Rocky Shore Dives & Drysuits

[HBDiveGirl]

Claudette knows what she is talking about. When I saw this thread I fugured that of all the divers I know she would be the best authourity for the information you seek.

Mark Vlahos

"There are some who call me.... Tim?"

OMG, Mark! Just load up all my friends with pies like this and I'm going to be drowning in whipped cream!!!!

Thanks for the vote of confidence. Next, I'll be holding mini-seminars on moving cinder blocks through the surf using lobster bags and plastic SMBs as lift bags. Did I ever send you your certification card on that one??

And my performance appraisal is due at work. Could you talk to a few stategic people around here?... (and then lemmie know where to send the small unmarked bills??)



'Dette

 

[DiveJedi]

Drysuits are tough no doubt. But in the unlikely event that you did rip or puncture a suit, Whites actually offers repair kits for our suits. All you need is a powerful blow dryer, the patch itself, and a roller of some kind and you are back in business.

No need to send your suit back for repairs, no aqua seal, just a patch that comes in a variety of sizes. The way that we make our suits is such that this works with both neoprene or our shell suits!

Doesn't get much easier!

Happy diving,
Tyler

 

[laazur]

Good drysuits are pretty tough. You'd be surprised what kind of punishment they'll take, even the Trilam suits (as compared to the iron-tough crushed neoprene suits Claudette referred to). Scrapes and normal shore entries are less of a concern than urchins in the surge, ironically.

I use a trilam in winter and agree, for me urchins in the surge are a bigger concern than water entry.
On the shore walk I use rockboots, they give a very good stability on rocks, once in the water I float.


bernard

 

[Narcd_dvr]

As Claudette had said, Bare XCD2 TechDry is one of the toughest drysuits out there. I own a Bare Trilam Tech HD and its also very tough, but not as tough as the XCD2. Initially, I was gonna get the XCD2, but in the end, I went with the latter since it was lighter and dries a lot faster.
Anyway, if you ever have to repair your drysuit check this site out, http://www.drysuitrepair.com/

 

[FishDiver]

After 2 years of wetsuit diving in SoCal, I bought a BARE compressed neoprene drysuit (XCD2 TechDry).


I have the soft feet, and wear 5mm zippered neoprene dive boots over the top. I replace them about twice a year.
Claudette

How thick are the neoprene feet on the XCD2? Did you have to buy new fins or did the ones you used with your wetsuit still fit?

 

[HBDiveGirl]

How thick are the neoprene feet on the XCD2? Did you have to buy new fins or did the ones you used with your wetsuit still fit?

I don't know. The foot fabric feels softer than the rest of the suit. The BARE website would probably have full current info... my suit is 2 years old.

I wear the same Rocket fins and spring straps that I wear with my wetsuit boots. When I tried bigger, harder-soled wetsuit boots over my drysuit feet, they wouldn't fit into my Rockets.

~C~

 

[SoCalAngel]

I have the Bare XCD4. It's a little thicker than Claudette's, which means its heavier, and I love it, too! I've done dives in Monterey in it and it is totally awesome in those cold temps. Because of the thickness of the neoprene (4mm crushed vs. 2 mm crushed) I can wear thinner undergarments, which means a little less weight on my belt.

It has held up quite nicely on my 50 or so dives (ok, so I am just not as big a hardcore diver as my bud Claudette :light: ). The only issue I have had is the pockets I had added by BARE started peeling off right away. I been caught in surge many times, and banged against rocks with urchins (in So Cal, not Nor Cal... not many urchins out and about up there for some reason ). So far, no urchin holes through the neoprene. WHooHoo!!!!

I had a dive buddy that did 100's of dives in her 2mm crushed neoprene suit (White's). She did get some urchin holes. She just used aquaseal to patch it up. One cool thing about the crushed neoprene suits, is that even if it does leak a little, from the seals or from holes, you still stay really warm.

Give a holler when you come back, we'll go diving!!