X-Ray Article Drysuit Technology Comes Full Circle (advocating neoprene vs trilam)

[loosenit2]

Dry suit Technology Comes Full Circle

Saw this article today (published 2 weeks ago). Author advocates for crushed neoprene dry-suits rather than trilaminate dry-suits because trilam suits:

1. trap air
2. are more difficult to maintain/repair
3. lack stretch
4. have less thermal protection
5. require more weight because of additional air needed to maintain warmth

Author admits bias towards neoprene drysuits but was interested in others thoughts. My impression of SB was strong preference towards trilam suits.

 

[kelemvor]

I went trilam. Mostly because of the majority consensus here preferring trilam when I asked for reccomendations. I'm happy with my suit but I've never actually used a neoprene drysuit. Seems like you would be inherently limited with a neoprene suit in regards to how warm the water could be without overheating.

Stretch has been a non-issue for me. I've never found myself wishing it was more stretchy. I can move freely in my drysuit. Maybe the author had experienced a trilam that didn't really fit correctly?

Don't you ALSO put air into a neoprene drysuit (and wear appropriate undergarments)? I thought that was the entire point of a drysuit.

 

[stuartv]

My first drysuit was a compressed neoprene suit. My next two were trilam. My newest is compressed neoprene. I have it and my newest trilam, both.

My opinion(s):

They both trap air. That's why they're called drysuits. LOL But seriously, my opinion is that how well it fits is WAY more important than the material, when it comes to the air inside and how easy or difficult it is to manage. With either type, if it truly fits well, then managing the air inside is pretty much a wash between the two materials choices.

I got a small cut in one of my trilam suits. It was a quick and simple fix to patch it with a piece of suitable material and some Aquaseal. I think the ease of maintenance and repair is much more related to the quality of the suit than the material. A good quality trilam will be easier to maintain and repair that a low quality neo, and vice versa.

Trilam does not stretch (unless it's a stretch trilam...). But, if the suit fits correctly, I don't find that to be a problem.

Trilam does have less inherent thermal protection. So? You wear a little bit more underneath it. And, if it's really warm in the water (and you're really just wearing a drysuit for redundant buoyancy), you can wear (relatively) nothing underneath it, so it is more comfortable than a neo suit. To me, this is an advantage to trilam. You can never make a neo as "cool" as a trilam, but you can always add undergarments to make a trilam as warm as a neo.

A neo suit has a little inherent insulation, so you can wear a little less underneath. But, the material itself is thicker. So, if you compare to wearing a trilam, are you really displacing any less water? I.e. do you really need more lead to be equally warm? I am unconvinced. With my suits, I seem to use about the same amount of lead, regardless. That may make you think "he's probably diving overweighted a lot." I don't believe I am. I have done some dives in my drysuit(s) where I found myself to be underweighted and unable to hold a final safety stop. I added a little lead to fix that. I have never used more than 6 # of lead in any configuration of drysuit combined with double steels or my CCR. (I don't generally dive a single tank in a drysuit)

I have both. I like them both. I use them for slightly different things. But, if I were going to only keep one of them, I would keep the trilam. I think it is more versatile.