my first drysuit.... tips needed

[scubajoh44]

I've never been in a drysuit, and there is no where around here to rent one. No one at our LDS even uses one.

I bought one off of ebay, for super cheap. It's a Whites tropical (no boots). I plan on getting something warm for undies and just wearing my usual 3mm booties. I assist classes in 20 foot water all the time. Think I should try this suit out in a pool, the 20 footer, something deeper, or all of these? What skills should I work on? The only one I've really been told to know is the tuck and roll.

Oh, and since this suit doesn't have boots (just ankle seals), do you think I'll need ankle weights?......I'm at a loss. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[pickens_46929]

fleece sweats from sam's club or wally world work ok... for warmer water like 70 F or even as low as 65 F... have a suit with boots though and normal sweat socks worked ok... what water temps?

 

[drl]

I'm a relatively new drysuit diver--since last spring--but that means I remember what it's like the first time! Try it out in the pool first but then in something deeper. Some issues are not as obvious in 12' of water, since you need less air in the suit.
Practice everything. Buoyancy control especially, since it feels different. You can read (and probably have read) the endless debate about whether to use your suit or BC for buoyancy control. Try it with the suit at least once (shallow) just to see what it feels like. Practice dumping air before even a small ascent till you do it without thinking. This is key! A drysuit doesn't dump air as fast as a BC so you have to keep ahead of it.
Practice things like reg recovery--the increased bulk of a drysuit can make this tricky; you want to know what it feels like before you need it. (Yes, that is the voice of experience talking...)
Since the suit doesn't have boots, you probably will not need ankle weights unless you have floaty feet to start with, and probably won't have to worry about a feet-first ascent. If you find your feet are floaty you can always add them later.
Best of all would be to find an experienced drysuit diver to practice with you in the pool and give you pointers, if that is possible.

Good luck to you!

Deborah

 

[TSandM]

Try it in the pool first, and make sure the dump valve WORKS. They can get sticky or even fail to dump if they get corroded or crusted with salt (BTDT -- borrowed suit). When I had this problem, USIA gave me some good tips on how to fix it. But you don't want to find out that you can't vent the suit when you've spent some time at 70 feet already

 

[Divedoggie]

If you would have hung out a bit longer last weekend, we could have given you all kinds of advice! ;0

Yes, use it in the pool! Get used to how the valves work.
Wear it in the pool without tanks, and swim around, play around, get comfortable.
Get upside down and figure out how to get rightside up.
Wear some form fitting, but thick sweats under it.
2 pair of thick socks or neoprene socks.

Start practicing bouancy control with adding and venting air into and from the suit. Keep you bc empty while in the pool unless you really need to inflate it.

You will close your vent valve at the bottom of the pool and fill the suit. Open the valve when you ascend, or when you start your descent. Open it to exhaust excess air. Open it if you are unsure!
Figure out the body position you need in order to vent all of the air from your suit. The exhaust valve will need to be the highest part of the suit.

Drysuit bouancy and the valves are now going to be a part of thinking process.
Computer, SPG, BC inflator and exhaust, suit inflator and exhaust. Check, check, check.

We'll all be dry at the Hole now!

 

[Captain CaveMan]

tuck and roll is a must to know but also a stuck inflator botton drills, so a couple feet up drills, a hint to deflating is keep the valve at full turn to the left or--open it dumps esay but for a starter to better to be - than to +. your going to have to carry more weight to compensate for the suit so go spend time in the pool and than go to OW. and do everything again except the stuck inflator vave drill

did you go pick up Padi's dry suit video if you did i would watch it to get a idea for the drills.

 

[scubajoh44]

If you would have hung out a bit longer last weekend, we could have given you all kinds of advice! ;0
We'll all be dry at the Hole now!

I found out I won the suit while I was at the hole. Yall are the only people I "know" who dive dry. I'm sure I'll be PM'ing you more questions after I use it the first time in the pool. (Don is a wetsuiter.)

I can get some good drysuit "undies" for about $60. Do I NEED these or will WalMart stuff work ok? Will the WalMart stuff be just as expensive? I've been told not to use cotton. (makes sense)

 

[scubajoh44]

tuck and roll is a must to know but also a stuck inflator botton drills, so a couple feet up drills, a hint to deflating is keep the valve at full turn to the left or--open it dumps esay but for a starter to better to be - than to +. your going to have to carry more weight to compensate for the suit so go spend time in the pool and than go to OW. and do everything again except the stuck inflator vave drill

did you go pick up Padi's dry suit video if you did i would watch it to get a idea for the drills.

Don't have the video. Don't really want to purchase it, but considering I don't plan on diving with anyone that knows anything about drysuits before I try mine out, I might think about it.

What are the stuck inflator drills like?

 

[wb416]

Keep your eye out for undies on ebay. I just picked up some DUI 400g's for $125!

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

most drysuit undies won't work with the Whites Tropical as they come with footstraps which of course will cause a leak.