Tec Courses in Dry Suit (or not?)

[suricatasuricata]

Hello all,
I live in Cold Water diving country (Monterey, CA). I will be doing my GUE Fundies P1 in January, which I will be doing in a drysuit and a single tank. I am planning on doing an Intro to Tec course during my trip to Bonaire later in Spring ,where the plan is to do learn how to dive doubles and then use the opportunity to do a bunch of shore diving in doubles.

Now, should I lug my drysuit to Bonaire, or should I simply just do the doubles regs and such and just do it in a 3mm? My potential instructor made the very good point that I will be baking in my drysuit on the surface there. However, there is this feeling that I am going to have a tough time back home managing doubles and the drysuit.

Love to hear your thoughts!

 

[rongoodman]

You will have already learned to manage a wing and suit together in your Fundies class, so I’m not sure why switching to doubles later would be a big deal. OTOH, you might want some redundant buoyancy in your tech class, which the dry suit would provide.

 

[suricatasuricata]

Oh. Hah, I don't know what I don't know (in terms of how difficult or easy doubles will be in terms of task loading). Which is why I figured I'd ask!

 

[tursiops]

I find a drysuit to be more task loading than doubles. Together, both new, all at once, is a lot.
I learned doubles in Bonaire, in a wetsuit. Drysuit came later.
Do you plan to use steel or AL doubles when you get home? I ask because you are almost certain to get AL doubles in Bonaire. So you've got four possible configs: AL wet, AL dry, Steel wet, and Steel dry.

 

[suricatasuricata]

I found diving in a drysuit in Ginnie Springs to be way easier than in the ocean in Monterey. I felt both learning how to use stiffer fins and the extra weight that I was carrying, while managing the surf, to be harder. Having said this, there is no way out of using a drysuit in Monterey (for me), one reason I was wondering if my future training should be drysuit by default.

I plan to buy/use Steel doubles back home. I am thinking HP 100s. Probably will depend on the used market and such, but everyone around here seems to be diving HP 100s.


Where did you end up doing your doubles courses in Bonaire? My plan is to, after the course, try to hammer out a bunch of shore diving with doubles as a way of getting more practice.

 

[lostsheep]

As a local Monterey diver who had the same conundrum, I’ll chime in. I took my drysuit to Florida in August and dealt with the heat. My thinking being to learn the way I’d be diving. YMMV

WRT tanks, I think most of us around here prefer LP85s to HP100s. The extra length helps getting the weight down low.

ETA: I see your doing fundies, Beto will almost certainly recommend LP85s

I found diving in a drysuit in Ginnie Springs to be way easier than in the ocean in Monterey. I felt both learning how to use stiffer fins and the extra weight that I was carrying, while managing the surf, to be harder. Having said this, there is no way out of using a drysuit in Monterey (for me), one reason I was wondering if my future training should be drysuit by default.

I plan to buy/use Steel doubles back home. I am thinking HP 100s. Probably will depend on the used market and such, but everyone around here seems to be diving HP 100s.

 

[suricatasuricata]

As a local Monterey diver who had the same conundrum, I’ll chime in. I took my drysuit to Florida in August and dealt with the heat. My thinking being to learn the way I’d be diving. YMMV

Yeah, that is an option. It is a trilam suit and I could definitely do it, just wear only a base layer underneath. I think this will mean checking in a second bag which is why I am a bit worried.

WRT tanks, I think most of us around here prefer LP85s to HP100s. The extra length helps getting the weight down low.

ETA: I see your doing fundies, Beto will almost certainly recommend LP85s

Interesting, I clearly sampled the wrong crowd then. I talked to a lot of rec divers and the consensus was that they preferred HP100s. But, I haven't brought this up with Beto yet, so good point, I will see what he has to say about the matter!

 

[Boarderguy]

Yeah, that is an option. It is a trilam suit and I could definitely do it, just wear only a base layer underneath. I think this will mean checking in a second bag which is why I am a bit worried.


Interesting, I clearly sampled the wrong crowd then. I talked to a lot of rec divers and the consensus was that they preferred HP100s. But, I haven't brought this up with Beto yet, so good point, I will see what he has to say about the matter!

HP 100s for doubles or just a single? 100s are very prevalent for rec diving in cold salt water as a single tank. When I go that route I'll turn my set of 100s into doubles but only because I don't want to buy more tanks, 8 is enough I think.

 

[PfcAJ]

Yeah, that is an option. It is a trilam suit and I could definitely do it, just wear only a base layer underneath. I think this will mean checking in a second bag which is why I am a bit worried.


Interesting, I clearly sampled the wrong crowd then. I talked to a lot of rec divers and the consensus was that they preferred HP100s. But, I haven't brought this up with Beto yet, so good point, I will see what he has to say about the matter!

There are short hp100s and longer ones that are more like lp85s. Long ones are better.

 

[suricatasuricata]

HP 100s for doubles or just a single? 100s are very prevalent for rec diving in cold salt water as a single tank. When I go that route I'll turn my set of 100s into doubles but only because I don't want to buy more tanks, 8 is enough I think.

Thinking about this, I think the conversation with the other rec divers was in the context of HP100s for singles (so buying two singles for a 2 tank boat ride setup). I made the leap to thinking about buying the same for doubles because it made the decision process easier. But that is just my inexperience showing!