From your description, it doesn't seem like you are doing anything overkill. Maybe with the gloves but I can certainly understand why. I am amazed you can work your camera though! Much of it sounds like my intended config for the Lakes trip. To give you a basic idea of my rig, I am wearing underarmour as a base layer (cold gear with the fleece top, or hotgear with the Thinsulate undies), a 200g Fleece or a 300g Thinsulate suit, a pair of polypro socks, a pair of wool socks, a USIA trilam suit, no hood yet, but a Pinnacle is coming. My rockboots are at the shop, but I've been wearing GI Combat boots for the past few months and liking them. I don't use gloves, but obviously will be for my trip.
Sounds like you've set up good protection for your Great Lakes trip! I assume you'll be trying to do deco dives on wrecks in 40F water. The low-activity deep stops will really be the test!
Regarding the manual dexterity of my SI Tech drygloves with two polypropylene liners, it has been surprisingly good.
I'm using the original Atlas (Showa) pvc 495 glove with original removeable large yellow liner over a fisherman's closer-fitting white liner.
I'd say the combination has better dexterity than 7mm gloves, but not as good as 3mm.
For example, my Ikelite housing has a grouping of four 3/16" buttons in a 3/4" square area and it's still quite easy to press the desired button.
Tying and un-tying 3/16" nylon line is possible also. Dog clips are easy. LP connectors a cinch.
Re-tying my Rockboot laces underwater has been very difficult though. Part of that was because my gut was in the way!
By the way, when the gloves are lower than my body, the compression makes them a nice firm fit. It's easy to position the fingers on an object and feel what one is doing.
When the gloves are higher than my body and filling with air, it's tough to get the right positioning of the fingers and that often puts excess material in the way. A real frustration....
I remember trying to tie off some heavy salvaged anchor to my flotation line.... I had to repeatedly stick my hands down low to squeeze the gloves then quickly bring them up and do some tying for a few seconds until ballooning became a problem....then lower them to get the squeeze again, and so on.
Felt like I was on a tv show.... "Underwater Survivor"!
I might make some wrist cinch straps for the drygloves to slow down the air flow when needed.
Regarding using only the drysuit for buoyancy control and managing the shifting of a larger amount of air:
This I cannot do. I have to keep my suit tight or I'll be all over the water. I've tried to keep some extra gas in there, and it causes problems every time.
I get away with this probably because my winter undergarments fill out my suit quite completely. Even though I use only my drysuit for buoyancy control, the larger amount of air shifting in my well-fitting suit is forced to move
through the undergarments, thereby slowing it down a great deal and giving me enough time to adjust attitude in the water.
With a looser fit, the air can move rather quickly through the gap between the garment and the shell.
I have to watch for that when wearing light undergarments in in this suit. That's also when I'm more likely to experience "ballooning".
And, since my suit isn't loose over my
winter insulation, ballooning is minimal.
It's also possible that my undergarments maintain their loft pretty well thereby not allowing so much air to shift. I don't know.
I do know that I can move to a vertical position without significant ballooning, then easily come back to horizontal with minimal finning. Doesn't matter if it's head-up or head-down.
Rapid air shifting and ballooning
does become a problem for me when I use very light undergarments in this suit. Then it's a baggy fit.
I might wear only a single layer of polypropylene long underwear in the Connecticut River when August water temps approach 80F.
Then, the air can shift quickly in the gap above the insulation. Of course, it's a much smaller total amount of air anyway, but it can balloon in one end and create significant imbalance.
That's when I'll put some air in my bcd and reduce the air in the suit (more squeeze). That's about the only time I use the bcd for buoyancy control.
The only other time is when I might want the squeeze to cool down, which is rare for me!
I'm sure you've found adjusting squeeze is a nice way of cooling down or warming up while cave diving in Florida!
Regarding turning a problem of excess undergarment material into an added "feature":
Interesting thought there. None of my undergarments have folds.
While doing a long dive in 32F saltwater a while back, I noticed coolness in my lower back, probably from the weight belt compressing the insulation there.
I've been thinking of making some kind of a less-compressible insulating pad for the kidney area. I'm going to do a little experimenting in February when saltwater temps occasionally get that low. I have a feeling such a pad could make a big difference.
Here again is another reason I may eventually switch to a backplate/wing. It would be nice to spread that weight out and move it off the low back and more onto the ribcage area.
Thanks for sharing this info. Doesn't sound strage at all. Seems well reasoned and thought out. Still a lot of lead, but I can now understand why you need it. This kind of stuff is why SB is great. No ego, no BS, just good information exchange that is certainly helpful for me, and hopefully helpful to others.
I appreciate you putting the info out there.
I wholeheartedly agree! ("Lot of love in this room, sniff sniff....")
Likewise, I appreciate your sharing of your experience and thoughts. It's a pleasure! I'll look forward to hearing about your Great Lake dives!
I greatly value the people who make ScubaBoard possible, since they promote such civilized, constructive and uplifting dialog, and even relationships!
Deeply grateful and indebted.
Dave C
