Yet another Wetsuit Thickness question

[hqduong]

I am sorry to everyone as I know this topic has came up a million times. I was certified in Maui and done over 30 dives in Maui within the last 6 months. I can't find a good reason to substantiate the cost to buy a Dry suit considering I'll probably only do 30 dives a year in California, and I can't afford to keep going to Maui.

I know it probably depends on how many dives I do a day. I been cold in a 3mm in 80 degree weather by my 4th dive while feeling perfectly fine on the first dive at 130 feet. I get cold relatively easy. But I am wondering if the Hooded Semi-Dry 8/7 mm from Bare will be enough to last in Monterrey year round doing 4 dives a day. If not, should I add a 3mm vest, would that be enough then?

Or should I just suck it up and buy a dry suit?

[g1138]

I dive in a custom altered/fitted 7mm Farmer John with 5/3mm hood. The only time I ever get cold is this time to year when the upwelling occurs and the waters drop to 50F or lower. But even then I only feel it in my feet and my chest. It's that cold pulling feel on my chest but not an actual chill in itself.

I too get cold in 80F waters in the pool when it's evening. I spend about 3 hours in the pool with the basic class in 4/3mm full suit and 3mm gloves. Still get chilly, but it's probably because I'm not wearing a hood.

I think the semi dry will work for you. Get a 5mm hood and 5 or 6mm booties to start. I would recommend 3mm gloves that have a single loop velcro wrap. No plastic ring-back wrap velcros, I feel those don't keep your glove wrist seal flush enough to restrict water free flow (and you can over tighten them I feel). If you have a good snug glove that prevents water flow then you're hands will never get cold. I personally use Aqualung Aleutian Kevlar gloves in 3mm. Love them to death, very durable and easy to get used to to regain your dexterity with gloved hands.

If you still get cold in your core (not extremeties) then I would upgrade to a 5mm hooded vest, and wear that under your suit. If your feet or hands get cold then I would upgrade to 10mm boots or 5mm gloves respectively.


As a comparison I have friends (college students on a budget) diving in two piece farmer johns, single suits 7/5 & 8/6, and the occasional custom 10 or 12mm suit.
Excluding the latter the farmer john guys do fine, the single suits do fine for the most part. Those who don't do fine, go with a hooded vest and then do great. Of a few who use semi dries their only complaint is their wrist and leg zippers come undone a lot which makes them cold. If you can over come this obstacle you're golden (ie. get a suit w/o wrist & leg zippers)

Concerning Dry Suits:
IMO if you plan on doing more than 2 dives per dive trip in Monterey, you should get a dry suit. If you limit yourself to 2 dives per trip, then a wetsuit will suffice unless:
you are planning on diving deep (past 60ft) or for extended periods of time (longer than 50mins). If that's the case then you should invest in a dry suit (and a p-valve).

[Kilili]

Who knows? It's a personal thing. Vest helps a lot. Drysuit better.

[dougchartier]

It's a very personal thing, but I'd say if you plan on doing 30 dives/year locally with multiple dives per day for the next several years, at least buy a used but not abused drysuit.

I tend to get cold, and I dove around here for about a year in a 7mm full body wetsuit with a 7mm hooded vest. I was generally okay for the first dive, but the surface interval was invariably painful, particularly during the winter. Suffice it to say, the second dive was considerably less comfortable than the first...

Diving wet definitely made my limits more apparent. One thing I noticed was that as my dive times got progressively longer and as I became more comfortable in my trim and buoyancy (i.e., less unnecessary movement underwater), the cold got to me much more. I also noticed that my SAC went up appreciably on the second dive and in the latter part of a long dive.

I recently bought a used crushed neoprene drysuit with undergarment for $300 and can't go back to diving wet around here. The dives (particularly the second) are far more comfortable, and the surface intervals are incomparably more enjoyable. Moreover, a drysuit opens up the possibility of longer and deeper dives, as well going technical further on down the line.

Bottom line, if you're serious about diving in the Bay Area regularly, go for a drysuit now if you can afford it -- it's inevitable that you'll eventually get one.

Best of luck!

