Serious drysuit question!

[chuckrt]

I no this is leaving me open for a multitude of remarks but I just started Dry diving and am wondering at what tmp to change from insulated suit to ? sweat suit or other combinations to wear?

I have an Andys trilam and 200 undies. It is 85 degrees today and the wter is 58 deg. so it will be in undies tonite. I guess i'm curuios as what other people use in summer.

chuckrt

 

[SubMariner]

Chuck, WHEN to change undies is as subjective an opinion as what constitutes cold. It's a very personal thing.

Example: Both Pearce & I have DUI 350TLS trilams. In Vortex Springs where the year 'round temp is about 65F I tend to wear bicycle legging, thick socks, a long-sleeved light-weight wicking shirt (the stuff skiers wear) and sometimes a long sleeved fleece sweatshirt over top of that. Pearce wears pretty much the same thing EXCEPT he only dons a long sleeved t-shirt; he doesn't seem to need as much warmpth around his core as I do.

In colder water (50-55F) we may put on lined bicycle leggings and I may switch to a heavier sweatshirt.

Because you can sometimes get a "pinch" or a "squeeze" in the creases of your joints without some cloth over it, we both stick with long sleeved shirts. When I wore my 1/4" neoprene in Canada, I could get away with a short sleeved T-shirt & thin leggings only because you don't get "pinched" in the neoprene.

To summarize, all I can suggest is that you experiment: adding or subtracting clothing or varying the types of layers depending on the water temp. Then you can personalize your undergarment wardrobe to what works for YOU.

~SubMariner~

 

[chuckrt]

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking around that temp just curious if others switch then as well. It was 87deg yesterday on top and 53 in tahe water. when I zipped up and went in I thought it was a little cooler but blew it off to the temp difference. When taking off the suit I never zipped the thermal up past my waist!! Good thing I have a hairy chest but it was a great 55min dive anyway.

chuckrt

 

[otter-cat]

You'll never want to wear a wetsuit in COLD water again. But you'll still dream of taking a vacation to someplace tropical and diving in nothing but a skinsuit!

 

[lairdb]

(Yes, I'm resurrecting an old thread, but it was the closest to my question that search found without starting a whole new one.)

Yo Jimbo,
Don't forget that you can get anything from a lightweight shell to 7mm neoprene for a [drysuit]. All offering varying degrees of insulation value. You can also dress accordingly underneath the suit.

I got a chance to experiment a little with a drysuit at a DUI demo event lately -- didn't really grasp until then that staying cool would be as much or more of a problem than staying warm.

I'm attracted by the idea of being able to vary the undergarment to handle anything from where-I-live (typ. WT 55-65) to where-I-usually-vacation (typ. 69-79), but when I was demo-ing, something became conscious that wasn't before:

In the wetsuit, if you misjudged the WT or thermocline or your personal thermostat today, and you're a little warm, you can vent a little water in and cool off.

In the drysuit, if you misjudged the WT or thermocline or your personal thermostat today, and you're a little warm, you can...? I think you're screwed, and the answer is suffer or thumb -- what am I missing?

(I suppose you could vent more to try to reduce the insulation efficiency, but that assumes you're not already running minimum air just as good practice.)

 

[coreypenrose]

http://www.dui-online.com/dry_30.htm

 

[jonnythan]

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.

Yup, here too. Drysuit for everything < 65 degrees, wetsuit for > 70 degrees.. in between depends on the dive. I might pick up a 3/2mm hooded vest for the dives between 65 and 70..

I LOVE wearing that wetsuit too. I just bought some Al80 doubles just so I can wear my wetsuit more often.

 

[Diver0001]

With water temps in the 80's and air temps in the 100's I personally

Well.....these might be the only conditions that could voluntarily get me into a wetsuit these days. Clearly, you need a shell-suit if it gets that warm.

R..

 

[ScubaDadMiami]

I live in Miami Beach, Florida, and I dive dry all year round. Right now, the surface temps in the water can be up to 87. The air can be up to 95 or so.

The only time I have ever felt like I was getting overheated was when I also wore a hood in these temps. I expected there to be a thermocline near the bottom, and it was not there. So, I kept having to flush my hood with water to cool off. Other than this, I never get overheated in the water though I almost die on the dive boat before getting into the water.

I prefer to dive dry because I never get chilled no matter how long I stay in the water. You can never tell when a thermocline will be there except for the most shallow dives. Also, I do a lot of deep diving with helium mixes. Long decompression stops in cool water with little activity will quickly make you feel chilled.

I wear 100 gram Andy's ST1000 Thinsulate thermals. Thinsulate keeps much of its insulating capacity even in a flooded suit.

 

[mossym]

drysuit under 60, 7mm anything over 60, to a 3mm from about 75 on...