Novice Exposure Question

[victorzamora]

In your situation, I'd seriously consider going dry.

I'd definitely be going dry before I got to 8mm. There's zero doubt I'd switch before I ever added anything beyond that.

 

[Kevo88]

In your situation, I'd seriously consider going dry.

A drysuit is definitely on my to-buy list. The price of admission is the only thing holding me back on it. My Hollis is pretty good down to about 56F when the sun is shining, so I figure I can suffer through the rest of the season a bit while I save up, then pick up a nice suit and training during the off season. That is unless I find a smoking deal somewhere along the way.

 

[Clark Fletcher]

Heck, sounds like Kevo88 might even need a good undergarment under a drysuit.

 

[tbone1004]

the biggest thing for this dive is a damned good hood. 3mm with a good hood is fine in low 70's for an hour long dive or so. If you have good cold tolerance, it's fine in the 60's with a good hood.
I have, and will willingly do dives in the 50's with a very good hood and a bathing suit long before I will do that dive in a drysuit with a heated vest and no hood. It infuriates me to no end when dive shops take people out without hoods on in cold water. It's f*cking stupid and downright dangerous.

If you got the pinnacle thing with the integrated hood, I think you'll be disappointed with it in the 60's and even in the 70's. For me, anything below 80F gets a full hood if duration is more than 30 minutes. If it's below 70F, it's automatically a 5mm hood, below 60f is 7mm hooded vest. With a 7mm hooded vest and a 5mm, I'm comfortable into the 40's for up to an hour exposure.

 

[2airishuman]

Currently, I only have a 3mm wetsuit. This weekend I'm planning to dive a treasure hunt at a local quarry. Currently, the quarry temperatures (to the best of my knowledge) are in the low 70s down to the thermocline (around 20 feet) and in the low 60s (possibly high 50s) below that. It may end up getting a little warmer because the air temps are supposed to get to the high 80s by Sunday when we're diving.

So, the questions are this:

1) Should I just go and rent/borrow a 7mm suit from my LDS?
2) Or is there something I can wear under my 3mm just to get me through the dive this weekend?​

At most, I'll probably be doing two dives of 45 minutes each. We can't get in the water until 9AM and have to be out by 11:30AM (for lunch and prize drawing).

If you're planning to go below the thermocline for more than half a minute or so, you'll need gloves and a hood.

I would make that dive in 7mm two-piece with an integrated hood, and I am fairly cold tolerant.

 

[Storker]

dive shops take people out without hoods on in cold water.

Whisky Tango Foxtrot?

There was one time I saw a guy planning to do a drysuit dive without a hood. We'd just climbed ashore when we noticed this youngster kitting up, hood missing. I walked over and started chatting with him. And I lied my arse off convincing him that we had planned on spending the next hour or so just mooching at the site, so there wouldn't be any issue if he borrowed my hood. Fortunately, he believed me.

 

[tbone1004]

Whisky Tango Foxtrot?

There was one time I saw a guy planning to do a drysuit dive without a hood. We'd just climbed ashore when we noticed this youngster kitting up, hood missing. I walked over and started chatting with him. And I lied my arse off convincing him that we had planned on spending the next hour or so just mooching at the site, so there wouldn't be any issue if he borrowed my hood. Fortunately, he believed me.

not abnormal for our students to show up to OWT without hoods, or with skull caps because the dive shop told them they didn't need it. Same shops will take their students out and do checkout dives without hoods on when the water is in the mid 60's.

 

[Storker]

Same shops will take their students out and do checkout dives without hoods on when the water is in the mid 60's.

If I have my math about right, "mid 60s" F is close to 18-19 degrees C. Just this February, I dived 19-20C water in a 5 mil WS and no hood. No prob. I wouldn't get my panties bunched up if someone told a n00b that 18-19C water could be dived just fine without a hood.

Where I usually dive, the water temp seldom - if at all - rises above 15C/60F. Usually, it's below 10C/50F. in those conditions, I'd say diving bare-headed was a recipe for trouble.

 

[victorzamora]

Where I usually dive, the water temp seldom - if at all - rises above 15C/60F. Usually, it's below 10C/50F. in those conditions, I'd say diving bare-headed was a recipe for trouble.

I used to dive hoodless exclusively. My first 3 dives ever with a hood ended with ear infections. I had sworn them off completely. @tbone1004 and I were diving in a local lake with very aggressive thermoclines. Surface was 80F/27C. Below 100ft, it dropped to 46F/7C. I got brain freeze, turned around, ascended above the last thermocline, donned the hood I had stowed in my pocket, and then continued the dive. I didn't even take the time to let him know I was abandoning him at depth.

 

[Storker]

Surface was 80F/27C. Below 100ft, it dropped to 46F/7C

That has to be a quarry dive, right? I have a serious problem imagining something like that in salt water.