it didn't just shrink, it was no longer flexible. I couldn't get enough breath, couldn't get my head out of the water enough, couldn't move, etc. Dropped my weights, made it to the ladder, got out, and ordered a new DUI the next day.

Now, that DUI was ordered at the Houston DEMA, so over 10 years ago. I've expanded further, but the drysuit still fits. Therefore, the little extra time it took someone to teach me to properly wear the drysuit has been well worth it.

 

[danvolker]

Let's review some of the problems with the drysuit being used by the diver just using it a couple of months a year in winter, and maybe only a total of 3 to 5 times per year....

One common solution for this large group, is to use huge weighting, so that it is easy to get down, and then on the bottom, on putting gas in it, they have so much weight on that as soon as they begin ascending, the air gets blown out of the OVP on the shoulder easily, because the pressure gets high in the suit....if it was a GUE style drysuit diver, with absolute minimum weight on, then little force works to push air out the opv, and only a small addition in bouyancy will cause tyhe drysuit to begin ascent without the diver wishing it....with the advanced skills of a GUE diver, this never becomes an issue, but without this advanced training, most divers need heavy weighting and a head up and feet down posture, in order to facilitate unwanted air build-up in the suit during ascent. Absence of this advanced skill has sent many less skilled drysuit divers feet first toward the surface --like an upside down polaris missile. Not safe!

Even with intermediate skills for low weight on the dry suit ( diver desires the perfection in buoyancy control and trim that is only feasible with minimal dry suit weighting) , many divers find they need to dive the dry suit all year long, or lose the reflexes and skills required.....few are willing to wear the drysuit in 80 degree summer heat, or hotter. Few should!

As of this last DEMA Show, and the advent of a technology for heated undergarments for wetsuits, your favorite dry suit may well get you happy in water 10 or 20 degrees colder than you ever considered using it in. Thermalution has both electrically heated undergarment shirts, and now full body suits....you put them under the 3.5, or 5 mil, or 7 mil suit, and DRASTICALLY extend it's range.....My wife Sandra has tried the shirt version at the BHB Marine Park on 5 and 6 hour long dives....and would turn the shirt on around 2.5 hours into the dive, for it's 2.5 to 3 hour run time to keep her warm when she would otherwise be cooling down. There is a battery on each side of the bottom of the shirt, about the size of a tiny cell phone....it could be swapped out between 2 dives, if you were doing 2 or more big profiles in a day....and you can crank it if cold when sitting up on the boat.
We are talking a fraction of the cost of a Dry suit, and none of the stupid high drag of a drysuit, and none of the big skill defectiveness caused by the dry suit.

Right now I know of www.HeatedWetsuits.Com for this, but if enough people try this and like it, I think this would be like Halcyon in the late 90's, and it would spawn a flood of additional companies working to come up with similar nich based solutions ( Halcyon spawned new bp/wing companies like Oxycheque, Hog, and a half dozen others). I just think that for most divers that already have a good quality wetsuit, this is a much better solution....and it leaves money left over ( compared to the drysuit cost) for Dive Trips!!!

Sandra at DEMA point at the heated undershirt she has.....

 

[scoobydrew]

( whereas the drysuit compromises propulsion to such a degree as to be dangerous in all but still water conditions).

I disagree, I have been in many tough currents in the 300+ dives I have done in the UK and South Korea in a dry suit and would not say that the increased resistance in drag increased the danger level.

And safer because drysuit use creates a need for special instruction and skills which for most divers are never attained, and in comparison, skills performed in a wetsuit are typically far better for the vast majority of recreational divers than the same skills attempted in a dry suit....

SCUBA diving requires training, once you master a specific subject then it should no longer be a challenge that presents an increase in danger, if you take on the subject without training then the issue is with the diver not the subject

Most Divers can be much better divers( higher skilled) with a wetsuit than they can be with a dry suit, and this suggests a much smarter direction for most divers, is that of wetsuits, and of a product like the heated Thermalution suits when the water gets below 75 degrees to as cold as the 50's--or even below this.

Again I disagree, some skills can be harder due to reduced motor function etc but having dived many types of BCD and wing I have yet to find a more comfortable source of buoyancy than a dry suit, perfect trim is easy to attain.

I see what you are trying to say about the depth bracket and where a dry suit becomes applicable but I think the issue here is not with the dry suit but with peoples ability to use one or their inclination to learn how to use one properly. I did my OW in a dry suit and then the next 100 dives in one. It was nice to shed it and get in to a wetsuit but that was once I was in the Red Sea, toughing out a dive in the cold would be unpleasant and a dry suit negates that.

A good fitting dry suit is warm and comfy and should not make a dive more dangerous. If you are not bothered about the cold in the water you dive in then yes of course spending money on one is a waste.