Pre-flooding a Merino lined wetsuit

[mkutyna]

I was looking at the listed benefits of merino lined wetsuits and I kept reading that the merino lining would trap water which your body heat would warm up and reduce heat loss after the trapped water had reached an equilibrium.

I'm curious if it is standard practice to pre-flood the merino lining before a dive so your body has a chance to warm the water up before going into the water. Or maybe use a thermos of warm water to pre-flood it?

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

You could....I have never done that though....I have seen someone preflood with a thermos though....They underestimated how hot the water was and were doing a very amusing dance

The water is going to get to the merino reguardless, I wouldnt start the heat loss any sooner than needed....Your body will start losing the heat to heat up the water....although the water will retain the heat, it wont retain as much as you lost to pre flood the suit....

 

[Nesher]

I just recently purchased and used my new Pinnacles Merino Elastiprene 3m wetsuit in Belize a week or so ago.

I have to tell you that it was extremely warm and I'm more than happy with the purchase.

There was a couple of times that water entered the suit on a giant stride because I didn't have the neck sealed properly. Even tho this happened, I still barely noticed the water temperature.

However, I would be very careful w/ a pre-flood. After multiple dives on multiple days. I did notice the cold eventually.

However I was so impressed with the Pinnacles, I'm going to purchase another 3mm and a 5 mm for the future.

You might want to be careful of the stitching. It appeared to come apart.

Still I love the suit.

 

[Shawley]

yeah but its a semi wetsuit and you cant pee in it

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Filling a suit with warm water before (or after) putting it on can really increase comfort in any suit. However, be very careful if you pour warm/hot water down the neck of your suit when it is on. You can be scalded easily because you can't get the suit off quick enough.

After a few accidents, I learned to take a careful sip of the water into my mouth before pouring it down the suit (most people are pretty used to sipping hot coffee/tea) so your lips won't really get burned. Also if it is cold out, your hands get numb and are unreliable as indicators of how hot the water is.

I used to take a cooler of very hot water out, and then scoop some up in a "bailer" add cooler water until it was safe and then do the pour. If you start out with a cooler of near boiling water, it will stay pretty warm all day.

 

[spectrum]

Priming a wetsuit with warm water pre-dive is a proven cold water strategy.

Water is going to end up in the suit either way. You can introduce it slightly above body temperature and have it feel delightful or wait for the open water to trickle in at whatever the temp du-jour is. Doing this drastically reduces the sting of water entry. Since less enters, less body heat is used to warm it. I use 1 liter down the collar making sure to let some find it's way into my sleeves. If you have your weight belt on already it will slow the drop of the water and let it really sing into you and the rubber. Most of it will escape but it still helps a lot, especially in the filled boots.

The water does not want to be too hot. Water that is very hot will disturb blood glow near the surface of the skin and can cause other problems.

Keep the outside of the suit dry since you do not want to promote evaporative cooling.

Save a few bottles for post dive. Spiking the suit when you get out of the water can let you recover slightly before peeling the suit off which is usually the most invigorating part of a cold weather wet suited dive.

Remember that water is NOT an insulator. Your body tolerates it in there and that's all there is to it. Other than that water in the suit is just more mass that your body is using energy to maintain a temperature differential in relative external conditions. The whole point of spiking the suit is to beat mother nature to the punch.

Pete

 

[mkutyna]

Excellent. Thank you very much everybody for your insight. Hopefully my wife can get a good 3-4 days of diving when we go to Catalina in April without getting too cold.

 

[meesier42]

I have never needed to do so. I wouldn't think that it will help, but I guess it can. I just get in the water and it floods itself. The exothermic reaction that wool undergoes is such a small factor that you will never see the results of it. I guess it will make an already wet suit warmer for the second dive.

 

[Dave Distel]

yeah but its a semi wetsuit and you cant pee in it

why not

 

[mikeguerrero]

I dive a ME7 with hooded vest, heated torso all of which are Merino based. I first dive is always really warm and comfortable at even 50 degrees of blizzard Monterey waters.

It's the postdive that kills me, peeling away that cold suit and then placing it back on cold.

I've purchased some cheap sweaters from payless and as soon as I get out of the water and make it to my car, I will peel away and quickly dry myself and suit up really warm clothing.

The suit goes immediately into a closed plastic container and before I donn in again, I hit it was some warm water bottles, I keep a cooler of hot water.

This takes away the sting of the cold wet against my body and makes donning so much nicer.

MG