Rescue in a drysuit?

[ChrisA]

I'm a new drysuit diver. I'm pretty comfortable with the idea of jumpping overboard from a boat wearing just a wetsuit and no other gear. Same goes for running into the surf and swimming out a ways.

But last night I was wearing a drysuit. It was a trilam with thin fleese undergarment. I was thinking seriously last night of running back into the surf with jjust the suit. But stopped. I had no idea if the drysuit was positive or negative bouyent. and with no tank and reg there is no way to add air to a drysuit. They lack oral inflaters like a BC has. So as this was just a "gear rescue" and not a person in danger I let someone else go in. I'm going to have to experiment some time in daylight and low surf condidtins.

What's the "standard advice" to would-be rescuers who dives dry? Seems to me it might be "don't go into the water without either an inflation system or take the suit off first If so, you are then ineffective with all that weight

 

[JeffG]

I had no idea if the drysuit was positive or negative bouyent.

Positive

 

[renpirate]

Rescue swimmers often wear dry suits, so its not uncommon. In general your suit will be positive unless it is punctured. In the event that happens you will be in trouble when the suit floods. In the event of a resuce, if you don't feel comfortable, then don't do it. That goes for any situation.

 

[fdog]

Positive

Unitil it's filled with water...

All the best, James

 

[JeffG]

Unitil it's filled with water...

All the best, James

Its still positive. The amount of being positive would depend on the underwear. Water itself is neutral. OTOH...Getting out of the water would be a lot tougher.

 

[Diver0001]

I'm a new drysuit diver. I'm pretty comfortable with the idea of jumpping overboard from a boat wearing just a wetsuit and no other gear. Same goes for running into the surf and swimming out a ways.

But last night I was wearing a drysuit. It was a trilam with thin fleese undergarment. I was thinking seriously last night of running back into the surf with jjust the suit. But stopped. I had no idea if the drysuit was positive or negative bouyent. and with no tank and reg there is no way to add air to a drysuit. They lack oral inflaters like a BC has. So as this was just a "gear rescue" and not a person in danger I let someone else go in. I'm going to have to experiment some time in daylight and low surf condidtins.

What's the "standard advice" to would-be rescuers who dives dry? Seems to me it might be "don't go into the water without either an inflation system or take the suit off first If so, you are then ineffective with all that weight

Close your exhaust vent all the way and remove your weightbelt. The drysuit will be very positive and a little hard to swim in without flippers on.

R..

 

[TSandM]

As an exercise in figuring out weighting, I got in the pool with my dry suit and undergarment on -- no gear. With the valve open and as much air exhausted as I could, it took 28 pounds to get me neutral. Dry suits are quite positive.

 

[fdog]

Its still positive. The amount of being positive would depend on the underwear. Water itself is neutral. OTOH...Getting out of the water would be a lot tougher.

Obviously it depends on the person. For me, wearing fleece in a shell suit, open the neck dam = glug.

All the best, James

 

[S. starfish]

Man, one of my favotire things to go is grab my fins, gloves and hood and just go float about in my drysuit. Very comfortable and very relaxing, except if you're not careful your face can get burnt or people might think you need rescuing.

A flooded neoprene drysuit should keep you floating w/ no weights/gear on but I'm pretty sure a shell suit will sink.

 

[cummings66]

Assuming no flooding, if you don't have a weightbelt on then you'll be positive. You can't get all the air out of a drysuit regardless of it's construction so you can rest assured you'll float.

Actually you can get all the air out but you'll have to use a vacuum device. A buddy of mine does that, looks like a raisin going in because he hooks a vacuum line from his car to the suit and pulls the air out.