[cmburch]

Fit is everything in a wetsuit. The temps can get down to 44F at depth. I use a 9/7/6mm Xcel Polar SCS one piece integreted hood for SCUBA and a 7mm Farmer John Freedive wetsuit. Go to several shops and try on wetsuits to determine which fits the best. Ask when there will be a sale. Many shops will drop the price by $100 to get a sale today. I have seen SoCal divers with thinner wetsuits using a shortie when diving NorCal.

I use 5mm gloves and I get cold after a couple of hours. I spend a long time in the water freediving. 48F temps and cold fingertips suck. Everyone is different. All gloves are different. I would use 5-7mm gloves for NorCal and 3-5mm for SoCal. Leaky seams are only good for warmer temps in SoCal.

I use 7mm booties for SCUBA and 4mm socks for freediving. 5mm should be fine for our area.

[adelman]

Or should I just suck it up and buy a dry suit?

Shoot, my wife and I took out drysuits to Hawaii last time I dove there, and we weren't
the only ones on the dive boat diving dry. Water temp 73-75F.

Monterey's water temps are in the 46-55F range, but a good part is the year it is 46F. You'll find yourself *wishing* for the colder water, as it is usually accompanied by better visibility.

Diving wet in Monterey? You will be cold. If not in the water, on the boat ride on the way back. Whether you can do it is largely a question of how tolerant you are to cold, but most people who do it for any length of time, or who try to do more than two dives a day, end up with a drysuit.

Ken

[g1138]

Monterey's water temps are in the 46-55F range, but a good part is the year it is 46F. You'll find yourself *wishing* for the colder water, as it is usually accompanied by better visibility.


At what depth though. Most of my dives have been above 60ft and I've logged 52F for nearly all of them.

[adelman]

At what depth though. Most of my dives have been above 60ft and I've logged 52F for nearly all of them.
I don't have good statistics as a function of depth, but was just looking over my dive computer downloads. Few of my dives are above 60ft.

[Peter_C]

I can not imagine diving anywhere around CenCal or NorCal in a wetsuit. Drysuit is the only way for me to get in the water. We dive from depths of 25-100ft and that is the nice thing about a drysuit is it is depth compensating for whatever depth we are at.

Since I was lacking dive equipment the other day, I brought my kayak and wore my Pinnacle Polar semi dry wetsuit for exposure protection. I threw a mask, snorkel, and fins into the mix. Since Gerstle Cove was dead flat I decided to snorkel around on the surface for an hour. I froze my butt off and never even descended below the surface.

The best way to save money on a wetsuit is to buy a drysuit. My first DUI CF200 that I paid $400 for with 400g undies lasted for over 200 dives. My Fusion was over $1000 used, but near new and is still working for me today. We grabbed a Bare ATR, including Bare 200g undies, off ebay for my gal to dive with, and it was $128 shipped with new seals and a mounted set of SI Tech dry glove rings. After 6 glue patches she has been dry, other than a glove leak last time out. No one says you have to spend thousands on a drysuit.

[dannobee]

I know people who dive dry in Hawaii.

I'm with Ken on this one. If you're diving wet off of a dive boat that goes to Carmel, you WILL be cold on the way back in.

And the temps have been 45-50 degrees for months now. (Boat diving)

Shore diving temps seem to be a bit warmer though, but still what I'd consider "warm" by any stretch of the imagination.

[Guy Alcala]

Monterey's water temps are in the 46-55F range, but a good part is the year it is 46F. You'll find yourself *wishing* for the colder water, as it is usually accompanied by better visibility.

Diving wet in Monterey? You will be cold. If not in the water, on the boat ride on the way back. Whether you can do it is largely a question of how tolerant you are to cold, but most people who do it for any length of time, or who try to do more than two dives a day, end up with a drysuit.

Ken


At what depth though. Most of my dives have been above 60ft and I've logged 52F for nearly all of them.

This sunday I did two dives, one off a boat at Mola Mtn., max. depth of 85', and the other at the Breakwater, hitting 49' at the metridium fields. Lowest temp on my computer was 46 deg. in both cases. My buddy on the first dive had 48 when I was showing 46. While there's usually an upwelling in late March or mid-April, this one's been hanging on for awhile. In any case, it's usually sometime in June before it starts warming up significantly.

