Serious drysuit question!

[JT2]

I have always heard that once you switch to a drysuit you will never dive wet again. My question is, doesn't it get too hot in a drysuit when it is 100-110 degrees like it often is in the summer here in Texas? With water temps in the 80's and air temps in the 100's I personally enjoy the relief of diving into the water in my shorty dive skin or lycra shirt and swimsuit. How are you not going to overheat in a drysuit in these conditions? I am planning on taking a drysuit course next winter because I definitely see the advantages in cold water and in water that is even up to 70 degrees or so if you are planning a long dive. Heck, even when I was suiting up in my 4/3 wetsuit last Thursday at the lake where the water temp at the surface was 73, and the air temp was 88, I was about to burn up buy the time I got in the water. Please help me understand this, " Once you dive dry you will never go back".

Thanks, Jimbo

 

[IndyScott]

When I dive in warm shallow water I will use a wet suit..
Wet suits have a lot less drag than my drysuit and a better relief valve.
I usely use my 5/4/3 mile. If it is cold enough to wear a 7mil I will use my Dry suit.

Scott :mummy:

 

[Jonathan]

ut:

Now I've got that off my chest.....

Nothing wrong with diving wet, but when you live in the colder climes it's pretty hard to justify. I bought a semi-dry but then about a month later my LDS was having a sale and I got a membrane dry suit - never dived in the semi since. I have, however, dived in shorts and T shirt, 3mm shorty and 3mm full.

Just use the most appropriate for the conditions. I have a friend who gets chilly diving a 6mm full when I'm in shorts and T-Shirts.....

Jonathan

 

[randyjoy]

Being also in north Texas, I dive dry from about mid-November to mid April. Wet all summer!

 

[SubMariner]

Pearce & I have only two suits: a DUI trilam drysuit and a 3mm (1/8") full wetsuit. That's covers just about everything for us.

As you mentioned, water temps are the key to exposure protection. With high water temps (about 78F or above) it's the wetsuit. Anything below that & its the drysuit. Because the DUI is a shell, we can layer on as much or as little underneath as we desire. That gives us a lot of flexibility. And comfort.

Two weekends ago we had a group of 5 Instructors, ALL of whom took the Drysuit Specialty as part of their MSDT course with us. Why? Because they had learned a VERY chilly lesson during their IDC in Jan in the Springs, when WE were all toasty in our drysuits while they were freezing their butts off in their 5-7mm wetsuits.

~SubMariner~

 

[ebbtide]

i cant even imagine what 100 to 110 deg is like
i live in Nova Scotia and it does climb in the 80s in the summer but never will it be too hot up here to wear a dry suit ,
finished a dive the other day 80 ft of water and the bottem temp was 48 it was noticibly chillie in the wet suit 7mm bare ,

 

[TexasMike]

The only time during the summer I'm in my drysuit is when I'm practicing technical diving (doubled steel cylinders and a long time underwater). But I've discovered that diving in a wetsuit is somewhat simpler due to less things to manage (squeeze, dumping air as you ascend, etc).

A good way to look at it is that the drysuit is another tool in your tool box. And you use the right tool for the job.

 

[Soggy]

Exactly...right tool for the job. I don't even own a wet suit because I dive in freshwater lakes/rivers of New York and Vermont. Even in the middle of the summer, bottom temperatures are still in the 60s. It is so nice to get out of the water and be all dry.

I may get a 3/3mm farmer john/shorty at some point in the future for warmer water trips (I chill very easily at 6'0" and 145 lbs), but the dry suit is all I need right now.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Last week I dove wet for the first time in about a year and remembered why I hate it. With a two piece six mil, at depth there is so much suit compression that you are way overweighted. Trim is good shallow or deep but it's hard to get both. The suit only keeps you warm at the surface where you don't need it. I use my shell suit even in water temps over 75 deg F in perfect comfort. In fact, since the suit itself provides no insulation if I ware too little undeneath I get cold. The only time I dive wet is in the summer while teaching OW classes. This is mostly just to save ware and tear on the dry suit. These dives are shallow enough I can tolorate it. For the most part, if I need a suit it needs to be dry.

 

[aquanut]

Yo Jimbo,
Don't forget that you can get anything from a lightweight shell to 7mm neoprene for a wetsuit. All offering varying degrees of insulation value. You can also dress accordingly underneath the suit.
When you are diving deep, no matter what the water temp is, your wetsuit will offer little in the way of insulation, and no bouyancy, making you severlyl overweighted, not a good thing on a deep dive. At least with a drysuit, you will have some backup bouyancy.
If you are worried about heating up while gearing up, I gaurantee you will be just as hot (or even hotter) in a wetsuit, as opposed to a lightweight shell.