Dry Suit Help

Hello all,

After my experience that I outlines in this thread http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/283282-had-my-last-dive-ever-today.html I have purchased a drysuit. I have done a lot of research on drysuits and know the theory of how it all works and today got into the pool to test out the suit and try to get a feel for diving dry.

For the most part it went pretty good. It took a few minutes to get weights sorted out but I think I have know found that sweet spot.

The major thing I noticed was the drysuit squeeze. The main problem I had was determining the correct amount of air to let into the suit. If i let too much in so I didn't feel any squeeze at all I was too buoyant and had to tuck and roll to vent before i floated to the surface. I also found I had to try to keep too much air from entering my legs least my feet float up too much. (yes I did have some ankle weights on and trim seemed fine if I didn't let too much air get up there.)

I guess the trick is finding the balance between squeeze that hurts and is too much and squeeze that is comfortably tight without too much air to make you too buoyant.

Lastly as a question does anyone have any tips or general suggestions if I were to invert myself and swim down headfirst obviously air is going to move to my feet and I found it awkward to try to roll back into a horizontal position.

What methods of diving dry to people find works best for them? I have some friends who never use their BC but just use the suit instead for buoyancy and I have some who just put enough air in the suit to be comfortable with the squeeze and then use their BC (or wing depending on what you dive) to get to neutral buoyancy.

I was always spot on with my buoyancy in my wetsuit so I'm beginning to feel like a noob again and having to completely re-learn buoyancy. However after an hour in the pool I was beginning to feel like I was getting the hang of it. I'm going to be back in the pool for another hour or so tonight and then will over the weekend make an easy 30 ft open water dive to continue to get the feel for the new suit.

Any tips or general suggestions would be great if you have anything to share.

Welcome to the wonderful world of diving dry! It takes a few dives to start being really comfortable in the drysuit....it takes even more dives to be able to dive on auto-pilot like you used to be able to do with your wetsuit. But it WILL be worth it! There's nothing worse than being cold and miserable on a fantastic dive.

Everyone has a different opinion on how to dive a drysuit. But this is what works for me. I generally add enough air to get rid of the squeeze, and use my wing to take care of any additional buoyancy compensation I need. However, if I notice that I'm getting really cold, I'll pump some more air into my drysuit and dump a little out of the wing. I generally prefer not to have too much air in my drysuit as it makes control a little more of an issue....not too bad when you get used to it, but with a steel tank and as much lead as it takes to dive in the cold conditions I dive in, I can't imagine being successful by using only your drysuit for buoyancy.

As for adding air and feeling like you're too buoyant....was it that you actually were buoyant and were floating to the surface, or was it that certain areas (such as your feet) felt floaty and the sensation was strange? If you actually were buoyant, it's probably a good time to do a proper weight check....make sure you're carrying enough lead to keep you neutral at the end of your dive with no air in your wing. If you weren't floating to the surface, it's just an odd sensation that will feel more natural with time.

And for swimming head first....I don't really notice any issues as the air compresses as you descend....when you start to feel too much of a squeeze or are ready to stop going down, you can add air as needed, but you probably won't have too much air stuck in your feet (if you do, you probably have more air than is easily manageable in your suit...).

But again, welcome to drysuit diving! It's a little more work that wetsuit diving, but it sure is worth it!

Thanks for that. I'm pretty sure my weighting is right. I took a fair bit of time experimenting with different amounts of weight and the distribution of the weight and feel like it is right where it should be.

I think it is just a question of getting a feel for how much squeeze is too tight and how much is squeeze is "normal". My initial problem was trying to get rid of ALL the squeeze out of the suit, which of course was too much air and sent me to the surface. Luckily I was only in 10 feet of water but that is something I want to get nailed down before going into open water.

I did have one experience also in the pool where I had too much air in the suit (same problem as above) and tilted to far forward sending the air into my feet sending me up feet first. What are someways to be able to dump your drysuit quickly to avoid a run away ascent? Obviously it is better not to put yourself in that situation, but if it does ever occur I want to practice how to quickly turn and vent the suit.

Overall by the end of the pool session today I was starting to feel more comfortable and at the end was no longer floating to the surface from adding too much air to the suit. At the end of the session my weighting felt right and I was able to swim and hoover off the bottom of the pool comfortably as though I was still in a wetsuit. Basically I think it is just getting used to feeling a bit squeezed and some of the new sensations involving diving dry but those will come with experience.

I must say though I didn't enjoy looking and feeling like a noob all over again with no buoyancy skills in those first few minutes. However, since I had my buoyancy pretty much dialed in with the wetsuit I at least knew what I was looking for and once I found the sweet spot of the right amount of air in the suit ect, the buoyancy came more naturally.

jjhill:

I did have one experience also in the pool where I had too much air in the suit (same problem as above) and tilted to far forward sending the air into my feet sending me up feet first. What are someways to be able to dump your drysuit quickly to avoid a run away ascent? Obviously it is better not to put yourself in that situation, but if it does ever occur I want to practice how to quickly turn and vent the suit.

