New to diving, would like to dive dry...

[dave4868]

I will start off by saying that i have about a dozen dives under my belt. I have picked this sport up quickly and have never had a problem with bouyancy control. I am very comfortable in the water, and even in my Open water checkout dives had no problem with obtaining and controlling a neutral bouyancy.

That being said, I realized that for the price of a new 7mm wetsuit i can pick up a 2nd hand drysuit. So i am asking advice on a couple things....

Do you think diving dry is something that will be diffucult for me now?
And what do you think about buying 2nd hand dry suits.

One suit that i have come across is a Posiden parkway that supposedly has good seals and zipper, but a little on the old side for $175.

Using a drysuit safely is not hard to learn, and, if you're a quick study, a half-hour of practice with someone knowledgable might be all you need.

Then again, since your lack of experience means your dives may present many challenges besides controlling the drysuit buoyancy, you might need a certification course to really get competent with it.

If you're a wise, level-headed diver who gradually increases his diving challenges, you'll learn your own limits and capabilities without getting hurt.

Have you looked at a drysuit instruction manual? Think you can pick it up easily?

Buying a used drysuit requires an experienced eye to judge the value and fit. You'll definitely need help with that. Finding a useable drysuit at a cheap price (like $175) is hard to do.

At least make an informed choice on the type of drysuit. There's plenty of info here and elsewhere about different kinds of drysuits (shell versus neoprene primarily).

It's probably best to decide on the type of drysuit, perhaps even the brand, learn what size is right for you, then look on the used market for that particular suit and size.

Otherwise, it's easy to waste a lot of money while you learn the ropes of buying a used drysuit.

If you can take some time to learn more about drysuits, you'll probably make a better decision. What's the hurry? Are you renting a wetsuit now?

How about buying a used wetsuit while you learn what drysuit to buy?

Hope this helps.

Dave C

 

[stangguy327]

Using a drysuit safely is not hard to learn, and, if you're a quick study, a half-hour of practice with someone knowledgable might be all you need.

Then again, since your lack of experience means your dives may present many challenges besides controlling the drysuit bouyancy, you might need a certification course to really get competent with it.

If you're a wise, level-headed diver who gradually increases his diving challenges, you'll learn your own limits and capabilities without getting hurt.

Have you looked at a drysuit instruction manual? Think you can pick it up easily?

Buying a used drysuit requires an experienced eye to judge the value and fit. You'll definitely need help with that. Finding a useable drysuit at a cheap price (like $175) is hard to do.

At least make an informed choice on the type of drysuit. There's plenty of info here and elsewhere about different kinds of drysuits (shell versus neoprene primarily).

It's probably best to decide on the type of drysuit, perhaps even the brand, learn what size is right for you, then look on the used market for that particular suit and size.

Otherwise, it's easy to waste a lot of money while you learn the ropes of buying a used drysuit.

If you can take some time to learn more about drysuits, you'll probably make a better decision. What's the hurry? Are you renting a wetsuit now?

How about buying a used wetsuit while you learn what drysuit to buy?

Hope this helps.

Dave C

Thank you for this word of advice, I am starting to understand that a $175 suit is not a smart idea. I will deff. be doing alot of research on this forum and elswhere b4 i put out any money. I am not in a hurry to jump into anything i do not fully understand.

And Yes i will be taking a drysuit diver course with my lds this spring.

I have been looking on ebay a bit the last few days and there seems to be quite a few Bare next gens on there. Anyone own one, what do you think of it?

 

[PerroneFord]

I did my first pool dives in my drysuit tongiht. My instructor put me through all the paces of a drysuit class, and I clicked them off one by one. No problems. Even had to disconnect and reconnect the inflator hose underwater.

Tomorrow, I try in open water. Or rather a cavern.

 

[Paco]

I have a Bare Nex-Gen. I have about 85 dives on it. I won't say where I bought it, but it was sold to me as new. I believe that it was but that someone had bought it, trimmed the neck seal and returned it. It may also have been in storage for some time. A year after I had it, I noticed some decay of the wrist seals and the neck seal (having been trimmed by someone) leaked a bit. I had drysuits plus replace the seals and I have been very, very happy with the suit since. I was advised to stretch a tight neck seal over a tank rather than trim it and that was excellent advice. It has been comfortable, but has not leaked. I added the old Viking glove rings and gloves and have not had a leak there either. In short, I find the nex-gen to be an excellent low cost suit.

 

[SteveAD]

I'll echo the advise to try to buy new and buy the best you can afford, but if you have to buy used, avoid neoprene suits like the poseidon. Over time with use the air cells in neoprene foam will rupture, causing the material itself to lose its waterproof integrity. My first drysuit was neoprene, within 150 dives it was a damp suit. By 300 it was retired, but to all appearances it still looked great. Trilam suits on the other hand are much easier to detect problems.

 

[joe rock]

I did my first pool dives in my drysuit tongiht. My instructor put me through all the paces of a drysuit class, and I clicked them off one by one. No problems. Even had to disconnect and reconnect the inflator hose underwater.

Tomorrow, I try in open water. Or rather a cavern.

Perrone, to bad you're doing so well, nothing beats your first time upside down in a dry suit.

Actually, I'm glad I experienced it.

JR

 

[PerroneFord]

No worries,

My OW experience in the suit was, shall we say, "less than satisfactory"! I had an AWFUL case of "floaty feet" and will be returning to the pool today to rework my config.

I am going to have to get used the the squeeze factor.

 

[Tavi]

DUI Demo Days at Dutch Springs is the May 19 & 20. Being in Jersey, you're not that far away. Come on down and check it out!! I'll be there helping out. Look me up!!

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Squeeze factor becomes a non issue after a couple times in the suit. It becomes instinctive to just add a little as you do down. I was in mine for two dives on friday. First time since new years but I've got 30 some dives in mine anyway. Nicest thing was there were no leaks. I just had the seals replaced due to an issue with a bad batch of glue from the factory. Was always getting a trickle in the left sleeve. Well it was so nice to not have to deal with that considering the air temp for the first dive was 22 and second 31. Water temps around 53. Was going to dive yesterday also but got up at the hotel and there was 2 inches of fresh snow and the walk through the parking lot would have been a little dicey. And since I was diving solo decided it was not worth breaking a leg over. Important thing was I kept my Good Friday dive tradition and dove. Was also trying out the weight plates for my DSS rig for the second time and everything just fell right into place. Plates 89.00, Hotel and gas for two nights 80.00, diving solo for two 1 hour plus dives to depths of 90 ft with nobody to worry about- absolutely priceless!

 

[Cheekymonkey]

Glad to hear all of you are having such good first times in the suit, my pool session in my suit was horrific in my opinion, it wasnt until OW that I was able to get very comfortable with it.