Redundant buoyancy in warm weather

[Kevrumbo]

Our local GUE group did a trip to Truk earlier this year. I think almost everybody dove dry. I didn't hear of any suit problems, and some penetration was done. (I wasn't there, so I don't know how much.) I think that, if I were intending upon some heavy-duty wreck crawling that I thought had a high likelihood of damaging my suit, I might dive wet. But I'd be VERY careful to balance my rig in that case.

My drysuits (tropical and regular) have done extensive wreck penetration with no problems at all. Tropic held up phenomenally well in Truk and Red Sea wrecks.

I'm leaving for Truk & Palau next week and I guarantee that no one will be there diving a drysuit in 28 to 30deg C water temperature (that is, I don't know if any GUE groups will be there).

My brand new Body Glove 0.5mm skin suit last year was torn in the thigh and shoulder area on the first dives of the Oct Truk trip; the GUE Instructor totally shredded a brand new pair of X-shorts that I loaned him.

All my wreck penetrations were in tight cargo, crew, and engine room machine spaces; the I-169 Submarine barely hip & shoulder width openings in which I got momentarily stuck diving sidemount.

 

[RJP]

All my wreck penetrations were in tight cargo, crew, and engine room machine spaces; the I-169 Submarine barely hip & shoulder width openings in which I got momentarily stuck diving sidemount.

Yup, my 30/30 has been in the I-169, the Fumitzuki, and most of the lower engine rooms in the lagoon. A little rust and oil here and there, but none the worse for wear. Holds up better than my TLS-350 does in northeast wrecks in fact.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Yup, my 30/30 has been in the I-169, the Fumitzuki, and most of the lower engine rooms in the lagoon. A little rust and oil here and there, but none the worse for wear. Holds up better than my TLS-350 does in northeast wrecks in fact.

My 0.5mm wetsuit with no lead weights needed & balanced optimally with the BP/W or a sidemount Z-harness, has been inside every wreck in the Fourth Fleet Anchorage (Aikoku Maru, San Francisco Maru, Nagano Maru, Shotan Maru, Fujisan Maru etc) over 45m deep; on and inside the Oite Destroyer at 60m; and on the Katsuragisan Maru at 66m the deepest wreck in the lagoon --all mandatory deco stop dives and I've never had to worry about contingencies like loss of buoyancy because of a flooded exposure suit with a wing failure (as you would by wearing a drysuit and any additional lead weightbelt).

Total run times including deco stops approach 90min for the deeper dives, and I've been uncomfortably chilled in the water only once --I will be bringing a new heated cummerbundf belt this time to use as needed.

For redundant buoyancy, I always have the Halcyon Life Raft for survival surface flotation and a closed Halcyon Liftbag for buoyancy assist at depth if my Wing fails.
___

And so with all these back & forth anecdotal accounts --wetsuit vs drysuit in the tropics-- here's the objective clincher:

Name one dive guide at Truk or Palau (or even any other tropical open water dive-ops destination) that uses a drysuit regularly for work. . . ? (All are diving wetsuits, sometimes only board shorts and a rash guard).

 

[PfcAJ]

Ugh...

 

[00wabbit]

Ugh...

Agreed. What start off as a simple discussion devolved into a pissing match. Seems to be happening more and more lately.

I'll dive dry when its cold and maybe wet when it's not. What I got from the start of this thread is that it would be good to add a lift bag to the kit.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Agreed. What start off as a simple discussion devolved into a pissing match. Seems to be happening more and more lately.

Speaking of which . .. I like pissing freely in my tropical wetsuit too! At least you can just conveniently rinse it off unlike a drysuit with a leaky P-valve. . .

[Double ugh. .. ugh!]

I'll dive dry when its cold and maybe wet when it's not. What I got from the start of this thread is that it would be good to add a lift bag to the kit.

. . .And practice actually deploying it at depth and hanging neutral/ascending under control with it inflated, in a simulated Wing failure contingency (probably should have a Buddy watch).

Recommended closed circuit liftbag that can be orally inflated as well:
Lift Bags | Halcyon

 

[RJP]

My 0.5mm wetsuit with no lead weights needed & balanced optimally with the BP/W or a sidemount Z-harness, has been inside every wreck in the Fourth Fleet Anchorage (Aikoku Maru, San Francisco Maru, Nagano Maru, Shotan Maru, Fujisan Maru etc) over 45m deep; on and inside the Oite Destroyer at 60m; and on the Katsuragisan Maru at 66m the deepest wreck in the lagoon --all mandatory deco stop dives and I've never had to worry about contingencies like loss of buoyancy because of a flooded exposure suit with a wing failure (as you would by wearing a drysuit and any additional lead weightbelt).

Total run times including deco stops approach 90min for the deeper dives, and I've been uncomfortably chilled in the water only once --I will be bringing a new heated cummerbundf belt this time to use as needed.

For redundant buoyancy, I always have the Halcyon Life Raft for survival surface flotation and a closed Halcyon Liftbag for buoyancy assist at depth if my Wing fails.
___

And so with all these back & forth anecdotal accounts --wetsuit vs drysuit in the tropics-- here's the objective clincher:

Name one dive guide at Truk or Palau (or even any other tropical open water dive-ops destination) that uses a drysuit regularly for work. . . ? (All are diving wetsuits, sometimes only board shorts and a rash guard).

Ok, you win. I'm an idiot.

PS - are you suggesting I should model my diving style/gear after Chuukese dive guides that dive the SF Maru on an AL 80?

 

[bakodiver391]

Hi Kev, Good to see your evil doppleganger is giving the keyboard a good workout. This is one of those arguments that just won't go away. The drysuit faction says that a double bladder is just throwing gear at a problem, but isn't an unnesessary drysuit the same thing? My redundant bladder tucks into my existing wing cover and doesn't need any additional care or consideration until I need it, unlike your drysuit. My redundant bladder is MUCH less likely to be punctured than your drysuit. And by the way, I'm one of those dumb guides, except I work at Bikini, and my rig has brought me through hundreds of extreme penetration dives, which your drysuit won't do.

 

[victorzamora]

Are you aware that Kev is vehemently AGAINST drysuits in those conditions?

 

[bakodiver391]

Yes, I know Kev and how he dives. My remarks were prefaced with "someone said",and it was to those "someone"s that my remarks were directed. I can't be bothered wading through the previous posts to separate the pro and anti drysuit factions, nor do I expect to change any minds.