Peeing in a drysuit

[spectrum]

Why can't you just cut a pee pee hole in your wet suit?? Why don't they make pee pee holes in the wet suits??

It could be a liability issue if you dove with barracudas??

1. It would mean adding a zipper, certainly doable but more $
2. It would be another point of water entry and exacerbate the situation.
3. It would give a different twist to diving in mixed company
4. It's to easy to just do it, let mother nature deal with most of it and rinse afterwards.

Back to your original question.....
Drysuit diving is not directly related to wet diving in a suit or trunks.

When diving wet your entire body is immersed and unless you are overdressed in a tropical location it is in a state of heat depletion. This sets you up for immersion diuresis where your body starts to move fluids to the core. As this happens the kidneys say holly crap he's drowning and begin producing urine like there's no tomorrow. The more you have hydrated pre-dive the more they have to deal with. This is one reason why (wet) divers will hydrate heavily and of course there is enough and then there is more than enough. The other reason to hydrate is that we are breathing dry air that our lungs humidify and that moisture is lost in every exhalation. I like to down a 1/2 liter in the hour before I dive and after each dive. I probably need to relive at least once in 75% of my wet dives and if I make it out of the water it's with a short fuse once I'm upright. All of this is preferred to being under hydrated and risk DCS. If there are any diuretics in your life be it meds of beverages then the line is even finer.

When you dive dry the vast majority of your body sees a much lighter heat loss and the diuretic effect is mush less as well. Since you know this you can dare to hydrate pre dive somewhat less as well.

In 40 or so dry dives to date I have yet to exit the water with a distressed bladder and have even made some repetitive dives without a problem.

As much as anything in diving we and our diving are all unique. My advice is to concentrate on your course, get out there diving and see what YOU need. I would not run out day 1 thinking that you need a pee valve, but they are there if you need them.

Pete

 

[Michael Schlink]

I have dived dry w/o a "P" valve but never again. The cost of a "P" valve is insignificant on the one day that you wish you had it. Loose bits post was excellent (nice job LB) As far as hydration and how often YOU need to P is very much a personal issue and really has little to do with if you should or shouldn't have a "P"valve. I think the Mfg's should just put 'em in from the get go. Diaper's are a solution but why bother, when you can have a "P" valve? They don't cost enough to matter, just about anybody can install one in a few minutes and they are very easy to maintain and use.
As far as peeing in a wetsuit I know a guy that has a "P" valve in his wetsuit and he re-uses' his catheter.
Buy a balanced "P" valve and move on, I have a DiveRite and it has been very good to me. I don't use it on every dive but when I have needed it I was very glad that I had it

 

[fisherdvm]

Here is an ad for a Balanced P Valve, it cost about 80 bucks in USD. Have anyone ever installed one?? Couldn't be that difficult, eh... Then do you connect the little hose thing to a condom cathether??



Comfort is an essential part of diving.

Especially important when wearing a drysuit is the ability to relieve yourself, this will also reduce the desire to conciously dehydrate yourself.

There are proven links between dehydration and instances of decompression illness.

Our proven P valve system will allow the external discharge of urine, leading to a more comfortable and safer dive.

Requiring minimal maintenance the valve is easy to DIY fit to any dry or wet suit.

Supplied with Instructions.

Our Price £ 37.50

 

[TSandM]

I believe the Drysuit manual from Airspeed Press has a section on installing P valves. I believe there are threads on it on TDS as well, and I'll just bet if you Google "installing P valves drysuit" you'll come up with more stuff.

The valve is connected to a condom catheter, correct. There are threads listing sources for the catheters on both SB and TDS, and there's a thread on sizing on SB started by Uncle Pug.

Almost all of my male dive buddies have them and use them, even for local shore dives, so it can't be that big a deal.

Wish it were an option for women . . . I don't know about Spectrum, but a full bladder has driven ME out of the water any number of times!

 

[do it easy]

Lynne, you must have a really tight buddy team if you know that much about p-valves.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

There are others out there, but this is the one I use and recommend...it has worked flawlessly for 5 or 6 years now and I have no issues with it at all:

http://www.omsdive.com/dryacces.html

This was posted to another thread, but seems relevant for this one as well:

Suggestion on routing the tubing from the valve to your condon catheter...

