weezle extreme plus undergarments

[ericfine50]

Stacy,

I am right there with you when it comes to cold. I have the extreme and compact (helps when you used to be the US rep) and am looking at UP's connection as well. Let us know what you think.

Eric

 

[Uncle Pug]

O-ring once bubbled...
Maybe it is my head or hands that are making me cold...

Using dry gloves will keep you a lot warmer. I use DCI rings.

I use a Harvey's Titanium zip up the back hood that unzips during the dive... and when it does I start getting cold all over... so yes... the hood makes a difference too.

 

[O-ring]

Uncle Pug once bubbled...

Using dry gloves will keep you a lot warmer. I use DCI rings.

I use a Harvey's Titanium zip up the back hood that unzips during the dive... and when it does I start getting cold all over... so yes... the hood makes a difference too.

Maybe I will make that a winter project..I need to add a p-valve anyway so I can do the ring system install at the same time. DCI? What a crappy name for a dive company!

 

[Uncle Pug]

O-ring once bubbled...
DCI? What a crappy name for a dive company!

no kidding.... maybe they should rename to Diving Concepts Scuba

 

[O-ring]

Uncle Pug once bubbled...

no kidding.... maybe they should rename to Diving Concepts Scuba

Did you keep your inner (original) latex seal or not? If so, any problems with glove squeeze or did you run some sort of tubing?

 

[Uncle Pug]

I run a short length of rubber tubing under each seal.

 

[O-ring]

Uncle Pug once bubbled...
I run a short length of rubber tubing under each seal.

Cool, thanks...I may go that route but I will give the 3mm gloves one more chance on the 21st...

 

[newton]

O-ring once bubbled...
I have 300g polarfleece and get cold in weenie water...what are you guys doing for hoods/gloves? Maybe it is my head or hands that are making me cold...

For what it's worth, I get cold wearing the same underwear as UP (mine's a 300G one-piece single layer). His are two-layer (inner being micro-fleece), which is similar to my wife's setup. I'm currently using the botoom layer of polypro, but have considered getting a set of Chilly's (tm) microfleece underwear to see if it would keep me warmer, since my wife who is typically *way* colder than me stays warmer in her setup than I do.

I'm also using the same DCI gloves, and they are the best. I have to say that my diving comfort increased immensely in cold water with the addition of the gloves. Previously, a 15 minute dive with my 7mm neoprene gloves in 45-60 water was the most I could do before my hands go so numb I couldn't hardly use them. Now, I dive them in *all* water, from 36-75 (it doesn't get any warmer than that around here).

I'm using a 5mm White's zipped hood which tucks into the collar of my DUI, and the zipper makes it really easy to don/doff. I've been considering an upgrade to a 7mm hood, or perhaps a blown-nitrogen neoprene one without the zipper for *really* cold water (ie; ice-diving).

Basically, from about 35-50 degrees, even with the 300G fleece and dry gloves, I'm still chilled about 20-25 minutes into the dive. I've added additional layers, and it helps somewhat, but I end up having to add a bunch of air to the suit, and I'm getting really constrained so much that I can't reach my valves anymore, so I need to re-think things.

I suspect one of my problems is the drysuit. The CLx material gets pretty stiff when the water is cold, so dexterity suffers. I've considered getting a 400G thinsulate garment, but the price is prohibitive.

Bottom line is that the dry gloves helped me out immensely, but I'm still getting chilled. I haven't (yet) found a good solution that doesn't involve either:
* Adding a bunch of air, making for very floaty feet at the end of the dive.
* Adding a bunch of layers, making dexterity difficult.

It's possible that a better hood is the ticket, although I find that the back of my head stays almost dry, so it's not likely that the seals are bad.

I'm sure this doesn't help you much, but it's another data-point...


Nate

 

[O-ring]

Thanks for your post...I suspect we are just seeing different tolerances to exposure. I am pretty uninsulated naturally (155 lbs) and do not have an argon setup. I'll get a few more data points on my own since we are diving the Chesapeake for oysters on the 21st and have the following setups:

Me - DUI CLx450 - 300 wt polartec one piece - neoprene gloves
Buddy#1 - DUI CLx450 - skiing undergarments - neoprene gloves
Buddy#2 - DUI CLx450 - Diving Concepts something or other - dry glove/ring system
Buddy#3 - DUI TLS350 - DUI Fleece - neoprene gloves

I'll let you know who froze and who didn't... :cold:

 

[newton]

O-ring once bubbled...
I'll get a few more data points on my own since we are diving the Chesapeake for oysters on the 21st and have the following setups:

So, how did it work out?

An update on my setup. My inlaws bought me some high-quality micro-fleece underwear for Christmas, and yesterday was my first dive of the new year.

Previously my bottom layer was a 2-piece light-weight polypro layer, which was replaced by the micro-fleece.

Setup:
* Lycra biking shorts
* Micro-fleece (tops and bottoms)
* Heavy-weight Cabela's polypros
* 1-piece/single layer Softwear 300G suit
* CLx450/DUI
* DC drygloves
* White's zippered 7mm hood

The dive was cut short because my dive partner's suit leaked, but I was *much* warmer this time, despite it being the coldest water I've have dived into. (It was actually colder than the one ice-dive I went on, even though it was open-water at this stretch of the lake).

20 mins @ 41' at 33 degrees.

The only downside is that I think I need another 2# of weight to get down with the micro-fleece vs. the thin polypros. Unfortunately, my ACB+ pockets are max'd out, so I either need new tanks, an STA to give me more weight, or a way to stuff more weight into the already overloaded pockets.

How was your dive? Did you stay warm enough?


Nate