Warm Feet in a dry suit

[p1p]

In our cold waters., my feet get cold in my Fusion, so I wear a wicking sock, REI Expedition weight Merino Socks, and 5mm Neoprene socks over that. My feet dont get cold now. I did have to go up a size in my Fusion Rock Boots.

 

[KevWind]

*shudder*

Not sure if this was sarcastic or just tongue in cheek.. And for sure cold tootsies per se may not be a huge deal. But no matter, it does highlight a very real and often overlooked concept. Which is cotton is very consistent , it is very useful at helping to keep you cool in hot weather especially when wet ... just as it is very useful to help keep you cool in cold weather especially when wet.

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[Subcooled]

Just remember that its air that isolates. The more air you can keep between the toes and the fin the better. Any fiber that is not easily compressed under pressure is good. Pressure comes from ambient pressure and also from kicks.

Woollen socks seem to work for me. Some people use electric heating, but then one must make sure that its safe.

 

[Storker]

Not sure if this was sarcastic or just tongue in cheek..

Um, neither. It was my spontaneous reaction to wearing cotton socks in a dry suit in cold water.

If you check further up in this thread - and in other treads on what to wear when it's cold, you'll see that I'm a firm believer in the qualities of wool (and I've got a very negative attitude towards cotton, too, BTW).

 

[pinshootr]

and how many dives do you have in your Whites Fusion Dry Suit,in sub zero weather? probably not to many since you live in TX.

 

[covediver]

Believe it or not, during the cold months here in the NE, I slide a hand-warmer packet between crew socks and the dry socks from Whites. You can usually find them on sale at a sporting good store. I've had them for under $1 a pair and I scoop them all up. They seem to last several hours so at least two tanks worth.

Yep. Great advice. We do the same in Alaska. Get the box at costco and you will have enough handwarmers for your feet and any outdoor sport you care to do. Do not place the warmer next to your bare feet, between the crew sock and dry sock works great.

 

[pinshootr]

The mistake I see a good bit is wearing cotton socks as a base layer sock. Because cotton won't wick water (sweat), your feet will be much colder.

Never pour water in your drysuit boots are suggested above. That's obviously advice that doesn't come from experience.

James R

Registered

Next stop: Lembeh & Bali


Join DateMar 2009LocationAustin, TX USADivesI'm a Fish!Photos115

Central Texas
Lots of local diving, most of it is lower viz of 4-10' on a good day. There's a spring-fed lake with really nice 50+ viz which we can dive from time (requires a scientific diver course and permission). There are a couple other fairly clear places (Comal River for example - if no recent rain) we can go, along with a private quarry to teach. For me, I love the local diving. Some people think the only diving in Texas worth doing requires a trip to the coast and a 20+ mile boat ride off shore.

I am fortunate enough to get a few stamps in my passport from places where the water is blue, warm, and the marine life abundant every year. For that I am grateful, but I still like my local diving.​

• I see you have lots of cold water experience !!!!!!!!!!!
  

 

[James R]

Where I currently live and usually travel to doesn't come close to covering the conditions I have been in. So while you may not like my earlier post, you're assuming a lot and know very little. I hope you enjoyed researching my profile and posts for whatever it was worth.

I stand by my earlier comments too. Only a fool would pour water in his drysuit and expect to stay warm from it for long.

 

[Storker]

(irrelevant post content deleted)

I see you have lots of cold water experience !!!!!!!!!!!

Nice, constructive post, there, man. Really adding to the knowledge base here.

BTW, his advice about wool and avoiding cotton is very sound. Very, very sound. About the best. Also, only a fool would pour water into his dry suit boots unless those "boots" are WS type booties - which I've so far never seen on a dry suit - rather than standard DS boots that keep your feet... dry.

And just to save you the trouble if you decide to go all ad hominem on me as well:
You probably won't find it from researching my profile, so I'll give you my "credentials" for free. I dive in Scandinavia, all year round, and quite a few of my dives have been in sub-freezing air and single digit C water. My coldest dive so far is -10C air, 3C surface, 4C bottom; we don't get much colder water here due to the Golf stream. And if the air is colder than about -10C, getting out of the water, unlacing my rockboots and breaking down the gear before it all freezes solid is too much of a pain in the a$$ for me, so I probably won't dive any colder that that. I also have more than 30 years' experience in hiking and backcountry skiing in temps down to -25C, including pretty crappy weather (around freezing, wind and sleet), and spending the night in a tent in temps down to about -20C. So I think I know a bit or two about dressing properly for the cold.

Since you seem to have a lot of time on your hands for researching the board, you could also search for cold water advice posts from Imla and Tigerman. The former poster has probably a lot more cold water (down to 0C) dives than I have logged dives in total, and the latter dives inland Norway in the winter, where temps can get pretty freakin' low, even by my standards. His .sig says "If your face ain't numb, it isn't a cold water dive". You'll probably find that they both agree with me on the wool thing...

 

[KevWind]

Um, neither. It was my spontaneous reaction to wearing cotton socks in a dry suit in cold water.

If you check further up in this thread - and in other treads on what to wear when it's cold, you'll see that I'm a firm believer in the qualities of wool (and I've got a very negative attitude towards cotton, too, BTW).

Ah Yes I am guilty of not reading the whole thread. And it is quite hard sometimes to discern implied meanings.
Thus I asked because it never ceases to amaze me how many people do not really know about correct materials for layering for cold. Probably far more here in US. then elsewhere.

To illustrate this subject. About 10 or so years back there was a tragic incident in Jackson Hole Wyoming. 4 tourists all relatively healthy young men in their 30's decided to do a quick day hike/climb up on the "Grand" a local landmark Mountain. It was a beautiful clear Fall day in the upper 50s low 60s F temperature range. 3, were wearing cotton under and outer layers jeans and sweatshirt hoodies . 1, was wearing a wool sweater and hoodie outer layer. A bad storm suddenly blew in cutting visibility to about 6 to 10 feet. and started to drop wet snow. They became trapped and tried to weather the storm through the night but unfortunately the three with all cotton succumbed to hypothermia. The one wearing wool was the sole surviver