Wetsuit thickness

[jbb]

Told you I am whimpy. Actually I am pretty athletic and lack much natural insulation.
Thanksfor the link I will definitely check it out.

Don't go too much by what other people are comfortable diving in. I find that it is a multitude of factors on whether you or the other person gets cold diving. Body shape can make a big difference. A tall and skinny diver will lose more body heat compared to a short thick diver (larger surface area). The other factors are metabolism and % of body fat and how deep you are diving (neoprene will crush the deeper you go and will permanently be that way after a number of dives).

You say you are very athletic. If you are really fit you will definitely have a slower metabolism because you have trained your body to be more efficient.

I dive in seattle where it is 45f winter and 55f summer, so I have a drysuit. I have just purchased a Weezle extreme because I am getting too cold during the winter dives to do two dives much less being comfortable at the end of the first dive. I hope it works.

I also dive tropical in Asia where the temps are 81-83F or 26-28C. I wear a 3mm full suit and after doing 3 dives a day for 5 days, I just am getting chilled down and am cold at the end of the dives. These are usually 60 minute dives at 65ft or deeper. Even when I ease up to 2 dives a day I'm chilled in the water toward the end of the dives.

I'm no lightweight and am 6ft and 200 pounds. Maybe it is my metabilism. I work out but my body fat isn't that low I don't think. My wetsuit is a 3mm O'Neil. Now that I have about 90 dives in this suit it is pretty compressed. A dive shop in the Phillipines had some new 3mm suits hanging up and I swear they were thicker than my 3mm was new. I will actually purchase a 5mm for any future warm water diving and am looking at the Henderson line of suits. All the instructors I dive with in the tropics wear 5mm because they dive a lot and they have gotten acclimatized to the warm surface temps.

Remember whatever neoprene suit you do get will be compressed after a fair number of dives (how many I don't know - was told about 30 at one time) so think of what thickness the suit will have after those first dives.

Sorry for the long post but I have learned not to depend on other divers ideas of cold and what to wear because of all of the above.

Jason

 

[down4fun]

Body shape can make a big difference. A tall and skinny diver will lose more body heat compared to a short thick diver (larger surface area). The other factors are metabolism and % of body fat and how deep you are diving (neoprene will crush the deeper you go and will permanently be that way after a number of dives).

You say you are very athletic. If you are really fit you will definitely have a slower metabolism because you have trained your body to be more efficient.

well I am short 5'3 but probably in the 17% bady fat range, well at least before the holidays I was, rest HR 52. Most of my dives are 70-130' deep.

I dive in seattle where it is 45f winter and 55f summer, so I have a drysuit. I have just purchased a Weezle extreme because I am getting too cold during the winter dives to do two dives much less being comfortable at the end of the first dive. I hope it works..

I used to live in Seattle, before I dove. I miss the mountains and the greenery. Anyway, 45F burr. I definitely plan to get a drysuit in the near future. Not just for here but because I'd like to dive some deep wrecks of the NE coast. I find like you do, that the repetitive dives really add up to my getting cold. I used to do 4 dives a day and now by the end of the second dive I'm ready to pack it in. I bought a 6mm step in jacket that I am now wearing over my 3mm full and that seems to be working quite well now. My last dive the temp was 68F and I was plenty warm. I also find that I am much warmer on say a wreck dive where I am active than a drift dive where there is no muscle use. So now if get a chill I start to move around more get the blood flowing again. It works.
take care, safe diving
kim

 

[Beppe]

Don't go too much by what other people are comfortable diving in. I find that it is a multitude of factors .....

Thumbs up for Jason:thumbs-up.He's summed up one of the most important aspects of being a good diver.Unfortunately most of the talk is just rubbish if one doesn't take account of the above.It's all very subjective in terms of physical and mental reaction to the uderwater enviroment,simply because we're all different physically and mentally.It's certainly fine to ask for advice and also watch other divers(not only the most experienced ones,but also the novices:they make mistakes that often one can incurr into just for being too cocky), but in the end one should learn to know and understand his or her own body and mind.I'm not being philosophical here,I'm not the yoga type(far from me),it's just a matter of fact:what's good for me in terms of temperature comfort or whatever else is not necessarely good for another person.I know that it sounds so obvious,unfortunately the most obiouvs aspects are very often overlooked.

 

[jbb]

I've been asking one of my more trusted local LDS about wetsuits and evidently O'neil is no longer using the better neoprene they have used in the past. Supposedly there are only a few manufacturers who produce neoprene. He mentioned some good brands of suit makers. I will need to pester him for the names again since I can't remember who they were. He did say that Henderson has a pretty good suit with quality neoprene - of course they have at least three different quality/types to choose from within their line. Still researching before I buy, of course the better suits usually cost more too.

Jason