Made a drysuit mistake?

[robh]

So I did all my research, read all the forums, compared opinions and still made an uninformed decision (it turns out). The one thing I failed to do is demo different type of suits. I decided on a shell suit without trying one in the water and took advantage of a great deal on a Whites Nexus. Once I got it in the pool to practice with, I discovered how "grabby" shell suits can be. It only has one pool dive, and I never trimmed the seals. Should I sell it and switch to neoprene, get used to it, or give up the idea of cold water diving?

Rob.

 

[markfm]

I did drysuit/OW combined. Tried a shop trilam, it just felt weird, diving in a bag. Picked up a Northern Diver Divemaster compressed neoprene, love it.
Was it a local shop purchase? Ask nice and they may let you do something on a trade to a neoprene.
Get used to it is of course always an option.

 

[cameron]

Every suit is going to feel odd. Keep it and get used to it. Buy a neoprene for your next suit, then you will have an educated opinion.

 

[jonnythan]

The Nexus is unique in its construction, in that it is a bilaminate suit, not a trilaminate.

The Nexus is a suit made of nylon coated on the inside with urethane. This is the same way BC's are made. Since the inside layer is urethane, it is VERY grabby and also tends to break down over time, especially at flex points. This, IMO, makes the Nexus a false value in that, well, it kinda sucks as a suit.

This doesn't extrapolate to trilaminate suits such as the DUI TLS 350, Bare ATR Light, Diving Concepts Z-Flex, etc. These suits are two layers of regular nylon (or polyester) sandwiching a layer of actual rubber. These suits, generally speaking, are not grabby at all. Some manufacturers (like Northern Diver) use seam sealants that can be grabby at the seams, though.

 

[diver_paula]

Rob,

Were you wearing drysuit underwear with the drysuit? If you were in a swimsuit only or very thin undies given you were in a pool that could explain the 'clingy'-ness. It could also be you just needed to add a bit more air. Note I wrote a bit, not a lot.

Paula

 

[Dive-aholic]

You should be able to return it since you only used it once in a pool. Check with the LDS. I only have experience in neoprene, so I can't advise on trilam, but I can tell you if you get a neoprene suit, make sure it is crushed neoprene, not full thickness. It will give you a lot more versatility. It's not very comfortable getting into a full thickness 6.5mm dry suit in 90 or 100 degree air temps.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I'll second the comments on the limited wear of bilaminate suits.

I'll also second that any shell suit is uncomfortable without underwear. (neoprene suits on the other hand have a much milder squeeze)

I used trilam suit for well over a decade before switching to neoprene and I won't go back to using a trilam suit. Neoprene drysuits suits swim better than a trilam or vulcanized rubber suit and do not have the same problems with air moving excessively in the suit in feet up positions, etc. The stretch of the material allows for full range of motion with a much trimmer cut.

Personally, I prefer putting on a neoprene dry suit over a pair of sweat pants and t-short than I do putting on a trilam over a set of fleece or thinsulate underwear. I come a lot closer to a heat stroke with a shell suit and underwear in 90-100 degree weather than I do with a 7mm neoprene suit. And the neoprene suit feels warmer at depth in 40 degree water than a trilam with 400g thinsulate underwear.

I am not a big fan of crushed neoprene. It does offer stretch in the material, but it still requires relatively heavy underwear and gives up soemof the advantages of a neoprene suit.

Cost wise a neoprene suit is hard to beat as they tend to run 1/3 the cost of most other suit and underwear combinations. They do not last as long as a trilam in theory, but in practice we seem to get at least 300 to 400 dives out of them. Persoanlly, I seemed to replace trilams every few years anyway with about the same number of dives on them.

 

[Scottri]

I disagree about the Bilam suits. The one I currently have is about 14 years old and still going strong. There may be a difference in the manufacturer of the material. Mine was made by USIA and it's never leaked from anywhere but neck and wrist seals. I'm not a fan of neoprene suits but it's only my opinion. We call them damp suits here as they seem to wear out much faster. The seams weep over time.

 

[Jeff Toorish]

This is a helpful thread. I'm looking into buying my first dry suit. I live in Maine and would be diving it primarily in the northeast. Right now I dive with a BCD, but I feel confident is saying I will be switching to a BP/W at some point (the BC is brand new, so I really want to 'wear it out' a bit before making that change.)

I've read reviews of dry suits and see they land in three general categories with plusses and minues for all, leading me to believe location and diving preferences make a difference.

So, if I was going to try to mix comfort, some ease of motion, value and obviously warmth, what are your thoughts?

Jeff

 

[Scottri]

There are good things to be said for Bilam, Trilam, crushed neoprene, rubber and neoprene. I haven't used all of them so I can really only comment on what I know. I like bilam and trilam shell suits. I can adjust how much insulation I have easier. They don't compress at depth thus lowering the insulating value like neoprene. Money has a lot to do with my opinions as well DUI suits are so expensive that I have never bought one but I've heard very good things about them. If I had my choice I would buy a Viking or Gates vulcanized rubber suit but my wife does not see the value in it