Peter Deveugle
Guest
Hi all,
I am currently in the market for my first drysuit and have been looking around various boards and shops, but cant seem to settle on a definitive choice. Some of the issues I cant seem to get a definitive answer on:
- Weight (+ drying time): due to job requirements I travel around quite a lot and dont always have the opportunity to stop over at home to get the appropriate exposure protection for the dives I am planning (nor can I take an entire collection of wetsuits with me). Therefore I am looking for the absolutely lightest drysuit I can get my hands on and hope to be able to use it in a wide variety of environments in a rapid succession (ergo neoprene is out due to drying times being too long I very regularly get on a plane with all my gear 24 hours after my last dive). To give an idea of the variety necessary, my dive plans for April:
A couple of shore dives of the UK Somerset coast, fly out to Houston the next day and hope to get a lake dive or two in during that week, if not a Flower Gardens trip. At the end of that week Ill have two days off of in Longbeach, so I hope to get to Catalina. Two weeks later (spent in Utah in the mountains so have to drag gear around)) I find myself on the Yucatan
- Latex or Neoprene seals: my completely subjective and un-expert-like impression from asking and looking around seems to be that neoprene seals are generally perceived to be easier to don/doff (pheww, hows that for a disclaimer). However, as with anything else this must come at some kind of cost (or everybody would be using them). Intuitively this would seem to be frequency of leaks any enlightenment in this area ?
Planned dive profiles: no caves in my future although deeper wrecks and exotic pelagic life are starting to call out to me for longer dives. Experience: currently a little over a hundred dives around the North Sea, Australia, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, salt and fresh water, depths from 1m to 40 m (3 ft to 130 ft), times from three hours to 15 mins, temperatures from 12C to 30+ (low 50s to high 80s F all wet: i.e. swimsuit to double 7mil)) and looking to continue down the same road e.g. my shortlist is Truk, Bikini, Catalina, the Antarctic and if I ever get the time the Great Lakes.
So, now for the million dollar question: is there any way of getting a drysuit that would be suitable for the above conditions, but yet still be light enough (i.e. modular with undersuit/normal clothing) or I am just dreaming? Oh, and anything a bit (or actually a lot) less expensive than a DUI would be great (it is my first suit after all).
Any hard info/experience/wild conjectures/good advice greatly appreciated !
P
I am currently in the market for my first drysuit and have been looking around various boards and shops, but cant seem to settle on a definitive choice. Some of the issues I cant seem to get a definitive answer on:
- Weight (+ drying time): due to job requirements I travel around quite a lot and dont always have the opportunity to stop over at home to get the appropriate exposure protection for the dives I am planning (nor can I take an entire collection of wetsuits with me). Therefore I am looking for the absolutely lightest drysuit I can get my hands on and hope to be able to use it in a wide variety of environments in a rapid succession (ergo neoprene is out due to drying times being too long I very regularly get on a plane with all my gear 24 hours after my last dive). To give an idea of the variety necessary, my dive plans for April:
A couple of shore dives of the UK Somerset coast, fly out to Houston the next day and hope to get a lake dive or two in during that week, if not a Flower Gardens trip. At the end of that week Ill have two days off of in Longbeach, so I hope to get to Catalina. Two weeks later (spent in Utah in the mountains so have to drag gear around)) I find myself on the Yucatan
- Latex or Neoprene seals: my completely subjective and un-expert-like impression from asking and looking around seems to be that neoprene seals are generally perceived to be easier to don/doff (pheww, hows that for a disclaimer). However, as with anything else this must come at some kind of cost (or everybody would be using them). Intuitively this would seem to be frequency of leaks any enlightenment in this area ?
Planned dive profiles: no caves in my future although deeper wrecks and exotic pelagic life are starting to call out to me for longer dives. Experience: currently a little over a hundred dives around the North Sea, Australia, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, salt and fresh water, depths from 1m to 40 m (3 ft to 130 ft), times from three hours to 15 mins, temperatures from 12C to 30+ (low 50s to high 80s F all wet: i.e. swimsuit to double 7mil)) and looking to continue down the same road e.g. my shortlist is Truk, Bikini, Catalina, the Antarctic and if I ever get the time the Great Lakes.
So, now for the million dollar question: is there any way of getting a drysuit that would be suitable for the above conditions, but yet still be light enough (i.e. modular with undersuit/normal clothing) or I am just dreaming? Oh, and anything a bit (or actually a lot) less expensive than a DUI would be great (it is my first suit after all).
Any hard info/experience/wild conjectures/good advice greatly appreciated !
P