Question Mesh base layer undergarments for drysuits?

[DANDM]

I've recently come across some hiking videos (like this one: Why Mesh Base Layers Are Warmer Than Merino Wool) about using mesh/fishnet base layers, and some people swear by them. I remember seeing the D1X hybrid drysuit having a sort of mesh layer. Also, some undergarments have some form of foam/mesh inside them too (like the chest area of Fourth Element Halo 3D).

Has anyone tried, successfully or unsuccessfully, to use a mesh/fishnet base layer for their drysuit?

 

[lexvil]

I’ve had good luck with gen 3 military type waffle fleece stuff, like they have here

Thermals, Base Layers, Underwear & Long Johns

armyu.com

You still need enough air in the suit to avoid over compression and wool over it helps in keeping moisture away from your skin.

 

[happy-diver]

Yeah mesh is great, but get coarse stuff, and white for the Greek restaurant after the dive for singing and dancing

 

[stuartv]

The mesh in a D1X is not a base layer. It's the outermost layer of your undergarments and it just exists to create an airgap between your undergarments and the outer shell, to make the suit warmer.

This is the first I've heard of using mesh as an actual base layer.

That video makes it sound pretty good.

But, it doesn't really make it sound any better than a good "conventional" base layer that actually wicks moisture away from your skin and to the mid-layer between the base layer and the drysuit shell.

I find Seaskin Tech Base and Fourth Element J2 base layers to work very well for that purpose.

I don't use Merino as a base layer. I use it as a mid layer for dives in the right temp range. I'm not at all convinced that Merino as a base layer would wick as well as the others I mentioned and keep you feeling like your skin is as dry as it feels with the Seaskin or 4E base layers.