As to wet v. dry, right after I got certified I did up to 4 dives a day in a 7mm Farmer John and Jacket. But I was swimming a lot and the weather was cooperative, just as it was on Sunday. Later on I changed to a 7/5mm 1-piece with a 6/3mm hooded vest, which was a more flexible combination, but I shivered a lot in either outfit during the SI. I wouldn't dream of trying 4 dives a day when it's cloudy/foggy, windy, and cold, which is much of the year in Monterey. As others have mentioned, you'll freeze during your SI diving wet with any wind, especially if you're boat diving.

I remember one rainy day we were boat diving in Carmel bay, all of us but one were in drysuits. We were all cold on the trip back, but the poor guy who was diving wet was mildly hypothermic by the time we got back to Breakwater (ca. 45 minute run), despite being wrapped in a hooded dive jacket with his girlfriend hugging him the whole way (note, this was in RIBs, not commercial dive boats with more wind shelter). Even with a drysuit there'll be days when you're shivering after a boat dive, but you'll recover a lot faster. When I was diving wet I used to take a thermos of hot spiced cider with me for the weekend, and I needed it; I haven't needed it diving dry.

I use 5mm gloves after making do with 3mm initially. Whatever extra dexterity the 3mm might give is nullified when you can't feel your fingers 30 minutes into the dive. Many people diving dry also use dry gloves. As to hoods I consider 6-7mm the minimum, if you're going to dive wet then I'd seriously suggest you get one of Otter Bay's 12mm hoods, most of the people diving dry around here use them too. As to wet boots, 6.5-7mm. By the time the OP has re-equipped himself with all that neoprene he's probably more than covered the cost of a good used drysuit (I paid $340 for my CF200X, a steal) and an undergarment, and you'll be a whole lot happier and getting more dives, especially first night and early 2nd morning dives (if you're anything like me).

So, for 2+ dives a day, and/or 2 or more days a trip, go dry. It'll be worth it.

Guy

[DivemasterDennis]

I dove a 6.5 Mares semi dry in the channell islands and was just fine. It is important to have at least 5 mil boot, and I like a hooded vest rather than just a pull ove hood. Another option is a 3 mill hooded vest under a 5 mil wetsuit. That fits your situation too, and you can use the 5 mil in Hawaii for repetitve dives.

Divemaster Dennis

[andrewy]

Channel islands is not Monterey :)., Here you need 7mm at the minimum. My take on it is.

1. Wet suit you have to purchase new, as matter of fit, and neoprene loosing its qualities with time. besides it was probably peed in :). so new suit will run you $300 with boots when all said and done.

2. Good dry suit can be bough on ebay for < 500$ thats where i got 3 of mine. All you care there is zipper. rest is all can be fixed or replaced and in fact will be. my take DUI brand.
(get your size in the store first though or read DUI measurement charts first)

You will enjoy diving here , otherwise you are very very limited in bottom time. And in fact hypothermia is a real danger underwater.

[adelman]

All this talk of wetsuits in Monterey is making me cold just sitting here. I think the drysuit is a no-brainer and the real discussion should be whether drygloves are necessary (I love them).

[ktkt]

Personally, I stay pretty warm and don't plan to switch to a drysuit. I'm totally comfortable in my 7mm Merino-Elastiprene suit, plus 5mm hood, gloves, and boots, as long as I am also wearing neoprene socks. I've done a 4-dive day in Monterey temps. Of course, this only works because my suit fits really well, which means that putting it on is a bit of a struggle ;)

I probably should also note that while I was fine temperature-wise, having waterlogged/wrinkly feet from wearing wet boots all day is not especially fun.

That said, I am planning on dry suit training this month, but that's only because I want to go diving when I go to Iceland (in 35-39 F glacial meltwater).

[Peter_C]

Personally, I stay pretty warm and don't plan to switch to a drysuit. I'm totally comfortable in my 7mm Merino-Elastiprene suit, plus 5mm hood, gloves, and boots, as long as I am also wearing neoprene socks. I've done a 4-dive day in Monterey temps.
Are you part Eskimo? The next questions are how long are you dives and how deep?

