Warm Up During An SI?

[GSDMan]

I seem to have something of an addiction to diving and don't want to quit just because it's OMG cold! This past weekend I dove Bainbridge Quarry in SE PA. I was in my full wetsuit, gloves, hood, etc. OAT was 54 degrees, surface temp was 45 degrees, and it was 41 degrees at 50'. There was a very low overcast, intermittant light drizzle, and winds of 15-20mph with gusts to twice that. In other words - Brrrr!

Here's my question. I made my first dive without any serious problems (feet were pretty cold and my fingers hurt) but the surface interval just about froze me to death. There was no heat to be had anywhere but there was an unheated building to get out of the wind. I tried keeping the wetsuit on and covering up with lots of insulation, but after an hour I was shivering pretty bad and cancelled the second dive. So, does anyone have any suggestions on how to warm up during an SI in these conditions?

I'm pretty well convinced it's worth it to take the wetsuit off, no matter how hard it'll be to get back on, and get dry. Then some serious insulating garments and hot water bottles. Only thing is, the quarry is two hours away and by the time I'll be needing the hot water it'll be more like four hours so I'm afraid luke warm is about all I can manage.

Any tips or suggestions would be most appreciated.

Jim

 

[Ed L.]

Get a drysuit. Mistake #1 was staying in wet suit. This just sucked the heat right out of your body. Next time take it off. Dry off and warm up. Sit in the car with the heater on. Glad I don't live on the damp east coast anymore!

 

[dave4868]

Actually, hot water in a 5-gallon plastic carrier jug will stay very warm for many hours just by wrapping it in a blanket.

Also, a 5-gallon cooler will work very well, too. I put a plastic bag into it first, fill it and then tie it to prevent spilling.

If you go one step further and wrap a blanket around that cooler, the water will stay as hot as you can stand for the whole day! Don't burn yourself!

Make sure the cooler is a type that won't delaminate from the heat. The cheap small ones are usually good.

Even now in a drysuit, I bring both containers for winter and summer saltwater dives , mostly for rinsing gear, but also to warm my neoprene hood.

When I dove wet, they were indispensable. I don't know how you did your recent dives. Amazing!

By the way, if you bring another plastic container big enough to stand in, you can get two back-to-back pourings of the same water to get the most out of it.

I haven't tried the following, but for that one year that I dove wet, I often thought wearing a cheap, clear-plastic rain suit over the wetsuit during the surface interval. You could even cover that arrangement with a snowmobile suit.

Getting in and out of the wetsuit between dives never appealed to me. I just covered up, used the "hotters" and got back into the water as soon as I could.

Good luck!

Dave C

 

[Hickdive]

Seriously, get a drysuit. Once you're cold in a wetsuit you'll never get warm again, the water evaporating from the surface just sucks heat right out of you.

People can dive comfortably in surprisingly cold water in a wetsuit but the SI for a second or third dive is a killer and drysuits just wipe the floor with wetsuits in this respect.

Topical warming such as water bottles or pouring a flask of warm water into the wetsuit just makes the problem worse by opening up blood vessels and allowing cooler blood back into your core.

If you really can't justify a drysuit then you need lots of big black plastic bin bags.

Knock some holes in a bag for your head and arms and pull one on like a cape. Put some more on your car seats and on the the car floor to stop you soaking them and then sit in the car with the engine running and the heater on full. Put on a dry warm hat and drink something warm. If you can get hot food, all the better.

Of course, when you eventually warm up, the thought of getting out of the car for another dive will not be appealing but at least you'll be warm.

 

[dave4868]

Topical warming such as water bottles or pouring a flask of warm water into the wetsuit just makes the problem worse by opening up blood vessels and allowing cooler blood back into your core.

The core will probably lose a little heat for a minute or two as cold blood in the extremities begins to flow more quickly.

Then, the core will gain a significant amount heat far surpassing the brief loss.

We're talking about pouring several gallons of very warm water into the suit. It warms the core nicely!

Pre-warming the core prior to the first dive can also be very helpful to extend one's comfort. Some people erroneously feel that would also open the vessels in the extremities allowing more heat loss during the dive. It just doesn't work that way because the vessels will narrow when the extremities get chilled anyway. It's self-regulating to protect the core.

Concerns about warming the extremities often arises from the medical practice of first warming the core in people suffering significant hypothermia.

That's a whole different issue essentially concerned with reducing the chance of cardiac arrythmia in a severely hypothermic person.

Hopefully, the diver isn't getting to that point....

Dave C

 

[trucker girl]

Multiple wet suits (if you're staying with a wet suit). That way you can take the wet one off and put on a dry one. If you buy a used dry suit, that's probably cheaper than multiple high-quality wet suits. But I know a few people who really dislike dry suits and prefer to spend their money on wet suits.

And a thermos will keep Lipton-cup-a-soup Chicken Noodle Soup warm for a very, very long time.

That was my SI sustenance when I went to Tobermory in August- water temps were about 10 degrees warmer what you posted. The air temp was warmer, too, I'd imagine, but it was cold up there. For August.

 

[D_B]

... Unheated building?
Maybe one of those disposable propane bottle fueled, indoor safe tent heaters, would help along with following the other advice given here .. I have one and it works wonderfully in an inclosed area, needs only a 3"x3" opening for a source for air

 

[1_T_Submariner]

I have a propane heater with 2 burners. I think it puts out 50K btu's. It will heat a 600 sq ft garage in a few minutes. If you stand infront of it even out side you will be warm (just not too close).

 

[ClayJar]

I found^* that the most useful thing when diving cold and wet was consuming very warm fluids. There simply was no better way to warm up my arms than to have a couple cups of blazingly hot chocolate. It directly heats your core, and when your core temperature is nice and toasty, you get plenty of blood flow to your extremities.

(With an ample supply of hot chocolate, playing in the snow in short sleeves isn't at all unbearable.)


^*: Yes, I used past tense. My drysuit is the single best scuba gear purchase I've ever made. :biggrin:

 

[TSandM]

What I've learned over the last two years is that, if you're having that much trouble warming up after the dive, you were colder than you thought you were during it. It may well be that, in 41 degree water, you just can't stay warm enough to do two dives. It does take time to restore core temperature, once it's dropped, and if you can't get into a warm environment, it's going to be hard.

Warming up is simply a balance between heat loss and heat generation. You can minimize heat loss by removing the wetsuit, getting into dry clothing, and providing as much insulation as possible. They make quilted down pants for mountaineering, and I'd use a heavy down jacket and a thick hat. Make sure everything is windproof, because moving air removes heat much faster than still air. Drinking warm fluids is excellent, because that's core heating. You can also buy heating pads which are gels containing sodium acetate. When you "click" a metal disc inside them, they begin to heat. Having a large one you can hold against your torso can be helpful, but don't put it on your skin -- they get too hot for that.

But honestly, if you're well insulated and dry and you're still shivering after a few minutes, you lost a LOT of heat in the water. It may just be that you're pushing the limits of what you can do with your current exposure protection.