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if you feel like you are getting too much air shifting to the legs making you invert, it's fairly easy to kick, tuck your legs to your chest (fetal position) and get turned head up so the gas can vent. Obviously if your trying to descend head first then the gas will naturally be towards your legs, so horizontal trim essentially leads to good buoyancy! have fun, and welcome to the dry life!

Managing bouyancy and trim with a drysuit just takes a little more time. I try to dive with minimal air in the drysuit(having good undergarments helps). More air in drysuit can potentially keep you warmer, but can also make you feel like the "Michelin man" underwater. It was more difficult for me to maintain trim.

I started with using my drysuit to manage bouyancy and then tried using my BC. I like using the BC to help maintain bouyancy at depth. With less air in the drysuit it really helps me minimize errors with my trim, such as getting inverted with air bubbles heading towards my feet. When I get into that situation I always will bring my knees towards my chest and get my legs lower than my BC to course correct my trim.

Anticipating depth changes earlier was key for me in the transition from wet suit to drysuit. Before I ascend I will release air from my drysuit, then I release air from my BC as I am on ascent.

Proper weighting is probably the biggest issue with getting comfortable with the drysuit. It took me a few dives to finally feel as though I had it "dialed in". It's not fun at the end of a dive finding out that you are a little light on weight to hold your safety stop. Having an extra pound or two on empty tanks is not a huge problem.

Once on the surface after a dive I will add a quick burst or two of air to the drysuit to minimize the body hickey that my suit trys to give me.

Have fun with your new equipment. There is nothing more motivational than newly purchased gear to make you want to go diving.



I think spending time in the pool going from the deep end to the shallows will help you with getting more comfortable with the drysuit. It is a little more difficult to get comfortable with the drysuit, but the advantages are well worth it.

Howdy

Hopefully I've pasted it correctly below. I've been using Uncle Pug's method for a couple of years. Easy to build into "muscle memory" and minimizes tasking at depth.

Dane

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/exposure-suits/210123-drysuit-how-squeezy-too-squeezy.html?highlight=uncle+pug+squeeze

jjhill:

I guess the trick is finding the balance between squeeze that hurts and is too much and squeeze that is comfortably tight without too much air to make you too buoyant.

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Yep. That's about it.

What methods of diving dry to people find works best for them? I have some friends who never use their BC but just use the suit instead for buoyancy and I have some who just put enough air in the suit to be comfortable with the squeeze and then use their BC (or wing depending on what you dive) to get to neutral buoyancy.

Click to expand...

It's a trick question. When you get your weighting correct, adding enough air to remove the suit squeeze will make you neutral and you won't have to add any air to the BC.

As you ascend and vent the drysuit, the suit's volume will remain constant (assuming you're venting properly), giving you a zero buoyancy change and therefore no need to mess with the buoyancy compensator.

With a drysuit, proper weighting is everything. To get weighted properly, you'll need to do is a standard buoyancy check (no air in your BC, a mostly empty tank and and all the extra air vented out of your drysuit.) and see what it takes to just get you under the water.

Terry

Some comments I would add to what was already said:

1 - Yes, you should put just enough air in your suit to avoid squeezing but not to achieve neutral buoyancy without using the wing. Remember, the wing remains as your primary buoyancy compensator, the suit can be your buoyancy back up in an emergency only

2 - Do not go heads downs, specially with dry suit, the correct position is always horizontal, your tool to control your descent and ascent is your lungs, put air in the suit to avoid squeezing, air in the wing to be neutral, a litle more air in your lungs to ascent, or a little less to descent. This way, without too much air in the suit and always horizontal, air in your legs should never be a problem

3 - If you want, you can use gators to avoid air in your legs, but you really don't need them if you got the technique right

After you adapt you will see that dry is the best way to dive!

If you haven't done so already, I would take the drysuit diver course offered by SDI or PADI. I too just got a drysuit and experienced everything you describe. The class helps out with teaching all the fundamentals and techniques for recovering from uncontrolled inverted ascents, proper weighting (you be suprised at how much it really takes in comparison to your wetsuit) and Buoyancy control. I found the course to be extremely beneficial, and I love diving dry. But it takes a while to get used to the different sensations that you experience inside a drysuit. Good luck.

Head down isn't terrible and its much easier at 100ft then in a 8ft pool. You need only kick and roll to right yourself.

as far as volume of air, I would say dont use so much that you cant feel the suit squeeze but use enough that your warm. Its a fine line and something you just get a feel for. However some thicker undergarments will keep you warmer and you wont feel the squeeze as much.

A local guy dives with normal cloths under his suit, like blue jeans and t-shirts. He feels the suit way more then those of us in fleece and soft thick underwear. You might think the undergarments are to thick for where you dive and you will get to warm but I have found the opposite to be true. I can use my mk3 undergarment in july when its 95 degrees out and its hot on the surface but once your in the water its great (of course the bottom temps are about 40-41 degrees but even in shallow lakes I dont mind the extra puff).

layers may help you too, get a thin under armor style base layer to go along with whatever else you use. I found I dont feel the squeeze in my groin area when I wear 2 thin layers as apposed to 1 thick one.