Overkill or not 3 piece suit?

[mikeguerrero]

Hi,

Just wanted to get some feedback on a setup that I'm wanting to try out. I purchased the Merino Elastiprene 7mm, Merino hooded vest 7mm and the Merino Torso vest 3mm...

That would give me 7mm on my head, followed by 13mm in the chest and on my groin 10mm followed by 7mm at the extremeties...

This will be for California diving primarily Monterey and Norcal. Should I return the heated torso and get a light or should I keep it and mix and match?

Anyone ever dive this three piece? I tried them on at home and can feel the difference in protection and then without the torso heater I am less bouyant but then more exposed to the elements.

The torso also acts as a spring suit for florida waters during the summer; I have family in Tampa.

Well, just thought I'd let the experts start talking since my ocean dives are this Sat and Sun water temp is about 52 degrees F...

Thanks,

MG

 

[Cacia]

If diving dry is not on the table, keep it?

But the merino brand (Pinnacle) hoods do not fit over my head, shoulders, so hope you have tried that. The yoke peice just does not stretch enough for me and my shoulders and head are not that big.

13 mm is a LOT, do you feel like the Pillsbury dough boy? ...you might find the torso warmer overkill, but I am working on the memory of doing one dive in my Harvey 7 mm on Catalina.---with a 3mm hooded vest, and being fine for one 40 min dive.

 

[trucker girl]

I'd wear it. I'm in the market for a dry suit.

I dove Tobermory with a 7-6-5 one piece and a 5/4 hooded vest (5 hood- 4 vest). Plus a 1 mil beanie over the hood. It was 62-52 degrees when we were there. I would have liked more insulation.

 

[trucker girl]

Um- just a thought. If you can practice with that getup in a pool (preferably a non-heated pool ) that might be a good idea. That's a lot of neoprene- and if you're not used to it you might freak out. Better to get used to it in a confined setting than to mess up your dives.

 

[mikeguerrero]

Catherine,

Thanks for the quick feedback. Actually I do not feel like the pill boy, hehehe... When I did my pool dives last weekend I wore the 7mm farmer john and the 7mm jacket, then I felt like a pill boy in super 3D...

The M-E 7 is so stretchy you really don't feel the bulk, really. With all three pieces I don't feel akward at all, only that I can feel that my groin is protected since I can make out the line of the torso heater on my thighs, in my chest I just look buff, really buff....

It doesn't help out that I'm already barrel chested for a little guy. Anyway I think I'm going to keep it since if I dive deeper and bump into some thermoclines I'll be a little more protected..

Tucker girl, thanks for your feedback as well this allows me to evaluate that the water is truly cold and the more protection you have the better your dive might be. I just know that the pressure is going to crush this pill boy at greatere depths so having the extra layer might not be a bad idea.

Thanks,

MG

 

[boomx5]

Is there a reason you decided not to buy a drysuit?

 

[Jon C]

Mike,

Just curious, how much weight does all that neoprene need to sink? Seems like it would rival the drysuit requirements.

 

[Rob9000]

I don't think it is over doing it.....Some people wear the Bare wetsuit combo in Monterey...that is a 7mm jumpsuit with a 7mm step-in hooded core warmer that goes over it....so 14mm from mid-thigh to neck. Your setup means more to take off in a hurry when you have to go pee real bad.

I think part of the answer is how deep will you be going? The deeper you go, the more the suit is compressed and the less insulation you get. For example, I have a Pinnacle Arctic 7/5 Merino with a 5/3 Merino hooded vest that I wore in Monterey for a weekend of diving. Shore dives at Breakwater going no more than 30 feet were fine. Boat dives going down past 70 were downright freezing for me.