[Hinalo]

IF you add a 7/3 hooded vest to ktkt's outfit it becomes my wetsuit solution, which worked for me for two years in NCoast/Monterey waters. It still does work great for southern channel islands diving, but I have retired it for northern california diving in favor of a drysuit after a particular boat trip back to Monterey from Carmel one November Sunday in 40˚ f topside temps and and a stiff wind. I froze and even a big boatcoat and some shelter didn't help. The next day I ordered a drysuit.

[ktkt]

Are you part Eskimo? The next questions are how long are you dives and how deep?

Part Scandinavian, which must count for something! And I lived in Michigan the last 6 out of 7 years, which toughened me up a bit.

Anyway, dives mostly in the 40-70ft range, lasting 30-60 min. I'm comfortable on the longer/deeper end of that, but I've had some brand new divers as buddies lately.

My first dives in Monterey, before I added the neoprene socks, my feet were freezing after 35-40 minutes at 50-60ft (plus 10 minutes or so of surface swimming), but since I solved the problem of too much water swishing around my feet, I've been very happy in the wetsuit. I am still amazed at what a big difference that little fix made.

[eelnoraa]

Definitely go dry. A good quality semi-wet suit can easy run you $500 and it may or may not fit you well. If you add a hooded vest, it is another $150 easily. You can get a very decent used dry suit or even new drysuit of lesser brand for about $600. Of course you will need under garmet of other accessories for your drysuit. But the cost dfference isn't as big as you imagine and the reward is big.

[kathydee]

My first 200 dives were in water warmer than 80F. When switching to local cold water diving, I struggled with which wetsuit to purchase and am very thankful that I decided to purchase a wetsuit that could be returned.

A 12 minute plunge in a 7mm into 46F water was plenty. I returned the wetsuit, purchased a drysuit, suffered the learning curb and have not looked back ;-).

[kathydee]

My first 200 dives were in water warmer than 80F. When switching to local cold water diving, I struggled with which wetsuit to purchase and am very thankful that I decided to purchase a wetsuit that could be returned.

A 12 minute plunge in a 7mm into 46F water was plenty. I returned the wetsuit, purchased a drysuit, suffered the learning curb and have not looked back ;-).

[JaneMitchell]

Gotta say I'm a a cold fish...shivered through one winter here in Melbourne Australia in a 7 mm wetsuit with vest at 11 degrees celsius (not sure what that is in farenheit). Bought a drysuit on a payment plan and I've never looked back. Now I wear the drysuit 9 months of the year :)

If you know you're going to keep diving and you love it ... invest in a drysuit - it will make your diving so much more comfortable and you'll enjoy it so much more if you're not concentrating on how cold you are!

I didn't believe it until I tried it ... now I sometimes get called soft but I'm out diving more than I would be otherwise

[scribetree]

Different strokes for different folks. IMHO, cold is the one and only drawback to a wetsuit. And since I run hot I've been just fine diving Monterey for the last four years in a 7mm Henderson Hyperstretch with 7mm hooded vest. I also like getting wet when I dive. It makes me feel more connected to the environment.

I tried a drysuit once. Hated it. Unless I was diving ice or technical, I wouldn't dive one if you gave it to me. It was like watching TV in a very uncomfortable chair. I know I'm in the extreme minority here, but just so you know, there are no absolutes with this kind of thing. Trust your own instinct. Try wet (at least 14mm at the core). If you can't stand the cold, switch to dry. Do what feels good to you.

[Guy Alcala]

Different strokes for different folks. IMHO, cold is the one and only drawback to a wetsuit. And since I run hot I've been just fine diving Monterey for the last four years in a 7mm Henderson Hyperstretch with 7mm hooded vest. I also like getting wet when I dive. It makes me feel more connected to the environment.

I tried a drysuit once. Hated it. Unless I was diving ice or technical, I wouldn't dive one if you gave it to me. It was like watching TV in a very uncomfortable chair. I know I'm in the extreme minority here, but just so you know, there are no absolutes with this kind of thing. Trust your own instinct. Try wet (at least 14mm at the core). If you can't stand the cold, switch to dry. Do what feels good to you.

What you're doing is a lot of it. If you're a serious photographer barely moving, you'll be an icecube in short order if wet. OTOH, I've dived in Tahoe and other mountain lakes in 40 deg. water wearing just a 7/5mm 1-piece, 6/3 hood, 5mm gloves and 6.5mm boots, and not been _too_ cold. But there's so little to see in mountain lakes that I swim fast almost the whole time, and I usually plan on a single dive so starting out chilled isn't an issue.

