Semi Dry to Dry Suit???

[mtsidford]

I have a question for you, Is it possible to make a semi dry suit a dry suit? I have a Mares Semi Dry With a dry suit zipper accross the back. It is a fantastic suit and I typically come out of the water dry as a bone. I have been toying with the idea of adding a P-valve and a DUI Drysuit Inflator/Exhaust valve. Would this be possible. When I purchaesed the suit the owner of the shop had me try it on and used an inflator hose to blow me up like the staypuff marshmellow man and there were no leeks. So it seems to me adding the valves might just work. Any thougts on this would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[ShakaZulu]

Dang, you have discovered something new, buy a semi-dry and convert it to a dry suit. Thanks man, I was looking for a less expensive option. I wonder how well the thermal underwear would work..........dewd, if you want a dry suit, go buy one.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Please ignore SZ's rudeness, he tends to be a bit blunt.

The idea is sound on the surface but has a couple of significant problems. A properly fitted semi dry will not normally have enough room in it for good air flow to and from the valves let alone for any under garments.

I am not familiar with the specifics of your suit but most dry suit zipper equipped semi-drys (actually they are more like semi-wet drysuits) tend to have ankle seals and these can be problematic when used with air in the suit while in the water (as opposed to in the shop). The neck seal can also be problematic as many are not up to the standard required to retain significant amounts of air in the water.

Finally, valves can be installed but you'll need to install a proper base for them as the neoprene and nylon suit material istself is not conducive to keeping the valve leak free when the suit compresses.

If your semidry is on the large side, you could probably send it to some place like Superior Divers to have dry suit boots installed and perhaps a new neck seal if needed, but the cost of that compbined with the cost of the suit itself gets you into the range of a new back entry neoprene dry suit anyway.

And sometimes you can find some really good deals on neoprene dry suits. I recently picked up a O'neil 7mm drysuit with one dive on it for $225 on E-bay.

 

[Diver0001]

I have a question for you, Is it possible to make a semi dry suit a dry suit? I have a Mares Semi Dry With a dry suit zipper accross the back. It is a fantastic suit and I typically come out of the water dry as a bone. I have been toying with the idea of adding a P-valve and a DUI Drysuit Inflator/Exhaust valve. Would this be possible. When I purchaesed the suit the owner of the shop had me try it on and used an inflator hose to blow me up like the staypuff marshmellow man and there were no leeks. So it seems to me adding the valves might just work. Any thougts on this would be much appreciated. Thanks

The idea is feasible but would be more trouble than it's worth. To start with you'd have to buy a semi-dry that's much too big for you and add dry seals to the wrists, neck, ankles and an inflator and dump valve. The valves are the easy part.

Much easier is to turn a drysuit into a semi-dry..... All you have to do is dive enough with it and it happens automatically.

R..

 

[FrediSub]

Much easier is to turn a drysuit into a semi-dry..... All you have to do is dive enough with it and it happens automatically.
R..

Well, I thing that you can turn a drysuit into a full wetsuit, hardly a semi-dry