warmest wetsuit available

[dumpsterDiver]

The warmest wesuit, without question, will be a custom made Rubatex GN-231N, Skin two side, farmer john, attached hood, no zippers. There are many good sutom houses, not all are willing to do skin two side. Expect to pay $800 to $1000 and to go in for measurement and at least two fittings.

I agree with this, however you can buy a custom 7 (and i think 9 mm) freedive wetsuit from Elios which has skin inside, nylon outside for durability and you can choose various densities of neoprene. Their best custom suits are around half the price quoted above.

If you have never tried a freedive suit (with no zippers an attached hood and smooth rubber on the inside) then in my opinion, you have not tried the warmest type of suit made. The difference beween a scuba suit with farmer john, zippered jacket and separate hood is pretty dramatic

 

[Thalassamania]

I agree with this, however you can buy a custom 7 (and i think 9 mm) freedive wetsuit from Elios which has skin inside, nylon outside for durability and you can choose various densities of neoprene. Their best custom suits are around half the price quoted above.

If you have never tried a freedive suit (with no zippers an attached hood and smooth rubber on the inside) then in my opinion, you have not tried the warmest type of suit made. The difference beween a scuba suit with farmer john, zippered jacket and separate hood is pretty dramatic

The suit I use and recommend is a "Freedive suit," with farmer johns, no-scoop arm holes, high neck, attached hood and no zippers made from 231 (which is ungodly expensive). I like skin two sides so that it will dry instantly and minimize cooling on the deck. If you must have an external coating, might I recommend four-way stretch lycra which holds much less water and is much more flexible.

The Elos suits look great, Yamamoto 45 is a good rubber, not thought to be as good as 231 however. The website implies that you could get a 231 suit from them. A Yamamoto 45 custom for $400 would be, I think, a good, honest deal. I'd be happy to pay a couple of hunderd extra for Rubatex.

 

[Darnold9999]

...and to go back to the original poster's question, the warmest wetsuit is one that fits. Everything else re materials yada yada yada is pretty much irrelevant. If it lets in water, no matter what it is made of, you will get cold, the more water, the colder you will get. The heat loss THROUGH the suit is irrelevant compared to the heat loss warming up the water it lets in. Once the water is kept out then and only then does the thickness etc. start to matter, and even then not so much

In the days that I dove a wetsuit in cold water I had a custom one made - 5' 10" and 145 lbs so off the rack was not an option. I had to go twice to get the wrists resized - they wouldn't believe that they were so small. (Helps when the Whites shop is just down the street.) A good fitting 7 mil will be warm - good fitting means that no water leaks in at all on the surface - and at the end of the dive you are still mostly dry. A little through the wrists, a tiny bit through the ankles and more through the neck.

For you that means a custom fitted suit. A rental won't even come close, but a 7 mil custom fitted suit will be plenty warm where you are. Up here not so much:huh:

 

[cold_water]

Wool stays an insulator when wet, while cotton becomes far more conductive (to heat). Probably has to do with the way the fibers are laid in the fabric, which for cotton gives an easy direct conduction path through the water. Wool (with a minimum fiber density obviously) probably acts *more* like a closed cell material. Note that I'm not saying it *is* closed cells. It is not. I'm saying that it's *closer* to closed cells than cotton.

And definitely, if it's exothermic, it's peanuts. You try it. Put a wool sock in your hand and pour water at room temperature on it. You won't feel warm.

No worrry, no hackles.
Craig, If it is not appreciable enough to have a noticeable effect on the warmth of a wetsuit (the topic of discussion, if you recall) then it is horse pucky.

We're dealing with a third-order phenomena, Far less important to the warmth of a diver than the compressibility of seawater is to a diver's SAC rate (average effective diffusion coefficient of water in wool is on the order of 8.4 × 10-14 m2s-1).

You also need to consider that there is question, according to Wartman, Augustin and Popescu[SIZE=-1], as to using [/SIZE]

the well-established D'Arcy/Watt model to describe the isotherms and systematize their temperature dependence.

This is a bit technical and way off topic. If you want to start a topic on the third order effects of wetting wool, please feel free.

 

[Paco II]

Honestly, this whole discussion about the wool is a bit much. I won't get into the whole debate about it, but what I can say for sure is that the Merino lining on my pinnacle suit makes for very easy donning and doffing.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I don't beleive that wool has any magic warming properties either, but when diving in Maine, I found that a thick pair of wool socks worn under my 7 mm boots, made my feet much warmer.

I don't have experience in wool lined wetsuits, but my nylon lined suit stinks of piss, what would a wool lined one smell like?

 

[Mako Mark]

all this talk of merino makes me proud to be a Kiwi..

 

[Paco II]

It actually is a neat smell, in a weird kind of way.

...I don't have experience in wool lined wetsuits, but my nylon lined suit stinks of piss, what would a wool lined one smell like?

 

[Thalassamania]

Wool stays an insulator when wet, while cotton becomes far more conductive (to heat). Probably has to do with the way the fibers are laid in the fabric, which for cotton gives an easy direct conduction path through the water. Wool (with a minimum fiber density obviously) probably acts *more* like a closed cell material. Note that I'm not saying it *is* closed cells. It is not. I'm saying that it's *closer* to closed cells than cotton.

And definitely, if it's exothermic, it's peanuts. You try it. Put a wool sock in your hand and pour water at room temperature on it. You won't feel warm.

Better than synthetics? Likely. Better than skin in? Unlikely. That's all I'm saying. I love my Merino seat covers, but I do try to keep them dry.

 

[cold_water]

Better than synthetics? Likely. Better than skin in? Unlikely.

I don't know. But if you're going to wear wool socks in your boots (or whatever under your wetsuit), it will probably have to have a little slack to give you some room. Said space will fill up with water. So between

websuit with water
wetsuit with cotton
wetsuit with wool

I take wool.

This being said, I believe a well fitted semi-dry is as hot as needs be. I dive an off the shelf whites semi dry 7 mil with titanium whatever in the thing. I've used this rig in Northern Quebec from may to october. I'd use it outside that period, but the ice prevented me from getting to the water.

Anyway, I think people get very touchy about their wetsuit choices (and I'm probably guilty of that as well), so I don't think this thread will end up at a definite conclusion as to what the warmest wetsuit is. It probably would also be difficult to test conclusively (or at least so that everyone agrees the test is fine).

One thing we can get from this thread, though, is:

-well fitted. If it doesn't fit well, water will circulate more and you'll get colder than if it was well fitted. Regardless of whether it's got wool linings, sheep skin patches or unobtanium flakes inside. I'd give a try to the standard off-the-shelf solution before the custom suits. If you really can't find anything. Although I've never bought custom fit and it appears, from this thread, that you can get something at a decent price, in which case it might be worth it.

And with this, I'm out. I really have nothing more intelligent than this to say on this subject.