My buddy gets cold

[SangP]

Outta curiousity,

Does the 7mm suit have a hood? You could really prevent loss of heat by using a hood, warm gloves and warm booties.

A good alternative is to get heating packs, bring one along during the dive and if she gets cold use one under the wetsuit.

A good alternative is to get a Apena wetsuit. I've gotten 2 from Elios and these suits are much warmer than the regular wetsuits as there isn't any zippers for the heated water to leak out from. You can read many customer feedbacks from this site, do a search for Eilos:
http://forums.deeperblue.net/index.php

Just a word of advice, the 2 piece suits are harder to don on and off. I also found the suits a bit tight around the wrish and the calves but the guys at Elios are very helpful and you get to choose all the different materials for the suit. I'm very satisfied although the suits won't win any awards for style LOL!
http://www.eliossub.com

Look for this gent Stefano he was the man I was in contact with and he is really helpful.

Cheers,

SangP

 

[scubadobadoo]

The other thing is to keep the dives short. Do you have a hot shower for her afterwards? If not, bring warm water in old milk jugs. Getting her warm in between dives is going to be a big item if you are doing multiple dives. Also bring some hot soup or other fluids. Get out of the wind. If none of this helps, go dry or wait for better temperatures. Better to be safe.

Hope that helps.

Good advice. My wife is my buddy as well and she gets cold in Grand Cayman in 84 degree water. She is petite and a much more fluid and gentle diver than I am so she gets colder faster. Keeping the dives shorter and warmer in between is solid advice. A new hood helped us too in really cold water.

Now to my opinion about dry suit diving and a cold wife. We bought dry suits almost a year ago and it has helped but it hasn't solved the problem of the cold completely. You still get cold in a dry suit. I believe it's kinda silly when people say, "I was toasty warm in my dry suit in 34 degree water." Yeah right. I have never been toasty warm in my dry suit in 50 degree water. Does it take me longer to chill to the bone and core in my dry suit? Yes. Do I warm up as soon as I get out of the water? Yes. These are the things that make dry suit diving great. SO, if you get dry suits she may still complain about the cold even with the best undies in the planet on. It's a fact, woman tend to chill faster than men. In the 60 degree range the dry suits have been awesome! She will dive as long as me and longer since I run out of air first. In the 50 degree range she still chills and wants out after 40 minutes or so depending on current and work load. In forty degree water she is done in 25 minutes and frankly so am I. However, now in forty degree water with a dry suit she will do two 25 minutes dives instead of one and then copping out on the second. Just some scenerios.

You know what else helped? Going to the gym and strength training with her. Now that she is a little stronger all that extra gear doesn't become as much of a burden for her. I think many people without upper body strength tire out more when cold water diving because of all that darn heavy gear. It really is a pain sometimes. How many people really consider freezing and lugging gear a fun weekend?

My wife is almost as addicted to SCUBA as I am but her addiction starts to decline when the words "cold water" come into play. In the long run, a small amount of compromise will go a long way. It's a small price to pay to share a sport and passion with your best friend huh? I'm sure you agree! ANyway, just some thoughts that may or may not apply to you. Hope they help!

 

[Ber Rabbit]

I get cold very easily since I'm small and thin. I dive dry now but even in 400g thinsulate dry suit undies I get cold in 60 degree water. I still haven't gotten to the point where I like my drysuit better than my wetsuit since I'm warm in the wetsuit at that temperature. I did recently get a pair of dry gloves and they have helped with the cold issue. It is nice to be warm and dry on the surface interval and as soon as I finish figuring out the leaks in my suit I'll achieve that

Hope you find a way to keep her warm and happy!
Ber

 

[JimC]

<rant mode on>
Thick wet suits have no place in diving. If you need the warmth of a thick wetsuit what you actualy need is a drysuit with a good under suit. Hypothermia is not something to me toyed with. What happens if your stuck in the water after the dive?
</rant mode off>

Having had someone diving wet with me once almost go hypothermia and require rescue is not an experience that I care to repeat. If your both wet, its double bad. This person finished the dive with the last of there energy and could not climb out of the water. I seriously believe were someone not there to help her she would have probably died.

A dry suit with good and proper undies, gloves and hood keep me toasty warm in 32f water for over an hour.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Having had someone diving wet with me once almost go hypothermic and require resque is not an experince that I care to repeat. If your both wet, its double bad. THis person finished the dive with the last of there energy and could not climb out of the water. I seriously beleive were someone not there to help her she would have probably died.

