very newbie question. wet suit vs. dry suit

[chincoteague diver]

This might be the dumbest question ever asked, but I really don't know so hopefully someone can tell me. What is the difference between a wetsuit and a dry suit.
THANKS

 

[dlwalke]

Same difference. A drysuit is just a wetsuit before you jump in the water. Hahaha. Just kidding. A wetsuit is the traditional form fitting neoprene suit that allows water to sneak into it and get between the neoprene and your skin and then your body warms it up and so long as the fit is good enough that the water is not flushed our too quickly and replaced with sea-temperature water, you stay warm enough for your dive provided that the water is not too cold. A drysuit is more baggy but doesn't allow water to get in at all. I aspire to have one by the end of this season. Since I don't have one now, I am not 100.0% positive about this, but I assume they keep water out with latex seals at the wrists and neck. As they are somewhat baggy, you can adjust your thermal protection according to the conditions (i.e., just a swimsuit underneat, longjohns, heavy duty longjohns with a sweater...whatever you like). Drysuits can be made of either neoprene or fancy schmancy trilaminate-type stuff. But the basic difference functionally is that a drysuit will keep you warmer. Of course, there is overlap (i.e., a 7 mm wetsuit might keep you warmer than a drysuit with nothing underneath), but you get the idea.

 

[ChrisA]

This might be the dumbest question ever asked, but I really don't know so hopefully someone can tell me. What is the difference between a wetsuit and a dry suit.
THANKS

A drysuit has an airspace between your skin and the suit. The dver has to learn to manage that air space by adding and venting air as depth changes much like he does with his BC. The suit has seals to keep the air in and water out.

A wetsuit allows water to come inside. Hopfully it fit well enough that it takes a minute oe so for the water to get all the way inside, but it will.

Most people would say you can dive in a wetsuit down to "mid 50's" and would want a drysuit for colder water but people vary and there is not hard rule

The other difference is price a wetsuit can cost in the low tripple digits a drysuit can get into four prices.

 

[m3830431]

So far I am only wet and dive to 42 degrees. The big problem is when you come out of the water and the air is cold.

 

[divndave]

Money, fun, length of dive and the amount of diving you can do in a day.

 

[NJdiverTony]

Drysuit = More dives per day, if the water you are diving is cold or chilly. More comfort, and you stay warm and dry. It definitely increases the enjoyment of diving.

 

[Mark Vlahos]

This might be the dumbest question ever asked, but I really don't know so hopefully someone can tell me. What is the difference between a wetsuit and a dry suit.
THANKS

Some of this has already been covered in earlier posts...

A wet suit is usually made from neoprene and while a properly fitted wet suit should be snug on your body it is an inherent feature of a wet suit that a layer of water is allowed to get between the neoprene and your body. A loose fitting wet suit will constantly allow cold water to circulate between your body and the neoprene, providing little or no thermal protection. With a properly fitting wet suit your body will heat the water next to your skin and this warm water layer and the thickness of the neoprene provide a layer of insulation keeping you warm. By choosing different thicknesses of neoprene you can choose the amount of insulation needed for different water temperatures. A thin wet suit will be more appropriate for warmer water and a thick wet suit will be a better choice for cold water. The neoprene used in wet suits will compress as the water pressure increases as you descend deeper in the water, this has an effect of decreasing the thermal protection as you go deeper. The decrease in water pressure as you ascend back up to the surface will allow the neoprene to expand back to its original thickness. Over time this constant compression and expansion of the neoprene will cause the neoprene to break down and loose some of its elastic properties. The wetsuit will get thinner and thinner over time and will eventually no longer provide the thermal protection it did when it was new.

A dry suit is designed to keep your body dry. There are typically seals at the wrists that keep your arms dry but allow your hands to get wet. There are dry gloves available keeping your hands and arms dry. The feet are usually kept dry with boots or socks permanently attached to the ends of the legs, although some suits allow your feet to remain wet and have seals at the ends of the legs similar to the wrist seals mentioned earlier. Some suits have built in dry hoods that are designed to keep the top, back, sides of your head dry. These dry hoods when properly fitted allow only your face to get wet. Most dry suits however use a neck seal keeping your torso dry but allowing your entire head to be wet, when appropriate it is customary to wear a "wet" hood. This hood is made of neoprene and works like the wet suit mentioned above.

In a perfect world a dry suit keeps your body dry, although sometimes they leak, and it is also common for sweat to condense inside a dry suit leaving your body somewhat clammy.

A dry suit itself depending on its design may provide little or no thermal protection, its primary function is to keep the diver dry. Thermal protection is provided with undergarments worn between the divers skin and the suit itself. Generally thick undergarments will keep a diver warm as the water temperature drops and thin undergarments are more appropriate for warmer waters.

Bi-laminate, tri-laminate, and vulcanized rubber dry suits provide little or no thermal protection on their own, with these suits all of the thermal protection is provided by the undergarment. Compressed neoprene, or crushed neoprene dry suits provide a moderate level of thermal protection, but usually require undergarments to augment the thermal protection. Neoprene is also used in dry suits, these dry suits can suffer the same fate as their wet suit brothers with regard to the compression of the material at depth, however they may provide enough insulation that no additional undergarments are needed.

If you use a dry suit you will usually be warmer during your surface interval since there is no cooling effect of the water evaporating from your skin. Typically when diving with an appropriately insulated dry suit you are just as warm when you enter the water for your second dive as you were when you enterd the water for your first dive. This can not always be said for wet suits, particularly when it is cold or windy on the surface.

Generally wet suits are appropriate for warmer waters, and dry suits are often the better choice for colder waters. There are divers who use dry suits in Florida and Hawaii, while others find it comfortable to use wet suits in Alaska. Wet suits are usually far less expensive to purchase than dry suits but have a much shorter lifespan. If you dive a lot and continue to dive for years and years the higher initial price of a dry suit may actually be less expensive over time.

I hope this answered your question.

Mark Vlahos