SoCal Summer Drysuit undergarment question

[DavidLoPan]

Good afternoon fellow divers.

I was hoping to get some feedback on undergarments for drysuits.

I recently purchased a TLS350 drysuit with the Action Wear Pro jacket and pants. I'm still waiting to get the drysuit so on days i get bored I put on the Action Wear undergarments and pretend i'm getting ready to don the drysuit.

I noticed the Action Wear is pretty well insulated and keeps me warm but on summer days in SoCal is it too much insulation? I'm sure it will keep me nice and toasty underwater but what about on the surface doing a SIT? Should I wear a thinner undergarment?

What are some summer time undergarment dry suit divers wear here in SoCal?

Thanks much,,,your feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

[ligersandtions]

Socal water is still cold in the summer! Sometimes it sucks on the surface, but I wear the same undergarments year-round (300g fleeece with about a 100g additional layer for shore diving, 400g Thinsulate for boat diving).

I always make sure we're within minutes of heading to the water before pulling the undergarment fully on and zipping up the drysuit. When back on the surface, I'll usually pull my drysuit and undergarments down to my waist.

Unfortunately, there's not a very good compromise. If you're fine on the surface, you'll be cold underwater....if you're fine underwater, you're probably going to be hot on the surface (until you pull it down to your waist). Personally, I'll deal with being hot on the surface

 

[fisheater]

NorCal here, where our summer topside temps usually aren't a problem.

However, when they are, I've found some relief in soaking my Otter Bay hood in cold water before donning.

Even then, it's a total relief to get into that nice, cold ocean.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[eelnoraa]

In CA in general, water temp is not much different between summer and winter. On surface internval tho, you may want to take off your DS in summer

 

[DavidLoPan]

Cool, thanks for the feedback!
Guess i'll definitely save some cash and stick with the Action Wear i currently have. Now it's just the long wait to get my drysuit in...in the meantime, i'll be in my undergarment practicing my horizontal trim.

 

[scubadobadoo]

Socal water is still cold in the summer! Sometimes it sucks on the surface, but I wear the same undergarments year-round (300g fleeece with about a 100g additional layer for shore diving, 400g Thinsulate for boat diving).

I always make sure we're within minutes of heading to the water before pulling the undergarment fully on and zipping up the drysuit. When back on the surface, I'll usually pull my drysuit and undergarments down to my waist.

Unfortunately, there's not a very good compromise. If you're fine on the surface, you'll be cold underwater....if you're fine underwater, you're probably going to be hot on the surface (until you pull it down to your waist). Personally, I'll deal with being hot on the surface

What Liger said. Timing is key in the summer and I also like to have extra cold water to dump on my head before the walk to the water.

I used to use a TLS. Now I use a 4.5mm compressed neoprene dry (Pinnacle Black Ice) suit so I have backed down on the thickness of the undies a bit. Still, it's a LONG walk to and from the water at OML in a neoprene dry suit and I still get cold in the water after about 25 minutes in any water below 60f but I am also a very slow diver who hates to cover 6 miles of reef in one dive so that makes me even colder.

Now if you are diving shallow like I was the past weekend, then you may need even less undies now as the water was 69f on the surface down to about 25 feet. That's kinda hot with thick undies even for me.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

If you dive Catalina or Laguna Beach you will find water temps in the mid to upper 60s during the summer. Palos Verdes and shipwreck diving is a little different. Expect 49F to 53F year-round. I wait until the last minute before getting into my drysuit.

 

[scubamarketing]

The last time I did a summer trip to the Channel Islands, I wore some good Patagonia Capilene long underwear tops and bottoms under a trilam drysuit and was comfortable.