I have never met a woman that has ever been warm.
Chad
Chad
Keeping her warm
- Thread starter cstreu1026
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cstreu1026
Contributor
ok, maybe I should change it to keeping her comfortable.
which you, cstreu1026, and the rest of you who dive with your cold-sensitive significant others should be aware of.
When I was instructing scuba at Michigan State we often did the checkout dives at Marquette, in Lake Superior, along the northern shoreline of the upper peninsula. Its quite cold water, I assure you, even in summer. My female students were often...reluctant. They used rental wetsuits that often did not fit exactly.
Get a large 5-6 gallon water container, the type you take camping. Fill it from the bathtub faucet with reasonably hot water. (Make sure she uses the head BEFORE you hit the shore or stern of the boat!) Pull her wetsuit top away from her skin at the back of her neck and dump the warm water down inside her suit ('bout 1.5 gallon or more!). Save enough so you can do the same thing after she climbs back out of the water after the dive.
Even females who are real sensitive to cold water can be kept warm for most dives of reasonable length, and surface intervals, if you warm them up this way just before they jump into the water (and after they get out)! Give it a shot. It worked for the vast majority of my students.
Safe (and comfortable) diving,
Doc
When I was instructing scuba at Michigan State we often did the checkout dives at Marquette, in Lake Superior, along the northern shoreline of the upper peninsula. Its quite cold water, I assure you, even in summer. My female students were often...reluctant. They used rental wetsuits that often did not fit exactly.
Get a large 5-6 gallon water container, the type you take camping. Fill it from the bathtub faucet with reasonably hot water. (Make sure she uses the head BEFORE you hit the shore or stern of the boat!) Pull her wetsuit top away from her skin at the back of her neck and dump the warm water down inside her suit ('bout 1.5 gallon or more!).
Save enough so you can do the same thing after she climbs back out of the water after the dive.Even females who are real sensitive to cold water can be kept warm for most dives of reasonable length, and surface intervals, if you warm them up this way just before they jump into the water (and after they get out)! Give it a shot. It worked for the vast majority of my students.
Safe (and comfortable) diving,
Doc
Your noble sacrifice is noted.
However there are a couple of options for drysuits:
1) used. Yes, they ARE available.
2) look at the ones out of Canada. People like Whites, Brooks, Abyss, etc. With the difference in the $Cdn vs $US you can get a good deal.
3) some of the manufacturers offer suits at drastically reduced prices because they have been sent in for repair or ordered & then abandoned. Still perfectly good, however.
Frankly, hot water in the suit is only a band-aid solution to the problem. A drysuit is really the only logical option.
You only have to read my previous post to know why.
~SubMariner~
Shadow
Contributor
That's positively warm! The water in the Pacific Northwest in winter is now 48 degrees! As it was when I did my open water dives in 7 mm wetsuit with an additional 7 mm shortie on top - and I was Frreeezzing. My teeth were chattering and I was shivering uncontrollably. Obviously, a wetsuit is not an option for me around here. I now dive in the same water temps in a tri-lam drysuit, and can stay in the water well over an hour in the summer, when temps are still much lower than 68 degrees (try 55 at depth). You may just be wasting your money on a wet suit for your fiance, if you end up finding that it's still not warm enough.
One problem I can forsee in her using a drysuit (other than price) is buoyancy problems if she ends up with an ill-fitting drysuit. If off-the-shelf wetsuits don't fit, it's quite likely that off-the-shelf drysuit may not fit well, either. Big spaces for water in a wet suit may translate into big air spaces in a dry suit, making buoyancy and trim really frustrating, especially for a beginner or someone not overly keen on being in the water. And getting the right layering underneath has been no easy task. I now have over 60 dives in my drysuit, and I'm still working on keeping warm enough, and balancing between undies and weights. My husband does not have any of these problems! Also, I use about the same amount of weight in my tri-lam/fleece as I did with nearly 14 mm of wet neoprene.
One problem I can forsee in her using a drysuit (other than price) is buoyancy problems if she ends up with an ill-fitting drysuit. If off-the-shelf wetsuits don't fit, it's quite likely that off-the-shelf drysuit may not fit well, either. Big spaces for water in a wet suit may translate into big air spaces in a dry suit, making buoyancy and trim really frustrating, especially for a beginner or someone not overly keen on being in the water. And getting the right layering underneath has been no easy task. I now have over 60 dives in my drysuit, and I'm still working on keeping warm enough, and balancing between undies and weights. My husband does not have any of these problems! Also, I use about the same amount of weight in my tri-lam/fleece as I did with nearly 14 mm of wet neoprene.
clementyn
Guest
so it sounds like you're leaning toward the dry suit, but...
