Warm Water Hood

[peterjmaerz]

Hello Wet Ones,

I'm off on a liveaboard trip to Raja Ampat in November. On my last two liveaboards in warm water, I got chilled a bit near the end of the trip. I'm looking for recommendations for a very light, easy-on/off hood that I can add to my wetsuit for a bit more warmth.

Thanks very much,

 

[Charlie99]

http://www.diversdirect.com/item/Evo - Beanie Hood_ID33799 is easy on and off, since you can put a beanie on after everything else. You'll probably find that the beanie will give you most of the thermal protection of a hood, but without being anywhere near as confining.

 

[jepuskar]

I would wear a 7mm bibbed hood and have hot water pumped down into your hood from the surface every 3 seconds.

 

[Jay_SMART_Diver]

Here's some custom tropical hoods that you may enjoy: http://www.terrapinwetsuits.com/accessor.htm

 

[Carlos Danger]

http://www.scubatoys.com/store/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=TilosBeanie

 

[reubencahn]

Peter, wetwear.com/Aquatic Wetsuits is right near you on the I-95 frontage road at Hallandale Beach Blvd. They will do one custom for you at a decent price.

 

[peterjmaerz]

...especially Jepuskar, whose keenly refined sense of humor added a nice edge to this post.

Reuben, how's San Diego? Planning any trips? I will consider stopping by the WetWear shop...I was a bit put off by a very agressive rep they had at a recent DEMA show in Ft. Lauderdale, but I've heard very good things about their products.

Thanks again,


Peter

 

[reubencahn]

...especially Jepuskar, whose keenly refined sense of humor added a nice edge to this post.

Reuben, how's San Diego? Planning any trips? I will consider stopping by the WetWear shop...I was a bit put off by a very agressive rep they had at a recent DEMA show in Ft. Lauderdale, but I've heard very good things about their products.

Thanks again,


Peter

San Diego is good. Though I've spent much of the past year learning to surf instead of diving. Surfing is more difficult than it looks--at least if you start when you're 46 instead of 6. But I'm about to plunge into cold water diving. I've got the drysuit. I'm about to pick up undergarments and band up some steels for doubles instead of my AL80's. And then some drysuit instruction.

We just came back from Sipadan. It was not my first choice but time, timing and money made it the logical choice. Diving was good. Better than I expected. Big schools of jacks and barracuda, lots of reef sharks and occasional larger sharks and dogtooth tuna. Decent macro. However, there are a lot of people around. You never get the sense of isolation you have in a place like PNG. And you can see the effect of all those divers on the reef. I'm hoping for Solomons next year. All I need is money and I'm there.

The people at Aquatic are a bit of a pain to deal with. You may need to stay on them to get the hood done. But in the end they produce a good product and the custom fit really helps. Don't let them convince you to get the zipper. You don't need it and the hood is actually more comfortable without it.

I hope you'll post a trip report when you get back.