Drysuit Squeeze questions

I took my new drysuit for its first dives on the weekend and I LOVE it! It's so nice being warm and dry

My suit is a custom fit Hot'n'Dry www.hotndry.com.au shell suit. I wore tracksuit pants, t-shirt and jumper (?sweater) underneath and was ok. I added an extra 9lbs to my normal 9lbs of weight. I sunk without difficulty (normally in my semidry I need to go down head first for the first metre or so) and felt overweighted at the end (needed air in the BC to stay on top). While the top of my suit felt nice and comfy I felt as though the suit was squeezing my legs. I was only putting in 3 small bursts of air (maybe holding button for 1 - 2 sec). If I put in any more than that then I started to float away. Max depth was 8.5m. Second dive was shallower and I added an extra weight to see if that would allow me to put extra air into the drysuit to see if I could reduce the squeeze, however it made no difference. The suit has a belt around the middle and I undid that during the second dive and wiggled and stretched and inflated and deflated to see if I could get some air into my legs but again I would start floating away. I don't think the belt was 'blocking' the air from getting to my legs as it's not done up tightly and I think the same applies for my weight belt.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me to try. Please don't tell me I need extra weight...after using only 9lbs, 18lbs+ is a lot to carry around!

Thanks,
Mel.b

In a dry suit the air will migrate up. So if your profile in the water is not horizontal then the air will be in the chest or shoulder area. Try getting your trim more horizontal. If you did not take any instruction on dry suit diving I would seek out an instructor or at the very least a seasoned dry suit diver that can mentor you.

Butch

A certain amount of squeeze is customary,and should be expected. Your description of the air you added sounded reasonable,and should be just enough to reduce the squeeze. What does your skin look like when you remove the suit? Is their bruising or purpura looking spots? If so then too much squeeze.

Squeeze is just your drysuits way of saying it loves you.

Don't add weight - that's just chasing a problem with more problems. Use your BC for bouyancy, that's what it's there for. And get proper underwear - that will make a world of difference. Proper fitting underwear is even more important than a proper fitting drysuit.

outlaws:

In a dry suit the air will migrate up. So if your profile in the water is not horizontal then the air will be in the chest or shoulder area. Try getting your trim more horizontal. If you did not take any instruction on dry suit diving I would seek out an instructor or at the very least a seasoned dry suit diver that can mentor you.

Butch

Click to expand...

Good point re: trim. I think I'm slightly head up, legs down but not significantly so. I normally prefer this especially when using my camera (which I didn't have). So to improve my trim should I try shifting a weight or two onto my tank straps? I'm using a BP/W setup.

Thanks,
Mel.b

I usually run the exhaust valve at 4 clicks off closed, only pop enough air in to counter squeeze. I use gators on my legs and don't have squeeze issues there. I use a BP/W (SS 6 pound plate (Kraken Forge) and Oxycheq 50# wing) and weight harness which seems to allow proper air flow. Of course, I am still a rank amateur so any advice I give may change with time...

http://www.rgi-consult.com/files/Diving_a_Drysuit3.pdf
http://www.rgi-consult.com/files/diving_a_BPW.pdf

Mike

Mel.B:

If I put in any more than that then I started to float away.

Click to expand...

If you are at the depth you want and are adding air in the suit it is the same as putting it in the BC, you will rise. If you have air in the BC dump some out to compensate.

Yup, a little squeeze is not a bad thing. As you change postion in the water column the air in your suit will change postions. You should only have enough air in your suit to prevent squeeze, any more then that you'll have to add weight, not a good thing. I've dove my dry suit will just sweat pants and a long sleeve tee-shirt and not had a problem.

I think its just a feeling you kind of get used to .

If you really want to feel suit squeeze, try forgetting to hook-up your inflator and dropping down to 40 feet. Now thats squeeze

But how much of a squeeze should I be feeling? I didn't come out all splotchy like mentioned in one of the posts above:11: , but my legs definately felt tighter than my upper body which makes me feel like its not right. Also my legs were a tad cool and I think I had read that it's the layer of air that helps keep you warm - I felt like I had no layer of air down on my legs to do that.

I realise that putting air in my drysuit is the same as putting air in my BC. Talking to a very experienced drysuit diver he told me that I would need a put in a 'fair bit' of air to get rid of the squeeze on my legs but there's just no way I would be able to do that as I would be a missle heading for the surface.

Ok, I've just read a few other posts regarding squeezes and it sounds as though what I'm experiencing is pretty normal and that I will get used to it and it will get better with a few more dives in the suit??