Before the flood

[MXGratefulDiver]

If you dive them long enough, all drysuits will eventually become wetsuits ... and then you get them fixed. I'm on my seventh drysuit ... coming up on 3,000 drysuit dives over the past 11 years ... and have flooded my suit a few times. More often, I just get leaks. Some are due to wear & tear, some operator error, some manufacturer's mistakes (delamination or poor seam sealing). Only a couple times have they cut my dive short.

I currently own two suits ... one relatively new the other well used. I put the well used suit into the shop recently ... they found two holes in the right boot (wear from rubbing against the fins), leaks in the underarms (abrasion from sidemounting), hip (backplate rub), and elbow (nicked a giant barnacle on a piling while trying to position for a picture), and a leaking zipper (probably normal wear). And yet I was diving that suit on dives of more than an hour in Puget Sound water. A good undergarment will keep you warm even when wet.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[TSandM]

I started to write that TOTALLY dry dives are the minority . . . but I'm not sure that's really true. I do know that getting wet somewhere is awfully common and awfully annoying. Valves DO leak, especially dump valves and p-valves. Seals will eventually fatigue and leak, or crack and seep. And small holes do occur, of the "Huh, my right hip is wet!" sort. There is no question that one is much warmer if completely dry, but as Bob says, good undergarments pick up the slack (which is why I prefer the ones you can wash).

If you own a dry suit, you will spend time looking for and fixing leaks. How many, how often, and how easily depends on the suit.

 

[Tigerman]

Most of my dives has been completely dry. The ones that hasn't been its been two things that's been the usual issue - Either I've been working and moving my hands and head in angles that allow water to seep in through the seals or I have been a bit too good at keeping a minimal ammount of air in the suit, allowing the dump valve to let in a tiny bit of water...

 

[bargeman]

Good stuff; Can you wash the high loft undergarment? or just the fleece type.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I've washed my Weezle and Whites Thermal Fusion undergarments without issue, normal cycle and laundry detergent. Don't want to put them in the dryer though ... hang and air dry.

Thinsulate I'm not so sure about.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[bargeman]

Wow, With that many dry suits under your belt i have to pick your brain and ask which one was or is your favorite?

 

[TSandM]

You can wash fleece almost with impunity. Thinsulate consists of tiny fibers with a waxy coating -- it doesn't like detergents, hot water, or hot drying. The less you wash a Thinsulate garment, the better off you are.

 

[Subcooled]

Drysuits do not flood. And if they would then you have the bcd or wing that provides redundant buoyancy.

You have minimized your weights in the pool with 2x10 bar, haven't you? With excessive weight the neck seal may of course leak but not with proper weighting.

I only use latex seals. No comments on neoprene seals.

Wrist seals may sometimes leak a bit - a wet arm results. The solution to this is to use either wet or dry gloves. Not both. Some people forget to close the zipper. That's fun.

Sent from my GT-S7710 using Tapatalk

 

[James R]

I have a DUI thinsulate 400 undergarment that I machine wash...kinda. Fill washer with cold, stuff undergarment in, then add a cup of white vinegar, then run gentle cycle. Lay flat to dry, don't hang 'em.

I dont wear wear it often, though. It's a bit too warm for our "cold" water (50 deg).

 

[TSandM]

Dry suits do not flood? Hmm. I wonder what you call it when your suit is totally full of water by the end of the dive, then, because that's happened to me more than a couple of times.