New DS Diver, Still Alive

[dkatchalov]

Ok, so as a new DS diver, I couldn't be bothered waiting for the DS specialty course and jumped in the water with my Pinnacle Evo 2 with no prior DS experience.

My pool session in the suit was disastrous, painful and I absolutely hated. The pier practise before my boat dives was much better and I practised my rolls, disconnecting the hose, etc. I was fine and decided I need more weight.

For the boat dive we did a 19 metre reef dive and I was fine in the suit. I got all the air out in the first 5 metres or so and closed the exhaust valve. Then I took the squeeze off by pumping some air in and I was fine. Floaty legs, etc. weren't a problem.

So I am alive and well and now have to figure out a way to get my LDS to return my money for the course.

I have two questions though:

1. I had 11kg of weight on, which is almost double the 6kg I normally wear with my full 7mm wetsuit and other exposure protection. I am sure I was overweighted. I actually needed to pump air into my wing to get me off the bottom on ascent. At the 5 metre stop, I was nowhere neutrally buoyant. In fact, my wing was substantially inflated to just keep me at that depth and I had to continue finning.

It basically looks like my weight should be about 6 kg - same as for my wetsuit config. Have any divers experienced a situation where there wet and dry requirements are the same? Btw, at the bottom, I had to pump a truck load of air into my BC to keep me from scraping the bottom and basically dragging along it. It was not ideal and I had to work a lot harder due to the weight.

2. Is it normal for theneoprene DS boots socks to get water in them?? The evo 2 has the attached neo socks and my actual cotton socks were socked in them. The rest of me (including my undergarment) was dry as, but my socks were soaking wet. Is this normal?! Or is there a leak in the suit and I am not aware of it? It certainly didn't feel like the suit was leaking during the dive.

Thanks.

 

[Divingguy]

Glad you survived!! Hoping my Evo2 will arrive tomorrow. Mine has the "boots" attached, but I am very concerned that the shop ordered them in my shoe size, instead of allowing an extra size. We'll see. As far as weights, I have been told that as a rule of thumb, your drysuit weighting should be close to what you use in a 7 mil w/ hood. However, I have also been told, and in my limited DS suits, agree, that it is better to be slightly heavy until you get the hang of it. Sounds like you may need to lose at least 3 kg, and then try again. Good job on not going inverted!!

 

[tstormdiver]

For your weighting, how much you need depends a lot on the thickness & the loft of the undergarment. In my first drysuit, which had undergarments that were about 200g weight, I was still cold. I could use 30lbs (13.6kg) to get down while in Recreational configuration. On my current drysuit, I wear 650g undergarments (Pinnacles). I now, must wear 50lbs (22.7kg) to get down. As for your wet feet, I'm not sure if you have a leak or not. You might try sealing up the suit, inflating it & using a spray bottle of soapy water to see if there are any leaks.

 

[ronbeau]

OK, so as a new DS diver, I couldn't be bothered waiting for the DS specialty course and jumped in the water with my Pinnacle Evo 2 with no prior DS experience.

My pool session in the suit was disastrous, painful and I absolutely hated. The pier practice before my boat dives was much better and I practiced my rolls, disconnecting the hose, etc. I was fine and decided I need more weight.

For the boat dive we did a 19 metre reef dive and I was fine in the suit. I got all the air out in the first 5 metres or so and closed the exhaust valve. Then I took the squeeze off by pumping some air in and I was fine. Floaty legs, etc. weren't a problem.

So I am alive and well and now have to figure out a way to get my LDS to return my money for the course.

I have two questions though:

1. I had 11kg of weight on, which is almost double the 6kg I normally wear with my full 7mm wetsuit and other exposure protection. I am sure I was overweighted. I actually needed to pump air into my wing to get me off the bottom on ascent. At the 5 metre stop, I was nowhere neutrally buoyant. In fact, my wing was substantially inflated to just keep me at that depth and I had to continue finning.

