Basic Drysuit Question

[ChrisJones]

I just picked up a used drysuit, an Oneill neoprene model. I wear a weight belt because my BC is non-weight integrated. I took a drysuit orientation to pick up some instruction in the pool, one of the exercises was overfilling the suit so I could ascend feet first and practice rolling and venting excess air. When I'd do that I found that my weight belt (30lbs) would trap the air in the legs and I'd have to let it seep into the torso so I could vent.

Is that a problem? I think I'm going to use just enough air to offset squeeze, and unless I end up feet-up with lots of extra air I would expect that just being able to trickle air where I need it would be an advantage.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[String]

Ive never seen anyone manage to put a weight belt on so tightly it traps air in the legs. Ive seen knife straps and ankle weights do it but tightening a weight belt to that extent must be incredibly uncomfortable.

30lbs sounds a lot too, certainly 2-3x the amount you'd ever want to risk putting into a weight integrated BC.

 

[ChrisJones]

Ive never seen anyone manage to put a weight belt on so tightly it traps air in the legs. Ive seen knife straps and ankle weights do it but tightening a weight belt to that extent must be incredibly uncomfortable.

30lbs sounds a lot too, certainly 2-3x the amount you'd ever want to risk putting into a weight integrated BC.

I think I figured it out. No undergarments. Because I was in the pool, I just hopped into the suit with a swimsuit. I think that the belt combined with my sweat managed to make a decent seal like I'd never have while diving.

Chris

 

[String]

Suppose its possible, id suggest you try with the full undergarments to get a good idea. Its always worth doing this in the pool anyway to get an idea of weighting.

FWIW 30lbs with no undergarments at all is a phenominal amount of weight.

 

[ChrisJones]

Suppose its possible, id suggest you try with the full undergarments to get a good idea. Its always worth doing this in the pool anyway to get an idea of weighting.

FWIW 30lbs with no undergarments at all is a phenominal amount of weight.

Its all of the weight I had. I'll hit the pool again this week and work on getting an idea of how much less weight I actually need.

Chris

 

[DA Aquamaster]

My suspicion after reading the first post was that you had no undergarments on. With underwear, air will pass through them between you and the suit even with the weight belt tightly in place.

One of the things I like about my O'Neil, and neoprene dry suits in general, is the generally trim fit and lack of problem with air migrating to the feet. You really have to abuse it to make it happen and in normal circumstances, I have no concern with going totally head down in a good fitting neoprene drysuit.

30 pounds is about what I wear with an XL 7mm O'Neil with polypropolene sweats on for underwear when using a single tank. (For that matter 30 lbs is about what I wear with an XL trilam drysuit with heavy underwear.)

 

[Gary D.]

30 pounds is about what I wear with an XL 7mm O'Neil with polypropolene sweats on for underwear when using a single tank. (For that matter 30 lbs is about what I wear with an XL trilam drysuit with heavy underwear.)

I was wondering what was going on with the weights. Seems if you say you use 30# someone says that's tooooo heavy. If you say you use 20# your still tooooo heavy. If you say you use #15 you toooo heavy. WHAT? Do we have posters out there that just have to say any amount of lead is tooooo heavy when diving dry?

I'm glad DA admits to using 30#. Seems the majority of dry divers on this forum don't use but a small percentage of that. Where are they diving and what are they wearing under it?

I have been diving dry for over 35 years and have used a lot of suits. Most require 28 to 32 pounds of lead. My entire team and all the past menbers have been in the 28-35# range as are most of the guys I dive with. My wife has an O'neil and uses 24# with only a suit under it. She likes being on the cool side.

I can get down and stay down with 24# but the suit squeeze is a b---h. So I don't know what these light to no weight folks are doing but I'll keep doing what I'm doing.

Thanks for being honest DA.

Gary D.

 

[Travis*N]

I was wondering what was going on with the weights. Seems if you say you use 30# someone says that's tooooo heavy. If you say you use 20# your still tooooo heavy. If you say you use #15 you toooo heavy. WHAT? Do we have posters out there that just have to say any amount of lead is tooooo heavy when diving dry?

I
Gary D.

thats funny, I dive dry with 42 pounds of lead, and i don't think i'm overweighted.

 

[To_Narced]

I just picked up a used drysuit, an Oneill neoprene model. I wear a weight belt because my BC is non-weight integrated. I took a drysuit orientation to pick up some instruction in the pool, one of the exercises was overfilling the suit so I could ascend feet first and practice rolling and venting excess air. When I'd do that I found that my weight belt (30lbs) would trap the air in the legs and I'd have to let it seep into the torso so I could vent.

Is that a problem? I think I'm going to use just enough air to offset squeeze, and unless I end up feet-up with lots of extra air I would expect that just being able to trickle air where I need it would be an advantage.

Thanks,
Chris

First of all as someone else already said mabye you should lossen your belt. However I dont think 30lbs is to much to dive dry. Actually if you're diving cold water with thermal undergarmets I dont see how you could use much less. I dive dry with 32lbs and it works great. However body composition has to be taken into account. I have a buddy whos my height but weighs 230 lbs (I weigh190) and he uses 42 lbs of lead. When i dive i use just enough air to off set the squeeze and the rest goes in my BCD. This is a personal prefrence and you'll just have to experiment for yourself.

 

[jbd]

I was wondering what was going on with the weights. Seems if you say you use 30# someone says that's tooooo heavy. If you say you use 20# your still tooooo heavy. If you say you use #15 you toooo heavy. WHAT? Do we have posters out there that just have to say any amount of lead is tooooo heavy when diving dry?

I'm glad DA admits to using 30#. Seems the majority of dry divers on this forum don't use but a small percentage of that. Where are they diving and what are they wearing under it?

I have been diving dry for over 35 years and have used a lot of suits. Most require 28 to 32 pounds of lead. My entire team and all the past menbers have been in the 28-35# range as are most of the guys I dive with. My wife has an O'neil and uses 24# with only a suit under it. She likes being on the cool side.

I can get down and stay down with 24# but the suit squeeze is a b---h. So I don't know what these light to no weight folks are doing but I'll keep doing what I'm doing.

Thanks for being honest DA.

Gary D.

I have an old, thich neoprene dry suit of unknown origins. I can start a dive with 26# but like you said the suit squeeze is a .......
for comfort I use 30# but have to be careful about drawing the tank too low before ending the dive or I'm not able to prevent drifting to the surface from 15 ft.