I too prefer to use a wetsuit when possible for the reasons you state, but as I've gotten to be a better diver (and dive deeper) I waste less energy with extraneous movement, so I'm not creating as much heat. For me, a drysuit wins in Monterey on both general comfort and safety grounds unless: it's late summer/early fall when the temps are up; I'm shore diving and not going deep; the sun is shining with little wind and I don't plan on more than 2 (exceptionally 3) dives a day.

Guy

[KevinG58]

I think age figures into the equation as well.

I am not as cold tolerant as I was 10 years ago when I could flounder around all day, a couple of 80+ foot dives and a shallower dive and be relatively confortable with the chill.

Now... I am moving on up to a drysuit for Xmas :eyebrow:

Maybe less movement and getting into photography also factor in.

[claudehl]

It depends on how your body tolerates cold. If you get cold easily, I doubt that you will be able to perform multiple dives using a wetsuit. I'm 5'5 and weight around 125lbs. I can drain my tank on the first dive but I always come back with nearly half a tank on the second dive.

Switched to a dry-suit (I should have done this years ago) and can now dive twice comfortably. If you plan on doing three to four dives in a day, you will need a dry-suit. With a dry-suit, you'll be warmer under water but you'll warm much faster topside, as you can easily wear something warm and dry.

[dannobee]

Claude brings up a very good point regarding being "cold." When I was wearing a wetsuit in Monterey, my idea of being "cold" was hypothermic and a cold core that took hours to rectify. With a drysuit my idea of "cold" is analogous to putting on a light sweater or one more layer of clothing.

I lasted about 100 dives in a wetsuit. The thing that sealed the deal for me was riding back from Carmel after doing two dives in sub 50 degree water. The cold air temperature and evaporative cooling from 20+ kt wind blowing over my wetsuit left me shivering uncontrollably.

Now even when on vacation, if the water temps are below about 75 degrees, I'll bring my drysuit and thinner underwear.

[scribetree]

Interesting how many people talk of cold that you can't even shake on the surface. Between dives, if I'm not already too HOT in my wetsuit, I drop it and throw on a shirt and jacket. If it's taking you hours to warm up your core again you probably really are in danger of hypothermia and you almost certainly are diving the wrong wetsuit.

Of course I get cold diving wet, but, as one instructor I know who also favors a wetsuit in Monterey put it, "I've never been $2,000 cold." I'm 5' 10" 180 lbs, so claude, I can understand not being able to handle it at 5' 5" 125. But this talk of diving dry in practically tropical temperatures (@ 75), sounds crazy to me. Then again, I was certified in Oregon and my first dives in the wild were in 43 degree water...in a wet suit. Now that was friggin cold, but frankly everything since has felt manageable by comparison.

[dannobee]

Consider this an invitation; you're more than welcome to join us for a few dives in Carmel in your wetsuit off of one of the boats that I usually dive off of. Then you can experience first hand what we're talking about. Maybe we are all just a bunch of wimpy wusses who should be diving exclusively in South Florida in the summer, but somehow I doubt it. :popcorn:

I'll likely be diving both days next weekend, and if the seas are decent, we'll be going south both days. ;)



Interesting how many people talk of cold that you can't even shake on the surface. Between dives, if I'm not already too HOT in my wetsuit, I drop it and throw on a shirt and jacket. If it's taking you hours to warm up your core again you probably really are in danger of hypothermia and you almost certainly are diving the wrong wetsuit.

Of course I get cold diving wet, but, as one instructor I know who also favors a wetsuit in Monterey put it, "I've never been $2,000 cold." I'm 5' 10" 180 lbs, so claude, I can understand not being able to handle it at 5' 5" 125. But this talk of diving dry in practically tropical temperatures (@ 75), sounds crazy to me. Then again, I was certified in Oregon and my first dives in the wild were in 43 degree water...in a wet suit. Now that was friggin cold, but frankly everything since has felt manageable by comparison.

