My steel doubles and wetsuit - no mix?

[walke121]

A failed drysuit that can no longer trap gas will loose all of it's initial buoyancy.

This should be considered when sizing your wing.

Tobin

Not exactly true. I have had a failed seal. You just keep that seal lower in the water and you can still use your drysuit for buoyancy. It will hold air just fine. I agree when Kevin said that I have never seen a torn drysuit. I have seen 2 people sit on masks and still not puncture a drysuit.

 

[texdiveguy]

Hello,

I have a question. I have just started my technical class and got myself a set of doubles - steel 120's plus steel plate and OMS single wing. Once in water, I noticed that I need no weight whatsoever, even when wearing my dry suit. Now the question - does it mean that I can't use doubles with wetsuit? The concern is that if I puncture my wing, I won't be able to establish a positive/neutral buyoncy at depth and hence going to sink like a rock. With dry suit, I can put extra air in it, but with wetsuit I am pretty much screwed. Anybody has the same concern? I don't really want to spend $500 for dual wing and I don't think that alluminum plate would make much of the difference

Thanks a lot

Do like I did and buy a used but in good shape 40lbs. redundant wing and use it as a stacked wing. You can run a fill hose to it and leave un attached. Problem solved. By the way MOST wings get torn or punctured on land during transport or loading/unloading by people,,,,,few are damaged prior to entering the water.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Not exactly true. I have had a failed seal. You just keep that seal lower in the water and you can still use your drysuit for buoyancy. It will hold air just fine. I agree when Kevin said that I have never seen a torn drysuit. I have seen 2 people sit on masks and still not puncture a drysuit.

A failed drysuit that can no longer trap gas will loose all of it's initial buoyancy.

This should be considered when sizing your wing.

Tobin

Uh try again. I never said all drysuit failures will result in the loss of all the buoyancy the suit provides.

I said a failure that leaves a drysuit unable to trap gas will result in the loss of the buoyancy the suit provides.

Torn suit, open zipper, blown out neck seal etc.

Tobin

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

A failed drysuit that can no longer trap gas will loose all of it's initial buoyancy.

This should be considered when sizing your wing.

Tobin

Tobin I agree.. Need to telll the ones in the other thread that.. One in particular Anti-Hero says that will not happen.. Some of us know better.. I had a full siut of water, all the way up past my inflator valve.. Good learning experience..

 

[joker31]

Lets see how long you can tread water in your swim trunks if I hand you 13 lbs of lead.

Tobin

Just a quick question from a non-DIR diver. I've read on a lot of threads that DIR is not just about gear. One thing that is always brought up is fitness. I have my AI students swim to the bottom of a pool and get a 10 lb weight. No mask, fins, snorkel, they can only swim with one arm (the other is holding the weight), then once they reach the surface they have to swim to the other end of the pool (25 yrds). My students are not in the best of shape when they start my class. Most can't swim 200 yrds without stopping. But they have all been able to do this drill.

So my question. If we should exercise good fitness as divers, then why is swimming up 13 lbs with fins a problem?

Note: I am not arguing on weather a drysuit is better or not. OP asked if double steels could be dove wet and safe!

 

[electric_diver]

I have seen several people with tears in their wings yet I have not seen a ripped drysuit. I have only seen drysuits that have had their seals fail. Never a torn drysuit.

I have seen a drysuit torn. It happened on a Lillie Parsons drift dive in the St. Lawrence river in 2008. My buddy turn to check on me, brushed the wall and a zebra mussel put a 1.5 inch slice in his drysuit. It was a good thing the water was still warm because he flooded pretty quick.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Just a quick question from a non-DIR diver. I've read on a lot of threads that DIR is not just about gear. One thing that is always brought up is fitness. I have my AI students swim to the bottom of a pool and get a 10 lb weight. No mask, fins, snorkel, they can only swim with one arm (the other is holding the weight), then once they reach the surface they have to swim to the other end of the pool (25 yrds). My students are not in the best of shape when they start my class. Most can't swim 200 yrds without stopping. But they have all been able to do this drill.

So my question. If we should exercise good fitness as divers, then why is swimming up 13 lbs with fins a problem?

Note: I am not arguing on weather a drysuit is better or not. OP asked if double steels could be dove wet and safe!

This threads asks about doubles. Doubles implies mandatory deco. Finning up to maintain 10-30+ minutes worth of stops is simply not a good idea regardless of the fitness of the diver.

Tobin

 

[joker31]

Tobin,
Good point... Wasn't thinking about that.
Thanks