dry suit questions

[Randy43068]

I'm a HUGE fan of finding a mentor. From what I hear about drysuit classes, well... save your money.

You bet, the feet can be changed. Steve Gamble can do an excellent job and for a great price. Superior in Minnesota can do it, but I find them to be more expensive.

[AbyssalPlains]

Never bothered with a class. I did have a mentor show me the basics on land, though. That way,I was able to address some basic questions before taking it in the water, for example, what position I should keep the dump valve at (open, closed, half-way?)

Everything in terms of "theoretical knowledge" about drysuits I found here on ScubaBoard, and the rest I taught myself in the pool. Righting yourself from a feet-up position is the most important skill as that is an issue that can potentially kill you. When I tried it, I found it surprisingly easy. The part I DIDN'T realize by doing this on my own was that it was naive to expect the same amount of comfort as being in a wetsuit. I loaded myself with weights in an attempt to put enough air in my drysuit until it felt comfortable. I later learned that that shrink-wrap feeling is absolutely normal, and you should put just enough air in your suit to make it possible to move around. Once I got that, I started loving my drysuit and have ever since. A drysuit class may make sense if you have never heard of such a thing as a drysuit, and have no idea of what's out there and which you should buy, but if that's not the case, I have a hard time seeing what else there is to know that you couldn't figure out on your own.