Why didn't you get the suit in Medium short?
Question Semi-Dry squeeze??
- Thread starter WestyWest
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Why didn't you get the suit in Medium short?
johndiver999
Contributor
If practical, you can fill the suit with warm water before the dive. If you add enough to make it squish out in a few places, then it should displace almost all the air inside the suit. This will prevent a suit squeeze.
My buddy got a terrible nut squeeze the first time he tried a 5 mm freedive suit, I however, never had so much fun as when I was explaining to him that the source of his considerable discomfort was directly attributable to excess air space in "that region of the suit".
My buddy got a terrible nut squeeze the first time he tried a 5 mm freedive suit, I however, never had so much fun as when I was explaining to him that the source of his considerable discomfort was directly attributable to excess air space in "that region of the suit".
Just wanted to share that I failed a dive today due to my attempt to avoid suit squeeze (using scubapro's novascotia semi-dry).
I added 2Kg to my usual weights (totaling 10Kg) and blew a bit of air through the sleeve to avoid the squeeze (or to avoid having to flood the suit at the bottom as I usually do but defeats the purpose of a semi-dry).
So, unable to descend I opened the suit to release all the air. No luck. I opened some more to add some water, no effect. Tried to pull myself down via the anchor's cable. Reached 4m deep and started wondering this might not be a good idea. Released the cable and started to slowly ascend. By this point I was having quite the anxiety attack. Reached the surface I noticed as I was short of breath. Cancelled the whole thing and strongly considered throwing the suit away.
I'm becoming more and more against semi-dry suits. If I add air at the top I need an insane amount of weights to counteract. If I don't add air then the suit squeezes and requires flooding which will make you cold defeating the purpose.
I added 2Kg to my usual weights (totaling 10Kg) and blew a bit of air through the sleeve to avoid the squeeze (or to avoid having to flood the suit at the bottom as I usually do but defeats the purpose of a semi-dry).
So, unable to descend I opened the suit to release all the air. No luck. I opened some more to add some water, no effect. Tried to pull myself down via the anchor's cable. Reached 4m deep and started wondering this might not be a good idea. Released the cable and started to slowly ascend. By this point I was having quite the anxiety attack. Reached the surface I noticed as I was short of breath. Cancelled the whole thing and strongly considered throwing the suit away.
I'm becoming more and more against semi-dry suits. If I add air at the top I need an insane amount of weights to counteract. If I don't add air then the suit squeezes and requires flooding which will make you cold defeating the purpose.
It's supposed to be flooded. If you want to stay dry, you need a real drysuit.
As a point of reference, I have an AquaLung SolAfx, in size MLL (medium-large long). It's 8mm thick in the chest, and 7mm thick in the arms and legs, so overall similar to your 7.5mm ScubaPro. With a stainless backplate (-5lbs), wing and Faber HP100 tank (-1lb) I need about 14-16lbs of lead. So the total ballast is about 20-22lbs, or about 9-10 kilos. If you are diving comparable gear, then 10 kilos should be enough to sink. If you're using an aluminum tank (+4lbs buoyant) then maybe you would need about 2 kilos more than I do.
Agree with Inquisit. Flood the suit before you go down if it's an issue; as suggested above, you can do this with warm freshwater if you prefer. Semi-dries are not intended to trap air, this is unhelpful. One of my dive buddies always has issues with trapped air in his semi-dry, and so he will enter the water with his chest zipper about 1/4 of the way open. Once he's in the water, the suit will burp most of the trapped air, he zips the suit fully, and goes on to dive. Maybe something like this will work for you.
Also, if you were working hard pulling yourself down the chain and on the verge of an anxiety attack, that might have been a contributing factor. When we work hard, and especially when we are anxious, we will have a tendency to hold breath in the lungs and not exhale fully. You might find that the same exact gear with a calmer mind may allow you to exhale fully, and gently sink. I have had days where I struggled to get down. Sometimes just taking a break, giving myself a good couple of minutes to relax, breathe, and feel comfortable made the difference.
Agree with Inquisit. Flood the suit before you go down if it's an issue; as suggested above, you can do this with warm freshwater if you prefer. Semi-dries are not intended to trap air, this is unhelpful. One of my dive buddies always has issues with trapped air in his semi-dry, and so he will enter the water with his chest zipper about 1/4 of the way open. Once he's in the water, the suit will burp most of the trapped air, he zips the suit fully, and goes on to dive. Maybe something like this will work for you.
Also, if you were working hard pulling yourself down the chain and on the verge of an anxiety attack, that might have been a contributing factor. When we work hard, and especially when we are anxious, we will have a tendency to hold breath in the lungs and not exhale fully. You might find that the same exact gear with a calmer mind may allow you to exhale fully, and gently sink. I have had days where I struggled to get down. Sometimes just taking a break, giving myself a good couple of minutes to relax, breathe, and feel comfortable made the difference.
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my tailor made semi drys sometimes come up only with perspiration no squeeze no flooding required
although freeballing is not recommended
although freeballing is not recommended
I just got a semi-dry Apeks thermiq 7/8 and it’s very snug (I can move but it does hug me when I put it on), was told that the tighter the fit the better so less air trapped inside. I was thinking that if there was squeeze I could let water in but now I’m a bit worried that might not be possible if neck seal is vacuum shut. Is there any other way to get water in? Would unzipping (chest zip) work or would peeing stop it if you had no other option?
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- 6,877
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Dude whilst standing straight and tall if you can't fully inflate your lungs without fighting neoprene
your suit is too small
and may also kill you
your suit is too small
and may also kill you
No problem taking deep breath, i can reach over my shoulder etc but I know I’m in a suit, just worried there isn’t a lot of give to pull it away from my body to move any trapped air up and out
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