CCRDiverDave
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I remember diving once at the Northern Channel Islands. Halfway into the day divers were huddled behind the narrow dive boat cabin trying to stay out of the howling wind and spray that kept coming over the bow blanketing everything on the aft deck.
Divers were shivering, their faces were pasty white, their lips were blue and they were trying to get coffee and hot chocolate in their frozen lips without spilling half of it down themselves.
The weather was so bad, and we were getting so tossed around like a cheap rag doll, that some on the 50 foot commercial dive boat actually asked the cabin to call the Coast Guard, they were that freaked out.
Some lone guy was on the back of the corner of the boat, braving the spray, staring down into the water. Eventually curiosity got the better part of me. I was munching on a burger and swigging a cold Pepsi, letting the waves crash over me in my toasty drysuit. I was having a ball in the bad weather. So I ambled over to the guy leaning over the railing to see what in the water had his attention considering he couldn't see anything on the surface. So I asked " What are you looking at?" Just as I took a shark size bite out of my hamburger, he turned around looking at me with an ashen face, and seeing me clamp down on that burger was all it took before he chummed over the edge.
Drysuits have their own idiosyncracies, but when properly maintained and insulated with an appropriate undergarment, being uncomfortably cold is not one of them. I have even completely torn my neck seal and flooded out my suit, but was ok to finish my lobster dive as the insulatign garment did it's job even while totalyl soaked.
Back 25 years or so when I got my first drysuit, training for them didn't exist, we all just figured it out. I first had a Jetsuit, a $1000 version of the Unisuit, and mine was a neoprene drysuit with a shoulder zipper. I frequently just wore thermals or a sweatshirt and sweatpants under this as the 1/4" neoprene did it's insulating job. Eventually I went to a thin fabric drysuit with no stretch. I liked this far less. One had to wear a specialized undergarment due to the lack of insulation, and I had a polypropylene "teddybear" insulating garment. For you Brokeback Mountain kinda of divers, that was not a "teddy", it was a fleece type of undergarment.
Eventually I went to a vulcanized rubber drysuit. Advantages are it dries in a few minutes, couldn't be easier to spot leaks and repair, has some stretch, is available in a bright red which is good from a safety/visibility standpoint, and you don't look like a seal to Great Whites.
For the congenitally paranoid, not once in 25 or so years of trainingless drysuit diving have I ever had an runaway upside down ascent.
That brings me to suit fit. If you get a baggy style of loose fitting drysuit with no stretch and you have chicken bird legs in a huge suit, you're going to have more air shift to your legs when upside down. That is why suit fit is important.
Shell suits like the DUI TLS 350 have a good reputation amongst divers for good reasons. They are made well and aren't too baggy.
I have used a DUI CF200 suit. In my personal opinion the self donning diagonal zipper version is more of a pain to get in and out of than the rear shoulder zipper model, but maybe if I grew up on diagonal zippers, I would think that about the shoulder zipper model. What I really like about this suit is is stretches alot more than a Viking, and is available with Zip-Seals which can be replaced in minutes with no tools on a dive trip. Beats PVC glue and duct tape which works surprisingly well to save a dive if you tear regular latex seals.
Unfortunately the DUI CF200 suit is available primarily in black, or in the case of the rear shoulder zipper, all black. Now I know us guys like to be "The Black Knight", but for safety's sake, red, orange or yellow is a much better choice from a safety standpoint. I think the CF200 crushed neoprene material adds a little bit more insulation than fabric backed rubber, but may take more time spotting the inevitable sea urchin spine pinhole leak. Finding leaks on a Viking is just a matter of stuffing large and small plastic bottles in the seals and sudsing it with dish soap and looking for the bubbles. Urethane glue thinned and accelerated with Cotol or MEK does the repair trick with any suit.
