Redundant buoyancy in warm weather

[Centrals]

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).

None of them can afford one!!
Interestingly most of the 'dry" divers that I met in SE Asia are trained by certain agency!!
I don't dive "dry" or in cold water and the 2nd bladder is my reduntancy for tec dive.

 

[Kevrumbo]

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.

Hey "BK", is that you? Good to hear from ya here! Hope all is well & still fun for you & the crew out there in Bikini. . .Still good & no signs of radiation sickness for me!

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?

No! The only dive guides I know that dive doubles, guide you thru the deeper wrecks AND do the deco profile with you are at the Truk Stop Hotel/Truk Lagoon Dive Center (Manager Rob McGann and Chuukese dive guide Nuwa). And consider yourself fortunate that you can be comfortable & tolerate a drysuit in the ambient heat and humidity of the tropics. . .

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

The only drysuit I would consider tough enough for advanced wreck diving is a DUI CLX450; but even for those who can wear a DUI tropical 30/30, could you tolerate the heavier thick cordura of the 450 and not overheat?

None of them can afford one!!
Interestingly most of the 'dry" divers that I met in SE Asia are trained by certain agency!!
I don't dive "dry" or in cold water and the 2nd bladder is my reduntancy for tec dive.

Yeah, especially the GUE guys in residence over in Puerto Galera Philippines at Tech Asia -but they have the time & money to spend maintaining their TLS 350 dry suits.

 

[bakodiver391]

Hi Kev, Yes it's me. Just finished up another successful season and now doing some deep commercial diving. I see you are about to embark on another adventure, have fun and dive safe.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Hi Kev, Yes it's me. Just finished up another successful season and now doing some deep commercial diving. I see you are about to embark on another adventure, have fun and dive safe.

[Hey BK, here's a unique commercial diver job lead back here should you want to come back to mainland USA. . .]

If I remember correctly, none of the Rebreather Divers on the Bikini Charter last July were using drysuits --and IMO that's another application (heavy RB Units) which mandates an auxiliary double bladder Wing for redundancy/back-up buoyancy.

 

[Centrals]

Yeah, especially the GUE guys in residence over in Puerto Galera Philippines at Tech Asia -but they have the time & money to spend maintaining their TLS 350 dry suits.

They can even afford a scooter because finning is too hard/hot for them in the summer! I don't think they are looking for the pgymy seahorses!!
A poor diver like me can only afford a 3mm + fins to dive more or less the same sites.

 

[KeesBL]

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.

Everyone from Seattle dove wet, it was pretty great. Two friends came along with us from California, and they dove dry. I'm not aware of any wreck penetration related suit damage, not that we didn't try.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Everyone from Seattle dove wet, it was pretty great. Two friends came along with us from California, and they dove dry. I'm not aware of any wreck penetration related suit damage, not that we didn't try.

I know one of the divers last June in Truk (before I arrived from Bikini Atoll July) was another GUE Instructor that was "prototype-qualify testing" the JJ Rebreather --and from hearing about this heavy RB configuration kit set-up, was glad to hear he did have redundant buoyancy in the form of a drysuit & an active buoyancy assist from depth if needed in the form of a Halcyon Scooter. . .

 

[tracydr]

The eLite is certainly not a tropical suit. Far from it. It's a full-on, insulated neck, chest overlay, double-zippered "cold wate" dry suit, they are quite common here in NJ. I'd have no qualms wearing an eLite for ice diving. Wearing such a suit in the Philippines would be assinine. Perhaps those people were under the mistaken impression that eLite meant that the suit was "lite" in terms of the exposure protection it provides, like a "lite windbreaker"?

Andy, all I can tell you about your "tropical or not..." suggestion is that I have done hundreds of dives in a genuine, purpose-made tropical drysuit in warm water in hot places. I've never been too warm, I've never overheated, I've actually never really even sweated noticeably. I can't say the same fir diving in Ben a thin wetsuit in the tropics.

I do not dive dry in the tropics due to some "inflexible adherence to dogma" but rather because I am far, far more comfortable doing so than in a wetsuit - at depth, at the surface, during stops, on the boat, gearing up. Everywhere. The drysuit + undergarments is also lighter, packs smaller than a 3mm wetsuit, and is dry enough to go into my suitcase about 15min after exiting the water.

I'm not trying to convince folks that everyone should dive dry in the tropics. However, I will point out that those folks who are the most vociferous naysayers have ZERO experience diving a tropical drysuit, and therefore have no idea what you're talking about. Sort of like writing a harsh review of a restaurant you've never eaten in.

Saving my pennies for one of those drysuits!

 

[danvolker]

It is still shocking to me that so many divers have no concern for the propulsive efficiency they give up when they wear a dry suit....It is one thing if it is 45 degrees, or it is cold and very deep where the wetsuit will not work....but in tropical waters, the dry suit means either you poke along, or you waste gas working harder than your evil twin would in a slick wetsuit.

 

[Michael Guerrero]

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