The other part of the answer is you probably don't know yet how easily you get cold in the water. I get cold easy. Other people can dive a 7mm jumpsuit and a hood and be OK. You mentioned Florida - I went diving in the West Palm area of FL in June or so...81 at the surface, 79 at depth...I was wearing a 3mm jumpsuit with gloves and 5mm boots and I was cold on the second dive. My 16 year old kid and I were recently in Monterey diving - he wore a 7mm jumpsuit and a hood with no vest and was fine.

So...if you are doing your checkout dives at Breakwater, then the jumpsuit with the hooded vest will probably be fine. Actually you should be fine even from a boat if the boat is chartered by your LDS and will therefore go to a place were you won't be going too deep. The only time you will be too warm with all of your layers on is on land.

As for me....I have since bought a dry suit for California diving.

 

[mikeguerrero]

Rob,

Thanks for the extended feedback on my 3 piece setup. I will be diving out of breakwater for my ocean dives so I expect not to be too cold. I will bring along the the heated torso and dive Sat without it. If I feel very warm in the water I might take it back. If I feel the cold creeping in on my second plunge I will consider keeping it.

The reason I didn't go with a drysuit is that my Open water training only encompassed wetsuits and I'd have to take a separate course to learn about the drysuit. Also I got all three pieces for a great deal at my LDS so I wasn't ready to dish out $1500 just yet on a drysuit.

As I get more experienced I will place a drysuit on my santa list but for now, a wetsuit will be fine. I use to boogieboard on a Mach10 with a convertible Oneil full
wetsuit back in the 80's in Huntington beach, and I would remember the water chilling me as it hit my warm body only to have it warm up in about 5 minutes.

Then after about 1 hour of surf I would start to feel cold, I don't remember the mm back then but I would bet it was a 3mm. This was me primarily on the surface of the water and not anything like diving.

Huntington beach water was always really cold and they tell me Monterey is even colder so I think I'm on the right path.

As far as weights go, I know that I will be bouyant but I already compensated for that last week when my instructor trained me in the pool with a 7mm farmer / 7mm jacket. I was very bouyant as I placed that jacket on and my weights barely brought me down to the bottom of the pool.

Now my three piece setup is less neoprene that 14mm thigh up to the hood vs 7mm hood, 13 torso, 10 groin, 7mm extremeties.

I called Pinnacle Aquatics and they told me I will still be less bouyant than their Farmer John/ Jacket setup called the Escape 7 which is 14mm at the core.

Keep in mind that a brand new wetsuit is more bouyant than a old training farmer john/jacket. I guess the bottom line is that comfort to each is what calls the shots. I will experiment and come back and give you my opinion.

Training in the pool I was very comfortable with the temp of the water under a complete farmer/jacket, I do recall that as some water would creep in I would feel the fresh cool water enter my suit. The ocean water will not be cool water entering, but rather very cold water entering.

I've talked to a lot of users on this board that have my setup without the heated torso and don't get cold at all, but they haven't gone to the extremes of deeper or repetitive diving.

I got an extra 4 lbs of weight to compensate the heated torso if I need it. I'm at 28 lbs with a Malibu BC. She didn't want to go down easy in the pool with jacket and johns 14mm. So the extra 4 lbs will make me go down hopefully with my three piece on Sunday if I put it on.

MG

 

[trucker girl]

Just a little fyi on my opinion- I am always cold. Others will be comfortable in a 5 mil farmer John (Notso_Ken is INSANE) and I'm wearing my 7 mil shivering. I get cold sitting in air conditioning. I'm a cold hearted person

I did dive the Breakwater (sorry if I get the lingo wrong) as a shore dive. Two dives- that was before I had my hooded vest so just a 7-6-5 (7mil torso, 6 upper arms and thighs, 5 lower arms and calves). Those two dives were 55 degrees and 52 degrees. And, even though it was shockingly cold for me, those were two of my favorite dives so far. Even compared to Cozumel and Hawaii. I look forward to being able to dive Monterrey again sometime!

I've turned into a fan of neoprene overkill- but only because it allows me to enjoy the dives more.

And, like I said, I'm in the market for a dry suit