useful dry suit tips

[Genesis]

Drysuit "specialty courses" are, IMHO, next to worthless.

ALL of the recreational agencies want to teach you to dive it as a BC. It was for this reason that I refused to take the class and instead spent about 2 hours in my pool behind the house.

There are very specific skills (tuck and roll, flare, and intentional seal violation) that you must learn to be able to dive a drysuit safely. The rest (comfort and ease of use) comes with time in the water.

Expect the first few dives to be "strange", and DO take the pool time.

 

[SubMariner]

There are very specific skills (tuck and roll, flare, and intentional seal violation) that you must learn to be able to dive a drysuit safely. The rest (comfort and ease of use) comes with time in the water.

Agreed. And how are you supposed to learn what skills you need & how to properly execute them without being taught? Especially since they are not intuitive or instinctive moves.

Just wondering....

 

[Genesis]

Agreed. And how are you supposed to learn what skills you need & how to properly execute them without being taught? Especially since they are not intuitive or instinctive moves.

Just wondering....

Its not hard to figure out if you have a brain.

Indeed, you'll only end up feet-up once in the pool before you figure out how to get out of it. In a pool its no big deal, and that's the place to learn it.

If you have common sense and some time figuring it out isn't difficult. I taught myself in a couple of hours. I'm still here, and have yet to have an uncontrolled ascent. I have managed to forget to plug in the inflator - damn that's cold!

 

[SubMariner]

Its not hard to figure out if you have a brain.

Indeed, you'll only end up feet-up once in the pool before you figure out how to get out of it. In a pool its no big deal, and that's the place to learn it.

If you have common sense and some time figuring it out isn't difficult. I taught myself in a couple of hours. I'm still here, and have yet to have an uncontrolled ascent. I have managed to forget to plug in the inflator - damn that's cold!

Wow. Wish all my students were as smart as you. :god: Let me know when you teach your first class & I'll send some right over.

 

[jonnythan]

From the recent posts, it looks like a bunch of people just bought dry suits. I also just got my dry suit and have three dives with it. I did a search for tips and found a few general comments. I thought that it might be useful to put these comments into a thread.

What tips did you get for diving in a dry suit? Below are the tips that I got.

*If you have latex seals, ****expect your dry suit to leak the first few times that you use it****.
Apparently very few people stay dry on their first pool session. Clenching your fist creates channels in your wrist which allow water to seep in. The obvious solution is to move the wrist seal further up the wrist where the channels are not as pronounced. One useful tip that got was to rubber band the latex seal with a thick, 1/2 inch rubber band.

*Don't twist your neck when looking from side to side. Move your torso. This prevents leaks from the neck seal.

*Don't use your BC for buoyancy initially. Get comfortable with the process of adding air and venting the dry suit. Then, as you get used to the task loading, add the BC to fine tune your buoyancy.

*If you're in a serious runaway ascent, consider breaking your neck seal to vent gas.

*Use ankle weights. Personally, I didn't take that advice, but it seems to be recommended.

Anything else?

Personally, I think almost all of those are bad ideas.

Stay away from ankle weights, DON'T use your drysuit for buoyancy (it SUCKS), always expect it to leak (even though it shouldn't, you should be prepared).

Breaking the neck seal should be the first thing that happens should you find yourself in a "runaway ascent" with a well inflated drysuit. However, *if you use your BC for buoyancy control*, this simply won't happen.

Keep your deflator cranked almost all the way down so your suit keeps a squeeze on you. It's a far far more pleasant feeling. People think learning to drysuit dive is so difficult... it only is if you make it. Managing a body-sized airbag underwater while trying to dive is quite a daunting task. Don't bother. I'm still a fairly new drysuit diver, and it's so much more comfortable having a light squeeze on your body versus having the suit trying to ascend up and away from you, having your feet constantly full of air, etc.

 

[Snowbear]

...I'm still a fairly new drysuit diver, and it's so much more comfortable having a light squeeze on your body...

at <40F, I find that just a bit more gas for undie loft goes a long way toward keeping warm

 

[Firediver]

My LDS owner who sold me my dry suit said not to turn the suit inside out. because it cause damage to the zipper. As people tend to turn the sleeves inside out as they take the suit off, this binds the zipper where the ends meet the DS material, which inturn will decrease the life of the zipper.

 

[grouchyturtle]

Genesis is correct. The class is really a waste, although as with most classes it really depends on the instructor.

Granted having someone show you does make it easier to learn most skills, but anyone with half a brain, who spends a little time on this board or buys the books themself can learn it on their own.

I just took a combo Dry Suit/Nitrox class with a large group, so it was cheap, but...My main reason for taking drysuit, was I talked to few divers, who've been places that wouldn't allow them to dive dry without the card.

We had some great instructors:
We were taught to use the suit for buoyancy, BUT...Our instructor told us there were some reasons the agencies taught it that way, but also told us in the real world it's better to use your wing and, after the class we should dive that way.

He also told us, as Snowbear said he uses more air in his suit when it's colder.

I've only done 4 drysuit dives so far. I did my 2 dives on a Saturday using the suit, and actually had to do the tuck and roll for real on my first dive! Went back to the quarry Sunday just to dive and switched right over to using my wing, and I'll never go back to the other way.

 

[SubMariner]

at <40F, I find that just a bit more gas for undie loft goes a long way toward keeping warm

Also goes a long way to keeping those dreaded suit hickies away. Not only do they look nasty, but sometimes they can be downright painful!

 

[diver_paula]

Also goes a long way to keeping those dreaded suit hickies away. Not only do they look nasty, but sometimes they can be downright painful!

Be glad you haven't been in a drysuit squeeze while wearing an underwire bra! NEVER again!

& I ditto the more air when the temps are near freezing. It's saved my butt many a dive.

Paula