Go to McMaster-Carr website:
http://www.mcmaster.com/

Click on the top subheading, which is fittings, pipe, tubing and hose; second sentence, last item, which is "Quick Disconnect Tube Couplings (page 174) --
http://www.mcmaster.com/nav/framewor...Tube+Couplings

You're looking at a page of quick disconnect poly couplings, male and female plugs/sockets with barbs that fit into the plastic tubing.

Find the one that fits the tubing on your P-valve. Buy about six of the little suckers, male and female halves. (You tend to leave the male part connected to the short catheter tube laying around in hotel rooms, charter boats, and/or other places even more embarrassing...) I always have one in the ziplock of caths in my drysuit bag, plus a spare in the saveadive kit...

Cut your tubing about 5-6" from the end that attaches to the catheter. Install the male plug in that short piece. Install the female locking socket on the end that runs down to the overboard discharge valve.

I don the catheter in the hotel room before leaving for the dock/charter boat. Use two tiny o-rings to hold the catheter onto the end of the tubing (in case one breaks). You can get these dinky o-rings at the dive shop, from a reg tech. Take the parts so you can figure out what size fits your P-valve tubing. Wear long shorts upon donning, or the unexpected appearance of the end of this bizarre little configuration peeking beneath your shorts may lead to interesting looks and or conversations as you board the boat....

When donning your drysuit the tubing runs up inside your shorts to your waistband, and then through the bottom of the zipper in your undergarment. Weezles, for example, have a 2-way zipper in them. Many undergarments do also. Fleece sometimes doesn't, but you can cut a small slit in the fleece anyway, so who cares. Stick the male end of the tubing through the undergarment, and then plug it into the female socket at the top of your waistband. This configuration runs the tubing up from your personal plumbing through the undergarment at the base of the zipper, then down your leg to the overboard discharge valve installed into the suit. If you give yourself a few inches of leeway where the tubing clears the waistband of your shorts (or whatever you wear beneath your Weezle - if its a Speedo we don't want to know ) through your undergarment zipper and then down, you wind up with enough tubing to accommodate movement or stretching, but not enough to kink or allow excess tubing to block drainage. The valve not only makes donning the drysuit more comfortable for all concerned on crowded dive boats, but also prevents kinking from trying to run the tubing while donning the suit, etc. The downside is that the quick disconnect coupling constricts the tubing to a smaller diameter where it is installed, so you need to 'pee lightly' until you're sure that 'all systems are go', lest you blow off the catheter.

Works for me and the guys I dive with, but still simply MHO.

YMMV.

Doc

 

[RS]

Why can't you just cut a pee pee hole in your wet suit?? Why don't they make pee pee holes in the wet suits??

It could be a liability issue if you dove with barracudas??

Cause some us men would be swimming around with one hand down our wetsuit, just like around the house?

 

[loosebits]

I know some people who've installed p-valves in their wetsuit.. not a terribly bad idea and less hassel than a drysuit- it's easier to install as it doesn't need to be water tight and you can use easier-to-remove catheters such as Freedom Catheters since blowing one doesn't have the same consequences as in a drysuit.

A tip I learned from a guy I dove with once is if you must pee in your wetsuit, go inverted, pull open the neck and purge a reg in the suit.. it helps flush it out before it soakes into the suit.

 

[Jeremy Bouwman]

I know some people who've installed p-valves in their wetsuit.. not a terribly bad idea and less hassel than a drysuit- it's easier to install as it doesn't need to be water tight and you can use easier-to-remove catheters such as Freedom Catheters since blowing one doesn't have the same consequences as in a drysuit.

A tip I learned from a guy I dove with once is if you must pee in your wetsuit, go inverted, pull open the neck and purge a reg in the suit.. it helps flush it out before it soakes into the suit.

That totally defeats the whole purpose of taking a leak in your wetsuit!! The warmth - aaaaaahhhhh. lovely

 

[Bullswan]

Do you know how long it takes to drive from Houston to Orlando?


It DEPENDS.......




Very sorry. :shakehead