The CF200 definately stretches more than my Viking, and is more comfortable bending my leg up to get a fin on. DUI tells me the CF200 swims easier as it is more streamlined and less baggy then thin fabric shell suits. On that note, DUI will custom fit their CF200 suit to each diver. WELL worth the added cost. That reminds me...I was diving the Channel Islands one day and noticed a woman all decked out in a new custom fitting DUI CF200 suit. I went up to her and after asking about her suit, I told her she was the first women I had ever seen a drysuit where I could tell she had an attractive athletic figure. Oh her smile was priceless, and she giggled that I just justified the 3K she paid for all the bells and whistles. The custom fit reduces the baggy factor, and makes it more streamlined when swimming.
That brings us to another issue, drysuits do not swim as fast as wetsuits. I have had open circuit guys in wetsuits scream passed me like a nuclear submarine on speed.
This doesn't make a difference underwater, as if you slowed down, you would see all the interesting macro life......but....in a current or a long surface swim, be prepared to swim a little bit slower with a little bit more effort.
As to undergarments, don't skimp here....if you can afford it, go with 3M's (that is Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing for you Jeopardy types)Thinsulate, either 200 gram or 400 gram weight. I have a Moby's 200 gram model and it has a nylon outer shell, 4 pockets and a really nice soft blue thick soft liner. Going commando under the undergarment is more comfortable as the suit does not bunch around, or you could try a snug fitting style of drawers or for women a t shirt or comfortable sports bra if you have issues with changing into your undergarment around others but I dive with a well adjusted fun athletic mixed group and we do things the European way. In SoCal in the summer I have to take a quick dip off the transom/swim step once dry suited up to cool off. Underwater even in the dead of winter, I am comfortable as long as I don't sit and not move for a time. If you are going to do lots of motionless photography and not move, think about a 400 gram undersuit. Remember it is less problematic to be warmer than cooler. Thinsulate insulates better when damp by the way. Sure it is more expensive, but better things are usually pricier. It is a one time expense that with care should last 7 or so years of average dive numbers. In SoCal during the warmth of the middle of summer we often dive our drysuits without our hoods. Don't ever try that in 52 degree water, you'll get a roaring headache.
For those rare people who just are always warm in a wetsuit, stay with it, but if you are like most people, once you get over the one time sticker shock, you will kick yourself in the butt and wonder what the heck you were thinking being cold and miserable all that time while trying to enjoy our great hobby.
Divers were shivering, their faces were pasty white, their lips were blue and they were trying to get coffee and hot chocolate in their frozen lips without spilling half of it down themselves.
The weather was so bad, and we were getting so tossed around like a cheap rag doll, that some on the 50 foot commercial dive boat actually asked the cabin to call the Coast Guard, they were that freaked out.
Some lone guy was on the back of the corner of the boat, braving the spray, staring down into the water. Eventually curiosity got the better part of me. I was munching on a burger and swigging a cold Pepsi, letting the waves crash over me in my toasty drysuit. I was having a ball in the bad weather. So I ambled over to the guy leaning over the railing to see what in the water had his attention considering he couldn't see anything on the surface. So I asked " What are you looking at?" Just as I took a shark size bite out of my hamburger, he turned around looking at me with an ashen face, and seeing me clamp down on that burger was all it took before he chummed over the edge.
Drysuits have their own idiosyncracies, but when properly maintained and insulated with an appropriate undergarment, being uncomfortably cold is not one of them. I have even completely torn my neck seal and flooded out my suit, but was ok to finish my lobster dive as the insulatign garment did it's job even while totalyl soaked.
Back 25 years or so when I got my first drysuit, training for them didn't exist, we all just figured it out. I first had a Jetsuit, a $1000 version of the Unisuit, and mine was a neoprene drysuit with a shoulder zipper. I frequently just wore thermals or a sweatshirt and sweatpants under this as the 1/4" neoprene did it's insulating job. Eventually I went to a thin fabric drysuit with no stretch. I liked this far less. One had to wear a specialized undergarment due to the lack of insulation, and I had a polypropylene "teddybear" insulating garment. For you Brokeback Mountain kinda of divers, that was not a "teddy", it was a fleece type of undergarment.
Eventually I went to a vulcanized rubber drysuit. Advantages are it dries in a few minutes, couldn't be easier to spot leaks and repair, has some stretch, is available in a bright red which is good from a safety/visibility standpoint, and you don't look like a seal to Great Whites.