if you decide they are too expensive, look at the BARE wetsuits.
they make what they call a 'plus' cut in they're sizes over 8 and their shape model seems to cater to us curvy (pear shaped) women. all three of mine (3,5,7mm) are wider thru the seat and thighs, come in at the waist and have a reasonable amount of room up top. in my experience, my wide hips and a narrow waist seem to be the exact opposite to how many women's wetsuits are modeled.
the other really tough thing about wetsuits is getting them on - as you mentioned in your original post - over the hips. especially when you're new at it. i look at it this way - panty hose are hard to put on by pulling them up - and they're just nylon! doing it with an eighth to quarter inch of neoprene is just near impossible.
in the last ten years i've been diving, i swear the easiest way to get on any wetsuit, no matter how thick, is to turn it inside out! put it on the ground infront of you, face up, insert one foot and roll it up your leg to just above your knee (right side out as you roll) like a condom. then the other foot, roll it up to just above your knee. repeat this, alternating sides, until over your bumm - you know you've got it right if the crotch of the wetsuit is basically - well- in your crotch. if you've got a big gap there, its gonna flush water. you can also do this roll on technique with the arms, but i don't seem to need to.
i am sure people out there will disagree with me, but i think a good fitting wetsuit should take a little bit of struggle to get it on, because otherwise it is probably too big and is going to flush cold water during the dive.
lastly, if you do go the wetsuit route invest in a really good hood and vest or core warmer.
lorien
if you decide they are too expensive, look at the BARE wetsuits.
they make what they call a 'plus' cut in they're sizes over 8 and their shape model seems to cater to us curvy (pear shaped) women. all three of mine (3,5,7mm) are wider thru the seat and thighs, come in at the waist and have a reasonable amount of room up top. in my experience, my wide hips and a narrow waist seem to be the exact opposite to how many women's wetsuits are modeled.
the other really tough thing about wetsuits is getting them on - as you mentioned in your original post - over the hips. especially when you're new at it. i look at it this way - panty hose are hard to put on by pulling them up - and they're just nylon! doing it with an eighth to quarter inch of neoprene is just near impossible.
in the last ten years i've been diving, i swear the easiest way to get on any wetsuit, no matter how thick, is to turn it inside out! put it on the ground infront of you, face up, insert one foot and roll it up your leg to just above your knee (right side out as you roll) like a condom. then the other foot, roll it up to just above your knee. repeat this, alternating sides, until over your bumm - you know you've got it right if the crotch of the wetsuit is basically - well- in your crotch. if you've got a big gap there, its gonna flush water. you can also do this roll on technique with the arms, but i don't seem to need to.
i am sure people out there will disagree with me, but i think a good fitting wetsuit should take a little bit of struggle to get it on, because otherwise it is probably too big and is going to flush cold water during the dive.
lastly, if you do go the wetsuit route invest in a really good hood and vest or core warmer.
lorienAri
Moderator
The ScubaPro S-Tek line.
Ari
Ari
tinman
Contributor
...Jim, I thought the hyperstretch helped to trap water & thus heat it...by adding garments underneath doesn't this work against that?
I am certainly interested in this thread as my wife is a hot-blooded French-Canadian...with cold feet/hands. She can't stand the thought of diving anywhere in Canada outside a heated swimming pool and she is not an off the rack gal.
As far as wetsuits go is Henderson's Hyperstretch the state of the art for ladies that want warmth and comfortable fit?
I wear polar fleece socks and Dupont Duofold Expedition Weight long underwear under my wetsuit and am warmer with it than without. One surprising plus to this combination was taking off my wetsuit and still being relatively warm due to the wicking properties of the Duofold even when soaking wet! I've even water-skied in my Duofold top and 1/4inch farmer john in 40 degree water and as long as my arms weren't submerged they were warm.
Ber
Ber
tinman
Contributor
Ber Rabbit once bubbled...
I wear polar fleece socks and Dupont Duofold Expedition Weight long underwear under my wetsuit and am warmer with it than without. One surprising plus to this combination was taking off my wetsuit and still being relatively warm due to the wicking properties of the Duofold even when soaking wet! I've even water-skied in my Duofold top and 1/4inch farmer john in 40 degree water and as long as my arms weren't submerged they were warm.
Ber
Thanks, I will look into the Dupont Duofold. I'm impressed that you can pull a wetsuit over these garments or does it make it easier? How about after the SI, on dive 2, when everything is wet? Would a "Wetskin" garment between this layer and the wetsuit help or hinder? (Oh BTW, "nice shoes" - I don't think even for a photo I could get my wife into high heels again. Pity...)
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