Bingo - Dive1000Islands - click the "dive flag"...
How thick a wetsuit for the Great Lakes?
- Thread starter Paladin
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
OP
Paladin
Contributor
Thanks, Bob!
I was just asking the reverse question this afternoon. I mostly dive Lake Huron and am heading down to FL for the first time. If you are a warm water diver, then what the locals wear won't be enough. If you choose not to go dry, get a 7mm. You will want hood and gloves. It isn't much more money for the 7 and you can always pull on the neck to flush the suit and cool down (but you won't have to). I use an 8-6-5 and have a 5mm hooded shorty to wear under it when I dive all day.
RonFrank
Contributor
Buy a drysuit off of Ebay. You have to do some research, but you can be dry for under $500.
DUI TLS350 dry suit mens medium used | eBay
This is an example, but you could replace the seals and still be at less than $500 and the owner indicates this needs nothing. Drysuits do not have to break the bank. Many people can't own used however which is foolish as its used the minute they dive it.
DUI TLS350 dry suit mens medium used | eBay
This is an example, but you could replace the seals and still be at less than $500 and the owner indicates this needs nothing. Drysuits do not have to break the bank. Many people can't own used however which is foolish as its used the minute they dive it.
Welcome - Seeway Vision is a good op that runs off the Canada side of the St. Lawrence. We dove with them this past summer and really enjoyed the boat. The captain is an accomplished tech diver who built his boat from the waterline up with divers in mind; hell of a nice guy too.
My favourite dive op on the Canadian side is Wayne Green's Thousand Island Pleasure Divers. Thousand Islands Scuba Diving Tours Rockport Brockville Kingston
Great captains, great boats.
Great captains, great boats.
An advantage of the 100 Islands area is that in August your 3mm wetsuit should be enough, I dive a 3/2 there at that time of year. Another advantage is that it is very rare for weather conditions to prevent you from diving which can happen in the Great Lakes. If you enjoy the Thousand Islands it is just a short drive down to Kingston where you can rent a suitable wetsuit and do some of the lake wrecks. Be warned however that Great Lakes diving is addictive so be prepared to make annual visits to the Great Lakes.
Here is my response to a request for advice on Great Lakes diving that I wrote a few years ago:
"Yes! Save yourself now. Breathing Nitrogen under pressure is highly addictive and can promote irrational behaviour in those who are exposed. You are likely to find yourself loading an ever increasing amount of gear into your vehicle to get up at some ungodly hour to travel hundreds of kilometers to arrive at a charter where you will have to transfer this every increasing quantity of gear to a boat. After catching your breath and then suffering from motion sickness during the boat ride to the dive site you will have to struggle into thick rubber suits or heavy underwear and drysuit to the point where you are suffering from heat prostration. You will then find yourself descending into blackness and cold to spend maybe 30 minutes before starting to exhibit symptoms of hypothermia. After about 1-1/2 hours you will find yourself repeating these actions before again suffering from motion sickness on your return boat ride. On arrival at the dock you will have to transfer all this now sodden equipment back to your vehicle. At this point you may return home exhausted or find some shelter for the night to repeat the entire process the next day. On the return to work the following Monday you will wax poetic at what a fantastic weekend you had and your co-workers will look at you with a glazed stare and make sure that in future they give you a wide berth. The energy expended for the maybe 120 minutes of diving that you enjoyed is totally disproportionate as compared to any other recreational activity that you could think of.
Again I urge you to save yourself before it is too late. Have you thought about golf."
Here is my response to a request for advice on Great Lakes diving that I wrote a few years ago:
"Yes! Save yourself now. Breathing Nitrogen under pressure is highly addictive and can promote irrational behaviour in those who are exposed. You are likely to find yourself loading an ever increasing amount of gear into your vehicle to get up at some ungodly hour to travel hundreds of kilometers to arrive at a charter where you will have to transfer this every increasing quantity of gear to a boat. After catching your breath and then suffering from motion sickness during the boat ride to the dive site you will have to struggle into thick rubber suits or heavy underwear and drysuit to the point where you are suffering from heat prostration. You will then find yourself descending into blackness and cold to spend maybe 30 minutes before starting to exhibit symptoms of hypothermia. After about 1-1/2 hours you will find yourself repeating these actions before again suffering from motion sickness on your return boat ride. On arrival at the dock you will have to transfer all this now sodden equipment back to your vehicle. At this point you may return home exhausted or find some shelter for the night to repeat the entire process the next day. On the return to work the following Monday you will wax poetic at what a fantastic weekend you had and your co-workers will look at you with a glazed stare and make sure that in future they give you a wide berth. The energy expended for the maybe 120 minutes of diving that you enjoyed is totally disproportionate as compared to any other recreational activity that you could think of.