For the congenitally paranoid, not once in 25 or so years of trainingless drysuit diving have I ever had an runaway upside down ascent.
That brings me to suit fit. If you get a baggy style of loose fitting drysuit with no stretch and you have chicken bird legs in a huge suit, you're going to have more air shift to your legs when upside down. That is why suit fit is important.
Shell suits like the DUI TLS 350 have a good reputation amongst divers for good reasons. They are made well and aren't too baggy.
I have used a DUI CF200 suit. In my personal opinion the self donning diagonal zipper version is more of a pain to get in and out of than the rear shoulder zipper model, but maybe if I grew up on diagonal zippers, I would think that about the shoulder zipper model. What I really like about this suit is is stretches alot more than a Viking, and is available with Zip-Seals which can be replaced in minutes with no tools on a dive trip. Beats PVC glue and duct tape which works surprisingly well to save a dive if you tear regular latex seals.
Unfortunately the DUI CF200 suit is available primarily in black, or in the case of the rear shoulder zipper, all black. Now I know us guys like to be "The Black Knight", but for safety's sake, red, orange or yellow is a much better choice from a safety standpoint. I think the CF200 crushed neoprene material adds a little bit more insulation than fabric backed rubber, but may take more time spotting the inevitable sea urchin spine pinhole leak. Finding leaks on a Viking is just a matter of stuffing large and small plastic bottles in the seals and sudsing it with dish soap and looking for the bubbles. Urethane glue thinned and accelerated with Cotol or MEK does the repair trick with any suit.
The CF200 definately stretches more than my Viking, and is more comfortable bending my leg up to get a fin on. DUI tells me the CF200 swims easier as it is more streamlined and less baggy then thin fabric shell suits. On that note, DUI will custom fit their CF200 suit to each diver. WELL worth the added cost. That reminds me...I was diving the Channel Islands one day and noticed a woman all decked out in a new custom fitting DUI CF200 suit. I went up to her and after asking about her suit, I told her she was the first women I had ever seen a drysuit where I could tell she had an attractive athletic figure. Oh her smile was priceless, and she giggled that I just justified the 3K she paid for all the bells and whistles. The custom fit reduces the baggy factor, and makes it more streamlined when swimming.
That brings us to another issue, drysuits do not swim as fast as wetsuits. I have had open circuit guys in wetsuits scream passed me like a nuclear submarine on speed.
This doesn't make a difference underwater, as if you slowed down, you would see all the interesting macro life......but....in a current or a long surface swim, be prepared to swim a little bit slower with a little bit more effort.
As to undergarments, don't skimp here....if you can afford it, go with 3M's (that is Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing for you Jeopardy types)Thinsulate, either 200 gram or 400 gram weight. I have a Moby's 200 gram model and it has a nylon outer shell, 4 pockets and a really nice soft blue thick soft liner. Going commando under the undergarment is more comfortable as the suit does not bunch around, or you could try a snug fitting style of drawers or for women a t shirt or comfortable sports bra if you have issues with changing into your undergarment around others but I dive with a well adjusted fun athletic mixed group and we do things the European way. In SoCal in the summer I have to take a quick dip off the transom/swim step once dry suited up to cool off. Underwater even in the dead of winter, I am comfortable as long as I don't sit and not move for a time. If you are going to do lots of motionless photography and not move, think about a 400 gram undersuit. Remember it is less problematic to be warmer than cooler. Thinsulate insulates better when damp by the way. Sure it is more expensive, but better things are usually pricier. It is a one time expense that with care should last 7 or so years of average dive numbers. In SoCal during the warmth of the middle of summer we often dive our drysuits without our hoods. Don't ever try that in 52 degree water, you'll get a roaring headache.
For those rare people who just are always warm in a wetsuit, stay with it, but if you are like most people, once you get over the one time sticker shock, you will kick yourself in the butt and wonder what the heck you were thinking being cold and miserable all that time while trying to enjoy our great hobby.