[andrewy]

i'll side with Dan here, although i like diving wet because i feel "connected" with water this way., however :) in When in Rome..i meant in Monterey... If you want to really enjoy it, we dive dry..

I think being "too hot" is a sign of poor conditioning for diving i.e. hi blood pressure.
At least thats how i first felt. I was diving monastery in 4mm crushed neoprene without undergarments :) and felt pretty warm (i bet i would freeze to death now:).
Once you do it often enough your body stops pumping adrenaline and blood., and LP80 lasts you 60 minutes :) , and that when cold kicks in.

Wet suit is great for 30 minutes < 60feet dive. but we normally do 90minute dives to rec limits... i get a bit cold myself even in 400G undies now. Do take Dannobee on his offer to dive the boat though :), i miss it myself.

[Hashime]

Just a note on gloves, I wear the three finger gloves on my longer cold water dives (was in the water with them for about 2.5 hours yesterday) in my 7mm farmer john. Most of that time was swimming at the surface, but the water temp maxed out at 10C, was 1-4 C at depth (below the thermocline). I was quite warm the whole time. I find getting the gloves that have no velcro strap work great because you can tuck them under the arm of your suit and the seal is great. I can step out of the water with my gloves tucked in and the water will not drain due to that seal.

[Peter_C]

Part Scandinavian, which must count for something! And I lived in Michigan the last 6 out of 7 years, which toughened me up a bit.
I am part Finnish, but was raised a Californian :cool2: So I happen to like warm sunny days, and 86+ degree water.

Anyway, dives mostly in the 40-70ft range, lasting 30-60 min. I'm comfortable on the longer/deeper end of that, but I've had some brand new divers as buddies lately.
Those are shallow short dives, and a wetsuit may work fine for them. Many of us do deeper recreational dives with much longer run times.

My first dives in Monterey, before I added the neoprene socks, my feet were freezing after 35-40 minutes at 50-60ft (plus 10 minutes or so of surface swimming), but since I solved the problem of too much water swishing around my feet, I've been very happy in the wetsuit. I am still amazed at what a big difference that little fix made.
Surface swimming before and after a dive is not the same as jumping off a boat and doing a square dive profile, then jumping back onto the boat. There is no strenuous activity, and once back on board you have no shelter from the wind on the ride home as evaporative cooling kicks in :shocked2:

Interesting how many people talk of cold that you can't even shake on the surface. Between dives, if I'm not already too HOT in my wetsuit, I drop it and throw on a shirt and jacket. If it's taking you hours to warm up your core again you probably really are in danger of hypothermia and you almost certainly are diving the wrong wetsuit.
Try taking your top off in the rain and let me know how warm you are :eyebrow: Don't forget to throw in wind too!

Then again, I was certified in Oregon and my first dives in the wild were in 43 degree water...in a wet suit. Now that was friggin cold, but frankly everything since has felt manageable by comparison.
We briefly saw 43 degrees on Saturday at Van Damme with the average temps hovering around 45-46 degrees. My 104lb g/f did an hour long dive in her drysuit without getting cold. The second dive she got cold and we called it after 38 minutes. She would not be diving with me if I had started her in a wetsuit ;)

[scribetree]

Consider this an invitation; you're more than welcome to join us for a few dives in Carmel in your wetsuit off of one of the boats that I usually dive off of. Then you can experience first hand what we're talking about. Maybe we are all just a bunch of wimpy wusses who should be diving exclusively in South Florida in the summer, but somehow I doubt it. :popcorn:

I'll likely be diving both days next weekend, and if the seas are decent, we'll be going south both days. ;)

I'd love to, dannobee. And I'll take you up on it in about a month when I can dive again. I just got into a motorcycle wreck and broke a rib and my elbow. :(

For the record, I'm not saying I'd never get cold under the right circumstances, thus my original post that if I were doing ice or technical I'd dive dry. I just do rec dives within normal limits, mostly from shore, with dives up to an hour on a steel tank. For that, I've yet to be hampered by cold.