Again I urge you to save yourself before it is too late. Have you thought about golf."
Paladin,
My then GF traveled up from Missouri one summer to join a group of us rec diving off Isle Royale--her and my first Lake Superior dive trip. We all wore drysuits except her. She wore a full 1/4" custom farmer Jane with hooded vest and three-finger mitts. And she wore a diveskin beneath her wetsuit, and wool socks and wool mitten liners. And she inserted one of those chemical heat things in each of her mitts. She was ~5'6" and ~135 lbs.
She was good for only a single dive in the morning and a single dive in the afternoon, when diving in the 100 ffw range. The group's routine consisted of ascending from the first dive, immediately stripping her out of her wetsuit, drying her off, stuffing her into her sweats and beanie and hooded coat, and handing her hot spice tea; then we would step out of our drysuits, eat a snack, relax a bit, and then prepare to make the second dive--while she watched, still warming up, content to sit out the second dive. It wasn't until the third dive, after a long surface interval which included lunch, was she warm enough to go diving again.
She was used to diving cold Missouri/Arkansas fresh water lakes. But Lake Superior in July is significantly colder!
Safe Diving,
Ronald
CamG
Contributor
Greetings Paladin I dove on Lake Huron quite a bit last season and many divers wore farmer Johns 7mm or 8mm.
The average dive times of a wet diver are in the 20-30 minute range, dry suit divers are 40-60 minutes on the shallower wrecks.
It was a blast up there last season and I can second the GLWC to find good dive ops.
Great Lakes Diver aka Bruno's Dive Shop would be one to start with.
They are a great group of instructors and friends who can put you on good wrecks with in your skill range and have fun doing it.
They have a house in Port Sanilac that they allow camping and the Blue Water Pub is outstanding cold beverages / pizza!
Out of Chicago Windy City can put you onto several wrecks that are excellent.
They just purchased another dive boat so they will be offering even more dive ops in 2012!
We started our wreck season with them in Lake Mich. them over to Huron for the rest of the summer.
If you had time the Ship Wreck Museum at Whitefish Point in MI is outstanding.
The Chris Kohl books are a great start to the research that make diving the Great Lakes a blast.
The history in them will make you numb and the exploration still going on today will excite you!
A group of divers discovered a new wreck last season in 60' of water and still many wrecks unaccounted for.
The Great Lake experience is unlike any other the waves, swells, currents, cold, and the divers you will meet!
More fun than should be allowed awaits you!
That sums up my wreck season last year!
Come on up and enjoy, I can set you right up with the people to make it happen!
CamG Keep Diving....Keep Training....Keep Learning!
The average dive times of a wet diver are in the 20-30 minute range, dry suit divers are 40-60 minutes on the shallower wrecks.
It was a blast up there last season and I can second the GLWC to find good dive ops.
Great Lakes Diver aka Bruno's Dive Shop would be one to start with.
They are a great group of instructors and friends who can put you on good wrecks with in your skill range and have fun doing it.
They have a house in Port Sanilac that they allow camping and the Blue Water Pub is outstanding cold beverages / pizza!
Out of Chicago Windy City can put you onto several wrecks that are excellent.
They just purchased another dive boat so they will be offering even more dive ops in 2012!
We started our wreck season with them in Lake Mich. them over to Huron for the rest of the summer.
If you had time the Ship Wreck Museum at Whitefish Point in MI is outstanding.
The Chris Kohl books are a great start to the research that make diving the Great Lakes a blast.
The history in them will make you numb and the exploration still going on today will excite you!
A group of divers discovered a new wreck last season in 60' of water and still many wrecks unaccounted for.
The Great Lake experience is unlike any other the waves, swells, currents, cold, and the divers you will meet!
More fun than should be allowed awaits you!
That sums up my wreck season last year!
Come on up and enjoy, I can set you right up with the people to make it happen!
CamG Keep Diving....Keep Training....Keep Learning!
Similar threads