A dry suit with good and proper undies, gloves and hood keep me toasty warm in 32f water for over an hour.

Can you tell us a little more about this dive please? It sounds like you were diving dry and pushing someone who was diving wet to meet your dive plan. I'm hoping you know that's an unrealistic expectation in cold water and the medium of communication is the problem here. I'm glad you can stay toasty in 32f water for so long. If I were to simply judge you by this post I can say you wouldn't like diving with me because in 40f water in my dry suit with attached hood, using my beanie, dry gloves, 400g thinsulate Viking undies, expedition weight underwear under that and quilted cold weather underwear between them I'm cold enough to get out after 20 minutes. I wear a 1/4" wetsuit until the water gets over 80f then I move into a 3mm full suit with a 3mm shorty over it and I almost always wear a 1/4" hood no matter how warm the water is, I get that cold that fast. The only dive I ever did when I was warm in less than that was in 96f water and I was toasty in a dive skin. Never push someone to dive past the point where they are uncomfortably cold no matter what the water temperature. You have to dive to the skills/tolerance of the weakest team member, you've already had a dive that illustrates the reason why. You have to choose your dive buddies wisely if you don't like someone getting cold and cutting your dive short.

No flames intended.
Ber

 

[JimC]

I thumbed the dive. They wanted to stay in the water longer. If someone says the the dive is over, its over - no questions. I was dry, but I assure you I wasn't pushing anyone to do anything. In fact I repeated a few times on the dive plan that when they even STARTED to get cold to thumb it, because its a 15 minute swim home.

And your right, if you get cold in that get up in 40F water I wouldn't dive with you in 32F. That would be stupid of me - butting us both in that kind of risk. Everyone needs to know there limits and respect them. I just don't believe most people realize how insane it is diving in cold water in a wet suit.

 

[Goose75]

Now to my opinion about dry suit diving and a cold wife. We bought dry suits almost a year ago and it has helped but it hasn't solved the problem of the cold completely. You still get cold in a dry suit. I believe it's kinda silly when people say, "I was toasty warm in my dry suit in 34 degree water." Yeah right. I have never been toasty warm in my dry suit in 50 degree water. Does it take me longer to chill to the bone and core in my dry suit? Yes. Do I warm up as soon as I get out of the water? Yes. These are the things that make dry suit diving great. SO, if you get dry suits she may still complain about the cold even with the best undies in the planet on.

You are correct in that she may be cold in a drysuit as well. Since coming to Seattle I've been diving in 44F water both dry and with a farmer john 7mm. The farmer john I rented magically fit snug and I have very little water circulation. As a result I felt warmer than in the drysuit I was using. This was for a single dive that was short. So, I agree with scubadobadoo, a dry suit may be better all around but it also may not "fix" your problem.

 

[Kestrell]

I understand the cost issue, but I wouldn't worry about being too new. My 8th dive was my first dry suit dive. It was a bit intimidating and confusing at first but by the 4th dry dive, it became natural.

My wife still dives wet and she gets cold easily. We found getting a seperate hood that fit very well was crucial. The attached ones tended to be tight in some places and loose in others.

The other thing is to keep the dives short. Do you have a hot shower for her afterwards? If not, bring warm water in old milk jugs. Getting her warm in between dives is going to be a big item if you are doing multiple dives. Also bring some hot soup or other fluids. Get out of the wind. If none of this helps, go dry or wait for better temperatures. Better to be safe.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the advise. I'll try these suggestions. There will be a hot shower and the warm jug of water sounds like a good idea too.

Might consider a dry suit sooner rather than later too.

 

[kazinvan]

I don't think it's too early to start diving dry, I have never dove in a wetsuit, all my dives have been dry from day 1 (except some pool dives in OW cert).

 

[nwdiver2]

Take a 48 lt/qt cooler fill 2/3 with hot water, float some drinks in the hot water (hot tap water, it will cool slowly but the mass in the cooler tends to keep it pretty warm so be careful after the dive), we like apple juice. Before the dive put the hoods and gloves in the hot water then put on just before diving. After the dive pull out a nice warm drink (this heats from the inside) and pour a couple of qt. of warm water down the suit. Do not do this to a hypothermic person.

Also use duct tape to seal the boot to the leg of the wet suit, this will hold the water warmed by the body in the suit longer.

In the next few years get dry suits.