Newbie wetsuit help

[rottielover]

My wife and I are taking the PADI OW course, and we've heard from a lot of local divers and friends of ours that dive that buying your own equipement is a REAL good idea...

That said, my wife also has a slight phobia about putting on a skin tight suit that somone else was wearing

ANYWAY... We're in St. Louis MO and the local Dive shop offers deals on 3/2/3 and 7/6/5 wetsuits. My wife got cold on our discover scuba dive in an 85 degree pool (I was fine with just my swim trunks) and for class I think they let you pick what suit you want out of the rental "pool" of suits...

My question is, especially related to doing our OW dives in a quarry where the temp water temp is about 70 in the heat of summer (this quarry is spring fed, and if you go down 50' the temp drops quick, what thickness of suit will we be most happy with? Obviously the 7/6/5 will keep us warm in the quarry, but is likely to overheat us in the pool. The 3/2/3 is probly good for the pool and if we go to the carribean, but I'm sure my wife will freeze if she dives a 3/2/3 in the quarry....

Obvouisly a 7/6/5 out of the water on a warm day will quickly make you sweat like a pig, but what about in 80 or 85 degree water? Or should we consider getting two suits both a 3/2/3 for summer and travel to tropical waters, and 7/6/5 suits for local diving ?

Thanks in advance!

 

[The Kraken]

Keep in mind that when you're doing your confined water work you will be in the pool for several hours.

You may think the 7mm will keep you too warm, but guess again.

The temperature of the water is less than that of your body. Even the 7mm will leach away the heat from the body for 3 to 4 hours of continuous immersion.

If they are "good deals" buy one of each.

the K

 

[Ann Marie]

For the majority of divers, women get colder than men---we just have less muscle mass then men.

I dive out in California where the water (on average) is about 62 degrees (my guess). While diving here I wear a 7mm wetsuit and a 3mm hooded vest (not always enough).

Diving tropical (80+ degrees) waters I wear a 3/2, IF I am NOT going to be doing a lot of diving.

In September, I am going to Bonaire for a DIVE vacation. I am bringing a 3/5/3 with me for that as well as a hood. I may be hot (which I doubt), but I would rather let some water in my suit to cool off than to constantly be cold.

Don't forget that after diving you may not feel cold but it can wear on your body. After repetitive cold diving you will be more likely to be tired above water. Also, if you are cold while diving you are going to use air faster and may be at higher risk for DCS.

If your wife doesn't like using a rental suit, buy her a lycra skin. Not only will she have that next to her skin instead of the wetsuit, it makes putting on the wetsuit easier, and you'll score points with her 'cause you thought of her. :07:

Hope that helps!

 

[rottielover]

Good point, especially since we cut short our "discover" dive when she got cold in the warm pool (I think the water was 80 or 85 degrees).

Sounds like the 7/6/5 should be a good "starter" suit, even for the confined water dives and later on we can get a "warm water" suit if we need to ?

I'll start looking into the "lykria" (spelling?) suit, I take it that those are a little like swiming suits ?

 

[spectrum]

You need both for the scenarios you describe. When you reach the thermocline and dive in the swing seasons 70F will be a distant memory. Dress for the deep.

When suiting up in warm weather for the quary dive get all of your gear ready. Synchronize as you suit up. Bring some bottles of cool water to toss down your collar and hood before donning your rig. That will buy you some relief as you help each other into your rigs and get into the water. Just getting in thigh deep will offer relief while you go through final checks.

There are several very good current hreads here on combinations of suits and vests that would be good reading.

Pete

 

[Li'l38]

My wife and I are taking the PADI OW course, and we've heard from a lot of local divers and friends of ours that dive that buying your own equipement is a REAL good idea...

That said, my wife also has a slight phobia about putting on a skin tight suit that somone else was wearing

ANYWAY... We're in St. Louis MO and the local Dive shop offers deals on 3/2/3 and 7/6/5 wetsuits. My wife got cold on our discover scuba dive in an 85 degree pool (I was fine with just my swim trunks) and for class I think they let you pick what suit you want out of the rental "pool" of suits...

My question is, especially related to doing our OW dives in a quarry where the temp water temp is about 70 in the heat of summer (this quarry is spring fed, and if you go down 50' the temp drops quick, what thickness of suit will we be most happy with? Obviously the 7/6/5 will keep us warm in the quarry, but is likely to overheat us in the pool. The 3/2/3 is probly good for the pool and if we go to the carribean, but I'm sure my wife will freeze if she dives a 3/2/3 in the quarry....

Obvouisly a 7/6/5 out of the water on a warm day will quickly make you sweat like a pig, but what about in 80 or 85 degree water? Or should we consider getting two suits both a 3/2/3 for summer and travel to tropical waters, and 7/6/5 suits for local diving ?

Thanks in advance!

Hello and welcome to SB! I'll say first, I use a skin (yes, lycra) for tropical climate. It's thin and might help your wife as a barrier (worn under) other "previously worn" wetsuits. You'll most likely need different thicknesses of wetsuits for various temps. There's lots of info on this in the exposure suits forum, you should check there. Also the fit and comfort are extremely important. You'll want to try many of them before buying. As an example, here's a thread on that topic- http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=102391 Good luck with your OW classes. You'll find the folks on SB very helpful if you have any more questions. Happy diving! (edited because, sheesh - ya'll are so fast, I thought I was going first!- told ya they'd know!)

 

[rottielover]

OK, I think we obviously need to consider buying more than one wetsuit.

Now my question has become "What suit should we get to finish our OW cert with, the 7/6/5 or the 3/2/3 (or even a 3/5/3)? / Will we be OK in heavier 7/6/5's in the pool?"

Here are the current conditions at the quarry for the OW check-out dives, I expect them to be about the same temps in a couple weeks when we do our diving:

Surface water temp 85 F
Water Temp @ 20' 77 F
Water Temp @ 40' 45 F
Water Temp @ 85' 42 F

Pool temp for confined dives is 80 F or 85 F depending but never below (so I'm told).

I've also checked out websites for other local diving hot spots (mostly quarry's and lakes around here) and most are about the same temps at the same depths (give or take 5-10 degrees F).

 

[Ann Marie]

My suggestion would be to get the 7/6/5 for your wife. Pour some water down the neck while you are gearing up if you need to. In the pool, you can go without gloves or a hood to help to stay cool. My feeling is that most divers don't wear enough thermal protection. Thinking, heck 80 degrees is warm. Well, it is outside the water, but don't forget that water will suck the heat from you faster than air.

By the way, at 45 degrees, your wife will get cold in a 7/6/5.

 

[rottielover]

Yea, I think we're going to go ahead and get the deal on the 7/6/5 suits, and I'm also going to look into hoods and gloves, I think we may end up with those core+hood deals at least for her.

On a side note, the Dive shop we're going to only has two kinds of footwear. One is a "reef shoe" type and one is a 5mil boot type. We both opted for the boot's, though I'm starting to wonder if our feet are going to get cold.

Here is what I know about neoprean from personal experiance: I went duck hunting in AK a couple years ago. I have 5mil chest waders and I was wearing fleece wading pants under that. The surface water was frozen to 5" thick so I'm guess the water temp was about 20ish F, and I froze my butt off in short order.

btw: I apologize for my poor spelling ablilities

 

[wolves64t]

Buy the 7mm suit and a hooded vest for both of you. Have your wife pick up a lycra suit that she can wear with the hooded vest while in the pool. I imagine you will be ok through your confined training without any other insulation. Then when you get to the quarry wear the hooded vest under your 7mm suit. Dont forget gloves and boots as well. Good luck with training, and have a great time.