I'm also not disparaging anyone else's choice to dive dry. But I also enjoy being "active," and I don't necessarily agree with the universal premise that the better diver you are the less you move. I'm not saying I have to move. I like to. Again, unless I'm diving to extreme limits. I totally understand why tech divers do what they do. When I'm on a rec dive where my buddy is going to get cold or run out of air before I do anyway, I have fun — swim upside-down, slalom through kelp, ya know, enjoy the freedom of weightlessness. If that helps keep me warm, so be it. Oh yeah ... :popcorn:

[Guy Alcala]

<snip>

I'm also not disparaging anyone else's choice to dive dry. But I also enjoy being "active," and I don't necessarily agree with the universal premise that the better diver you are the less you move. I'm not saying I have to move. I like to. Again, unless I'm diving to extreme limits. I totally understand why tech divers do what they do. When I'm on a rec dive where my buddy is going to get cold or run out of air before I do anyway, I have fun — swim upside-down, slalom through kelp, ya know, enjoy the freedom of weightlessness. If that helps keep me warm, so be it. Oh yeah ... :popcorn:

The distinction being drawn is less "better diver = less movement', as it is ' better diver = less wasteful movement.' I like to swim and do hydrobatics too, and stay warm enough while doing so in a much thinner undergarment than my dive buddies - I guess we have similar metabolisms. For boat diving, though, except when the vis is unusually good or we know the site really well, we tend to do a lot less swimming and stay in a more confined area so that we can find and ascend up the anchor line, or at least close to the boat. Either that or we run a line from the anchor or some easily identifiable point. The dives are generally close to a square profile as well, and generally deeper than shore dives (Lobos/Monastery etc. excepted).

Also, while hovering to look at something I need to move a lot less than I used to to stay in position, i.e. I'm not flailing around the way I did when I was a newbie. So, I'm a lot colder boat diving than shore diving, where I can just take off swimming if I'm cold, knowing that wherever I end up the shore is that-a-way.

Guy

[hqduong]

Thanks Everyone! I think I just sucked it up and bought a drysuit. I like to do a lot of dives in a single day since I got a family now so free single days are all I have. Looking at a good dry suit was over 600 dollars with all the vest and etc. while a dry suit was about 1300 for a bare drysuit.

[fofo]

Hi! Sorry I'm late to the party.

You won't regret getting the drysuit. I know one diver who says he gets too warm with a hood around here, but for the majority, a drysuit is definitely a good choice.

I was one of those who thought "Nah, drysuits are too expensive, I'm sure I'll be fine with a wetsuit, it's just going to be a little uncomfortable sometimes" but one day, after a looong dive, I had a hard time opening the trunk of my car to get to the dry clothes (I was shivering so badly), and I decided right there that I was going to get a drysuit. Surface intervals are much, much nicer now.

[DivemasterDennis]

To each their own. There is no question that if you regularly dive in water cooler than 70f a dry suit is a welcome part of your equipment inventory.
DivemasterDennis

[scribetree]

There is no question that if you regularly dive in water cooler than 70f a dry suit is a welcome part of your equipment inventory.
DivemasterDennis

Sorry, but there is a question. My answer to it is "no thanks." Yours isn't. Let's not confuse opinion, majority or not, with fact. That's all I'm saying. Happy diving.

[eelnoraa]

I was one of those who thought "Nah, drysuits are too expensive, I'm sure I'll be fine with a wetsuit, it's just going to be a little uncomfortable sometimes" but one day, after a looong dive, I had a hard time opening the trunk of my car to get to the dry clothes (I was shivering so badly), and I decided right there that I was going to get a drysuit. Surface intervals are much, much nicer now.

Same experience I went throught. To OP, don't make this mistake we did. I bought a Pinnacle 7mm suit & hooded vest, costed me $400+. It is fine for the first shore dive of the day. Anything after that starts to get "uncomfortablely". I was still telling myself I wasn't cold enought to spend the money on drysuit. Then one boat dive later, I was totally convinced. I picked up a very decent and well fit drysuit for $600 and never touch my wetsuit again.

I sold the less than one year old hooded vest for $50, half of what I paid for. And I haven't been able sell my Pinnacle jump suit, even at $100. My lesson learned: If I were to suck it up and went with drysuit at the first place, I would have spent $600 and enjoy every single dive warm. Now, I spent total of $950, ended up with 50 cold dives and wetsuit that I probably won't use again.

Again, no one says you cannot do it with wetsuit but you will definitely be more comfortable with a drysuit while not spending much more