Semi dry vs. 7mm 2-piece

[Lucas D]

Hi all,
I've recently started up diving again after not diving for 2 years. I want to go wreck diving in the great lakes area, but unfortunately my wetsuit is not warm enough for the deep waters (70-100 ft). I've heard some people say that a 2-piece 7mm wetsuit is the way to go, but I've also heard good things about the scubapro nova scotia semi dry wetsuit. Also, a dry suit is just too expensive for me. Anyone have an idea of what I should go with? Any opinions are appreciated

 

[northernone]

A fitting "double seven" (7mm with 14mm on the body) is warmer than any semi dry 7mm I've tried.

On a double seven you also have the option to tape the wrists and ankles too if needed after flooding with warm water which comes pretty close to being a semi dry in principle.

Not sure anyone disagrees with this finding?

 

[MichaelMc]

I do not have experience with semi-dry. But I highly recommend well fitting or custom farmer john and hooded beavertail.

I have a custom 10mm set, 20 mm on core. And an off the shelf 5mm farmer john and a custom hooded 5mm beaver tail. With the 10mm top and 5mm bottom, my lower back often has a patch of water sloshing in it, but my chest feels dry well into any dive. I do not recall sensing much water intrusion when using both custom layers. A very well fitting suit of this configuration lets little water in. A bonus is that you can mix thicknesses with a bit less custom fit, giving me three suit options, 20/10, 15/10/5, or 10/5. The 10mm are skin in, but the 5mm are normal neoprene.

 

[runsongas]

for deeper dives, the two piece 7mm will be superior in most cases because even after suit compression, you still will have more insulation left. only caveat would be if the two piece does not fit well at all. you end up using a lot of weight though to sink the suit and also need to watch out that you can be quite negative if you have a bcd problem.

really should think about getting a used drysuit though if you are going to regularly do great lakes wreck diving.

 

[JamesBon92007]

A fitting "double seven" (7mm with 14mm on the body) is warmer than any semi dry 7mm I've tried.

On a double seven you also have the option to tape the wrists and ankles too if needed after flooding with warm water which comes pretty close to being a semi dry in principle.

Not sure anyone disagrees with this finding?

Only in the sense that it was always the neck that leaked on my suits I modified the neck and problem solved to some extent.

If I wear a shorty suit under my full 7mm it keeps me from getting wet on my chest, back, butt, etc. so I guess that's semi-dry (?)