Tropical Hypothermia???

[djanni]

On liveaboard trips in the Caribbean with 4 to 5 dives a day I wear a 3mm full suit. Temps range from approx 75 to 82 and I don't feel any colder the last day than on the first day. On night dives we sometimes wear a hood. When doing day trips we often wear 1mm full suits. In either case, we don't feel cold at all. My wife is the same. I guess that's just us.

We were diving out of Panama City a couple of years ago. Middle of the summer. A guy from PA wore his drysuit. Even wore a sweat shirt and thermal pants. He said he hated getting cold and was very comfortable while in the water. During the surface interval it was a different story and looked like a really big hassle having to deal with it. That was him.

 

[sross]

Has anyone tried wearing one of the new light weight breathable tropical drysuits?

Are they really light weight? Are they really breathable? Are they more or less comfortable than wetsuits during that last few minutes of unbearably hot gear up just before getting wet?

While it is still rare, I have recently run into several DMs/instructors wearing the DUI 30/30 in water where I would normally wear a 3 mil wetsuit. Garrobo's post on "Diving Nude" quoted on the bottom of this page gives a very interesting perspective on why some professionals are going dry in warm water... I am looking for a recreational diver's perspective... Is a tropical drysuit worth the extra cost for a 30-50 dpy (dive per year :cool2 warm water recreational diver?

. . . snip . . .

When going out four times a day, every day of the week there seems to be a problem with maintaining one's core temperature. If you live down there and the temp goes below about 75 you are getting cold. Hard to believe if you are coming down from the North. I was diving with a lady DM in February who actually was wearing 15 mm of neoprene. Looked like the Michelin Lady. The year before in January I was on a boat with a DM who was wearing a snowmobile suit to stay warm. Last month there was a couple from Orlando who were freezing their a**es off in 85 degree temp because of the wind. I mean they were shivering and their lips were blue.

Have to confess, I haven't tried 'em, but probably wouldn't anyway.

The hypothermia issue in tropical waters is a real one. I've been guilty of going wetsuitless in warm water (my definition of warm is >25Ž° C). I re-evaluated, though, when I read that the couple who were left behind a boat off Queensland in May last year and found 19 hours later were hypothermic, and had to huddle to conserve heat- wearing 5 mm wetsuits!

So, yeah, I'm planning on having more protection in warm water. But wearing a drysuit when you don't have to seems masochistic to me. The buoyancy and attitude control challenges you have with them, the drag they create in the water, the P-tube issues- my buddies & I have always considered drysuits to be the last option you use when the water is just too cold, and you're going to be in it for too long, to use a wetsuit. And for shorter dives (about 40 min) I've used wetsuits in some very cold water.

I'm starting to think that maybe one reason so many people complain about their wetsuits not being warm enough comes from poor fit. I've seen people using suits with big gaps under the armpits, baggy knees, and there's the famous equation:

leakage + sloshing = shivering

This happened to my SO, who even needs to use a wetsuit in the swimming pool. She lost some weight, her suit (a Bare 2/3 mm full jumpsuit) got baggy in places, and she started to get chilled at the same pool she'd been very warm in before with the same suit.

The problem of freezing in a wind topside is common, and since getting into the world of freediving, I've discovered the solution. Wear a smoothskin (no nylon covering) wetsuit! The cause of chill even on warm days when you come out of the water in a wind is that the water soaked into the nylon lining of conventional suits starts evaporating, causing evaporative cooling. Suits with smoothskin rubber on the outside, though, are dry within a minute in the wind, and you don't get cold in 'em, even in cool weather. It's amazing.

Of course, the durability of smoothskin is the pits, but I'm sold on smoothskin freediving suits nowadays, I'm willing to patch the occasional hole, and pay for suit replacement more frequently- each to his own, I guess. We're presently in the process of ordering a new custom-cut smoothskin jumpsuit for the better half.

Maybe those old-time divers with their home-made suits made from sheets of plain old neoprene with no nylon attached, that fit 'em like a glove, were ahead of us all along :vintagediver:

 

[gedmondson]

I know, a pee valve with a sort of condom thing taped to my willy. I sent in for a sample of the three sizes: small, medium and large. I tried the small first. It was too small so I gave up on that idea.

I'm not following the logic here... If the small was too small, how bout the medium? Or was it the willy that was too small?

 

[H2Andy]

it really depends on the person

i get super cold after 3-4 dives per day in the Caribbean ... it just depends on your own comfort zone ...

it's hard to say when cold degrades your performance / critical thinking skills, but for me the threshold is pretty low, so i wear a 3mm farmer john anyway

 

[Garrobo]

gedmonson: I edited my previous post. What I meant to say was the SMALL was too LARGE. You got it right about the willy. Damn, you must be psychic.

 

[Pre BC]

Gentlemen:

I appreciate the enthusiastic responses! Particularly the ones that tactifully avoid direct references to the correlation between body fat and heat retention. However, before this thread gets too far afield, I would like to repeat my two questions:cool2:

1. Has anyone tried wearing one of the new light weight breathable tropical drysuits? Are they really light weight? Are they really breathable? Are they more or less comfortable than wetsuits during that last few minutes of unbearably hot gear up just before getting wet?

2. How/where can I try one without having to shell out over a grand hoping I'll like it? The only demo/rental drysuits I have found are cold water...

I really am looking for feedback from divers who have used tropical drysuits!!!

