tips for staying warm while diving dry?

[Imla]

I wear 2 pairs of loosely knitted technical wool socks. Mind you, my drysuitboots are just about big enough so I can properly wiggle my toes. Important with air. I also make sure to keep my core warm. On my head I use min. a 7mm hood. Bares Elastek hoods are tightfitting without being restrictive.
I live in Norway, and dive in the Oslo fjord. From about november to march, we have 0C in the surface and between 4 and 8C at 30m.
I dive with 5finger semidry gloves. I find it tiresome to always hold my hands above my head when diving dry gloves, and unless I do that, the pressure excerted on the gloves by the water makes my fingers cold. One issue with all gloves is to make sure you don't have any circular pressure on wrist and hand. This will inhibit bloodflow, and make for cold hands. (Think of using slightly tights gloves vs a loose pair of mittens topside.)
With this combo, I can usually stay under for 50ish minutes.

 

[dbulmer]

Lots of good advice above.

One thing I'd add is to undo your zip and remove your arms from your drysuit if you have somewhere dry to sit in.

Woolly gloves on your hands and a hat on your head plus HOT CHOCOLATE/SOUP may not get you that warmer but it will cheer you up

 

[decompression]

Lots of glove options out there, I'm a big fan of the heat neoprene glove by whites. I use the 3mil in 46 degree water for 1+ hour dives. Great dexterity and lower cost than dry gloves.

 

[fjpatrum]

Something that I haven't seen mentioned (but may have missed) is the fact that you can have too much insulation on your feet. Someone mentioned getting some air in there, and that's essentially the same thing. I've found (from non-diving experience) that people wearing multiple layers of socks and still complaining of cold feet have either too many layers (causing sweat which has nowhere to go) or the layers are too tight. Your feet especially need some "wiggle room" inside your layers in order to be truly warm and comfortable.

I wear liner socks inside my suit with wetsuit booties and my feet stay warm. Consider removing one layer of socks and seeing how bad it is then before making any other drastic purchases or changes.

 

[nimoh]

I have also heard that chemical warmers can overheat at depth with high PPO2, and also, if using argon, they are useless since they require O2.

As others have suggested, the thing to start with is keeping your core warm. If your hands and feet are getting extremely cold, this can be an indication of your body's reaction to your core starting to cool a bit.

Next, a good tight fitting 7mm hood. My old hood was starting to stretch a bit, and I was getting cold on dives, after getting a new hood, I am much warmer.

I find the best way to warm up your hands (while wearing dry gloves) is starting in a horizontal position in the water, drop your hands down to force most of the air out of your gloves and into your core. Then raise your hands up and wiggle them allowing warm air from your core to migrate up into your gloves. We call this the hokey pokey dance, and it works well The same can be done with your feet, but I find that is not as effective unless you were to go completely vertical head up, and then completely vertical, head down, and this IMHO is not a very good position to be in.

I wear smart wool socks (I believe this is a brand name, but not sure), and then 4th element fleece socks over these, and my feet usually stay pretty warm, even in 35F water temperatures. When they do get cold, it is usually due to air temperatures during a surface interval.

 

[Storker]

Something that I haven't seen mentioned (but may have missed) is the fact that you can have too much insulation on your feet.

You know, a good thing can't be said too often, so welcome to the party :cool2:

I used to have cold feet [...] I think now that with all the layers I was probably compressing my feet and just affecting circulation

Jared I would look at how tight the insulation is in the boots. Also as counter intuitive as it is, you can keep the feet warmer with air in there.

You need to be able to wiggle your toes, otherwise you'll cut off circulation and you'll be cold.

I wear 2 pairs of loosely knitted technical wool socks. Mind you, my drysuitboots are just about big enough so I can properly wiggle my toes.

 

[Peter_C]

Fixed it for you!

Next, a good tight fitting Otter Bay 12mm hood.

7mm just doesn't come close to the number 12.
Otter Bay Wetsuits

 

[nimoh]

Fixed it for you!

7mm just doesn't come close to the number 12.
Otter Bay Wetsuits

I might have to check that out. I am warm enough in my 7mm 4th element, but 12mm I'm sure would be warmer.

My problem is that when I pop my head up from under the ice, people ask me questions, and I can't hear with my hood on. Usually they ask what the visibility was. However, once in a while they will throw me a curve ball and ask something like if I saw any big fish...to which I respond "about 20 feet"

 

[TSandM]

I'm not sure if those socks are the same ones Whites had me beta test, but if they are, they are simply the most amazing thing in diving footwear. I haven't had numb feet on ANY dive since I got them. My husband has a set and concurs.

Dry gloves are a must for water that cold.

It's also really important to make sure that you don't waste any thermal units in the parking lot or getting ready. In winter, I wear my base layer and undergarment to the dive site, and put a heavy coat OVER it for gear assembly. A hat is on my head at all times until my hood goes on. Once I'm in my suit and gear, I'm getting underwater ASAP -- no fiddling around standing in the shallows and gear-futzing. I also wear a couple of pounds of extra weight (just two or so) so I can make sure I have enough gas in my dry suit at the end of the dive to keep that undergarment lofted. People often figure their weighting by having their BC and suit empty with the tank at 500 psi -- that commits you to getting the suit empty at the end of the dive, which is when you are the coldest.

 

[Doomnova]

another thing bring some warm tea/coffee in a thermos and drink that before/after the dive and during your SI that should help warm you up. As for my feet I wear a pair of 3mm neoprene socks next to my skin with a pair of wool socks and never get cold feet but growing up in the prairies well its hard to make me cold enough to complain.