Why It Is So Difficult ???

[ArcticDiver]

I've got nearly 300 dives under my belt and nearly all of them with a semi dry suit...

I bought a custom made trilam dry suit more or less 30 days ago and after 5 dives I cannot say that I love it...

At the beginning I had problems with floaty feet and my old fins did not fit right so I replaced them with a pair of Jet Fin...

Althought I have a Xerotherm Arctic as undergarment I must admit that I do not feel as warm as I was when I was using the semi dry suit...
I know that I do not inflate my dry suit too much and I know that I have to expect a certain amount of squeeze but sometimes my movements are restricted and I feel cold (expecially at safety stops)...

And what about weights ???
My weight belt used to be 4 Kgs with a semi dry suit now I have to use 8 Kg, I feel heavy really heavy...

I must admit that I have got mixed feeling regarding my dry suit and every time I have to choose a suit from the wardrobe where I keep them I am temped to choose the semy dry instead of the dry suit...

Questions are...

How long will it take me to dive dry in a comfortable manner as I used to do with my semi dry ???

Is it just a matter of time ???

Is it possibile that in couple of months starting from today I could write a post were I will say that I will never use a wet suit again ???

I fell a little bit frustated ad temped to use the semi dry instead of the dry suit...

Ciao Erik Il Rosso

Erik, does your suit FIT? Sounds silly I know. But I've run across people whose "custom" suits just don't fit properly. Some just adapt to the suit. Some keep getting it recut to fit.

As for when you will feel comfortable? It depends. If you live somewhere you can dive very frequently, probably not very long. If you have to dive in batches where the first few dives each time are taking the rust off; could be a bit longer.

Since my suit was an Off The Rack and doesn't fit right I've contemplated buying a custom suit. But, most of the people I know who have custom suits aren't any more satisfied with the fit of theirs than I am with mine.

 

[PerroneFord]

Well,

I have a new custom suit, and am sending it back to be re-cut. The willingness of the company I chose to buy from, to making my suit fit properly, has won me over.

But you are right. Getting a suit that actually FITS is very important. I actually like my suit right now for cave diving, though the torso is a bit too short. But I need it larger for heavy undergarments.

 

[CompuDude]

Of all the people I have known when they started with a drysuit (myself included), they go through these phases

1) Why in the **** did I spend good money on this. Dives 1-5

2) OK, this still stinks but I now at least look like a diver. Dives 6-20

3) OK, now I have the hang of it. You know, being dry on the surface is really nice. Dives 21-50

4) You mean I have to dive wet? The water isn't THAT warm.......

The moral is when you start, it will suck. It does get better and after a while, you'll actually prefer the dry suit. You just have to get past that whole sucking part.

LOL perfect! That really nails the drysuit experience. Some may take a few more dives (say 1-7 or even 1-10) to make it to step two, but I agree, 20 dives into it, it really starts to feel normal.

Drysuit diving is all about the surface intervals. You may still feel cold at depth, but it's unlikely you'll hit the shivering stage, unless your undergarments are completely inadequate. It's the surface interval that you notice the difference... 5 minutes later, you're feeling completely normal while the wetsuit divers are still huddled in their boat coats or frantically pouring warm water into their suits!

 

[Erik Il Rosso]

Thanks for all your comments...

My dry suit fits me perfectly so I think most of the discomfort I am currently experiencing is due to a common rookie mistake, not too much air in the DS...

I am pretty sure that I do not allow my undergarments to loft properly and this is why I feel cold and my movements are restricted...

Keeping into consideration that I am also a perfectionist being in the water and being unable to do things that I was able to do with a semi dry leaves me frustrated...

Believe me, I feel like I am doing OW again while at home I have a brand new S80 waiting to be filled with EAN50 for a nice Tech dive...

In order to avoid floaty feet I also bought some sort of clone of the hyper famous Jet Fins and I still don't have the hang of it...

Bottom line, I have to experiment a bit (I am keeping track of everyhting I do/wear in my logbook) with weights, valves, undergarments, loft, freedom of movements and so on but luckly I live by the sea and got the opportunity to go diving at least twice a week...

I think that in a couple of months diving dry will be a wonderful experience !!!

Ciao Erik Il Rosso

 

[Erik Il Rosso]

I've got another question...

How do you keep your DS valve while diving ???

On the surface I keep mine all open, when I reach -6 mtrs I close it all and as soon as I start to go up I open it all...

Ciao Erik Il Rosso

 

[in_cavediver]

Does anybody actually use a reel in Peacock outside of a class? The Goldline starts about 6 inches away from openwater. Just wondering

Well, it depends. When I first started diving peacock, the line was at the stop signs (both peanut and pothole). One summer, I was there, it moved to OW for a busy weekend. Then it moved back. Who knows if it will stay where it is long term.

 

[Dive1Dennis]

I've got another question...

How do you keep your DS valve while diving ???

On the surface I keep mine all open, when I reach -6 mtrs I close it all and as soon as I start to go up I open it all...

Ciao Erik Il Rosso

I generally dive with my exhaust valve open or only closed a couple of clicks. On the way down, I don't think that you want to close it all the way. The trick is to find the spot where it will hold just enough air in the suit to offset the squeeze, or to hold enough air to keep your undies lofted a little. I find that I will vary that setting a bit depending on the water temp. More air for the cold stuff - less when it warms up. I needed a bit more loft yesterday, first dive of the season in lake Michigan, the bottom temp was at 36F.
After a while you become more aware of the exhaust valve position and adjust it underwater if you need to fine tune the amount of air in your DS. A slight change in position can make a big difference. I believe that that is the biggest learning curves when going from wet to dry.
Good luck, you will learn to love diving dry when the conditions demant it!

 

[PerroneFord]

I have been keeping mine fully open for the most part. But I find I will close it a couple of clicks if I am working with the reel, to avoid embarrasing loss of buoyancy while actually doing work. I close it down a bit on the surface so I can float more comfortably.

 

[String]

Most people i know dive with it fully open or one click off, then they can dump by just rolling.
Depending on fit of suit and position of the valve they either work well or not at all so its personal experiment to find out which is best.

On my suit the valve is useless, too low down and doesn't dump at all - i just put a cuff dump in so at least i can dump by just raising my arm.

 

[piikki]

Now I feel like a freak. I don’t fit these descriptions at al. When I got a drysuit , I was positively surprised (demo had not been beautiful). First dozen or more dives were very easy. It was a surprise how easily the suit cooperated, and I assumed it was the custom cut and better fitting (better) undies and all.

Then around DS dive 20 I hit some sort of wall. The suit started torturing me. Ascents became a real nuisance, air was trapping and always sloshing to my calves if I moved around more, and I felt generally very insecure of what was going on. I kept a good squeeze and still that air always crept on from somewhere!

I got over some of that hump and then the real cold weather arrived, and brought on some more trouble with having to stuff so much insulation under that lofting and mobility became an issue. (Can you guys turn your suit valve on surface in full winter regalia – I can’t?) Then ice arrived and left me stranded, and now I am awaiting the return to the suit with eagerness but a fair amount of doubt too.