P

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Gentlemen:

I appreciate the enthusiastic responses! Particularly the ones that tactifully avoid direct references to the correlation between body fat and heat retention. However, before this thread gets too far afield, I would like to repeat my two questions:cool2:

1. Has anyone tried wearing one of the new light weight breathable tropical drysuits? Are they really light weight? Are they really breathable? Are they more or less comfortable than wetsuits during that last few minutes of unbearably hot gear up just before getting wet?

2. How/where can I try one without having to shell out over a grand hoping I'll like it? The only demo/rental drysuits I have found are cold water...

I really am looking for feedback from divers who have used tropical drysuits!!!


P

:worship: I have never seen such a polite and diplomatic way or saying... "can someone please actually respond to the topic?" Well done

 

[RJP]

I'm very pleased with the DUI 30/30 - possibly the best "bang for the buck" money I've ever spent on scuba gear. Especially if you do multiple dives in a day.

Recently back from two weeks in Truk where I did 57 dives in 17 days, last year did a week of diving dry in Bonaire (33 dives in 6 days), where my buddy and I were teased relentlessly by nearly every other diver on the island. Even the folks that cut their own Town Pier night dives short because they were cold made fun of my DUI 30/30 "tropical" dry suit!

As comfortable in 80F UNDER water...

...as it is in 85F ABOVE water!

My trusty DUI 30/30 has now been to Truk, Red Sea, Florida (3x), Hawaii (2x), St Kitts, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, Cayman Brac, Curacao, Bonaire and elsewhere. After more than 150 or so dives in ~80F water with the suit I can assure you that dry is the only way to dive! (In fact, since buying the 30/30 the only time I've worn a wetsuit has been in my LDS's heated pool!)

I've been surprised from the very beginning how comfortable the 30/30 is ABOVE water. Have worn it in full-sun 90F+ with no problem. In fact I've been much hotter and more uncomfortable in a 3mm wetsuit while gearing up and waiting to enter than I've ever been in the DUI. Plus, I never ever have to put a cold, clammy, damp wetsuit on.

DUI touts the material as a "breathable" trilam (DUI's "Tropical Dry" technology) and it really seems to work as advertised. As you can see in the picture above, laying in the noon sun at +85F with the top of the suit simply zipped down is plenty comfortable. In fact, I never once sweated in the thing the whole week in Bonaire. That includes jaunts up and down 1,000 Steps, Karapata, and rock-climbing in and out of sites like Bise Morto and some other unmarked sites up in the park and elsewhere. On boats/liveaboards it's even easier as you're usually not exposed to the sun as much, nor are you running around all geared up.

The thin Capilene 3 top and bottom I wear underneath (as well as DUI's Stretchliner) is great on the surface because it allows wind to flow through and sweat to evaporate, but blocks the sun effectively.

Of course, right after your dive you doff the suit and you're dry. Which means you're warm while everyone else is grabbing for towels because it's breezy. I recall my buddy and I being able to head right into the salon on the Cayman aggressor for a nice cold beer after all the night dives while everyone else was downing hot chocolate and jumping in their showers to warm up.

Once you go dry, you'll never go back!

 

[Garrobo]

Wearing a drysuit in the tropics to me would be like wearing a condom. You know what that's all about. Just my opinion.

 

[vtxkev]

I'm very pleased with the DUI 30/30 - possibly the best "bang for the buck" money I've ever spent on scuba gear. Especially if you do multiple dives in a day.

Recently back from two weeks in Truk where I did 57 dives in 17 days, last year did a week of diving dry in Bonaire (33 dives in 6 days), where my buddy and I were teased relentlessly by nearly every other diver on the island. Even the folks that cut their own Town Pier night dives short because they were cold made fun of my DUI 30/30 "tropical" dry suit!

As comfortable in 80F UNDER water...

...as it is in 85F ABOVE water!

My trusty DUI 30/30 has now been to Truk, Red Sea, Florida (3x), Hawaii (2x), St Kitts, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, Cayman Brac, Curacao, Bonaire and elsewhere. After more than 150 or so dives in ~80F water with the suit I can assure you that dry is the only way to dive! (In fact, since buying the 30/30 the only time I've worn a wetsuit has been in my LDS's heated pool!)

I've been surprised from the very beginning how comfortable the 30/30 is ABOVE water. Have worn it in full-sun 90F+ with no problem. In fact I've been much hotter and more uncomfortable in a 3mm wetsuit while gearing up and waiting to enter than I've ever been in the DUI. Plus, I never ever have to put a cold, clammy, damp wetsuit on.

DUI touts the material as a "breathable" trilam (DUI's "Tropical Dry" technology) and it really seems to work as advertised. As you can see in the picture above, laying in the noon sun at +85F with the top of the suit simply zipped down is plenty comfortable. In fact, I never once sweated in the thing the whole week in Bonaire. That includes jaunts up and down 1,000 Steps, Karapata, and rock-climbing in and out of sites like Bise Morto and some other unmarked sites up in the park and elsewhere. On boats/liveaboards it's even easier as you're usually not exposed to the sun as much, nor are you running around all geared up.

The thin Capilene 3 top and bottom I wear underneath (as well as DUI's Stretchliner) is great on the surface because it allows wind to flow through and sweat to evaporate, but blocks the sun effectively.

Of course, right after your dive you doff the suit and you're dry. Which means you're warm while everyone else is grabbing for towels because it's breezy. I recall my buddy and I being able to head right into the salon on the Cayman aggressor for a nice cold beer after all the night dives while everyone else was downing hot chocolate and jumping in their showers to warm up.

Once you go dry, you'll never go back!

Almost sounds like a paid post but seriously thanks for the information, being new I never knew about these.