It basically looks like my weight should be about 6 kg - same as for my wetsuit config. Have any divers experienced a situation where there wet and dry requirements are the same? BTW, at the bottom, I had to pump a truck load of air into my BC to keep me from scraping the bottom and basically dragging along it. It was not ideal and I had to work a lot harder due to the weight.

2. Is it normal for the neoprene DS boots socks to get water in them?? The evo 2 has the attached neo socks and my actual cotton socks were socked in them. The rest of me (including my undergarment) was dry as, but my socks were soaking wet. Is this normal?! Or is there a leak in the suit and I am not aware of it? It certainly didn't feel like the suit was leaking during the dive.

Thanks.

Out of curiousity, why do you feel you won't learn anything valuable out of the dry suit course you already paid for?

It would seem to me if you have a well qualified intructor that you could learn some valuable information from the course that you didn't learn from trying out the suit on one dive.

 

[rigdiver]

My first DS with a single Al 80 took 37 pounds to sink me in the pool. THe undies were 23 oz wooly bear. Now with twin 112's and state of the art Weezle's I use no wt what so ever. Do buoyancy checks in the pool to help dial in what you need. I do suggest gaiters. With a Meg CCR/DUI crushed neoprene DS I used no wt with the weezle and am toasty. Good luck.

 

[Blackwood]

Glad you survived!! Hoping my Evo2 will arrive tomorrow. Mine has the "boots" attached, but I am very concerned that the shop ordered them in my shoe size, instead of allowing an extra size. We'll see. As far as weights, I have been told that as a rule of thumb, your drysuit weighting should be close to what you use in a 7 mil w/ hood. However, I have also been told, and in my limited DS suits, agree, that it is better to be slightly heavy until you get the hang of it. Sounds like you may need to lose at least 3 kg, and then try again. Good job on not going inverted!!

For my first dive in my DS (coming from a 7mm + 3/2 hooded vest) I used the same weighting. I was massively underweighted. Hopped in a pool and found out I needed almost double the lead.

 

[dkatchalov]

For your weighting, how much you need depends a lot on the thickness & the loft of the undergarment. In my first drysuit, which had undergarments that were about 200g weight, I was still cold. I could use 30lbs (13.6kg) to get down while in Recreational configuration. On my current drysuit, I wear 650g undergarments (Pinnacles). I now, must wear 50lbs (22.7kg) to get down. As for your wet feet, I'm not sure if you have a leak or not. You might try sealing up the suit, inflating it & using a spray bottle of soapy water to see if there are any leaks.

13.6 and 22.7 - damn!

I have the Pinnacle Temperate undergarment - Pinnacle Aquatics

I noticed that even with a full wetsuit configuration (7mm suit, hood, vest, gloves, boots) I only needed 6kg of weight, which is far less than what my LDS, dive buddies and general guidelines reccomended. With my wet config and 6kg, I could hold a stop at 5 metres with no air in BC on a single breath.

I'm starting to think I need to get back to that same weight (6kg) instead of my 11kg as it looks like I need less weight than other ppl.

 

[Divingguy]

Boy, the prospect of having to haul all that additional weight around is a little daunting, especially when you then have to add ANOTHER chunk of say 7 to 10 pounds for SALT water. I wonder how much of that is a function of the undergarments. Guess I'll be doing some experimenting here shortly.

 

[dkatchalov]

Out of curiousity, why do you feel you won't learn anything valuable out of the dry suit course you already paid for?

It would seem to me if you have a well qualified intructor that you could learn some valuable information from the course that you didn't learn from trying out the suit on one dive.

Because I've got the PADI drysuit book and an outline of the dives that are part of the course. I think I'll get more value out of putting the DS course money to pay for my AOW qualification instead of a DS specialty.

 

[dkatchalov]

I'm also thinking that my Pinnacle Temperate u/garment is not as lofty/buoyant as I initially thought. I mean it is relatively thick, but doesn't feel all that airy/lofty - it is temperate after all, hence I may have been thinking it is more buoyant than what it actually is. Hence I may have overcompensated with weight and actually need a lot less.