How do you stay warm on a dive?

[Foxfish]

Do you find the thicker wetsuit or wearing extra layers under a suit makes a lot of difference in keeping you warm? For those who dive in cold water temperatures, which is better, a thick well fitting wetsuit or a drysuit? Does putting extra layers on under the drysuit make much difference.

Body heat is lost as it is travels directly through the neoprene. In the case of a wetsuit, heat is also lost by water flushing through the wetsuit. These two methods of heat loss are known respectively as heat loss by conduction and convection. The question is, how do you lose most of your body heat when diving - conduction or convection?

 

[fisheater]

DRYSUIT!

If you're in cold water, there's no way a wetsuit can compete with a drysuit for warmth.

 

[Searcaigh]

Wear a hood or hooded vest in conjunction with a wetsuit.

Thickness of wetsuit depends on your diving temperatures and number of dives per day

I personally own a 3mm, 5mm, 5mm semi dry, 7mm semi dry in addition I have a 3mm neoprene hooded vest and a lavacore hooded vest, and without a doubt the lavacore is warmer than the neoprene.

Dry suits are completely different ... undergarments are the key to warmth.

 

[BRT]

There is no comparison between a wetsuit and a drysuit. Even if they had the same insulating capability at the surface the wetsuit compresses as you go down. When you come out you blow extra air into your drysuit and warm up. In the wetsuit the water evaporates and cools you down more. Been there, done that.

 

[Diver Don JUAN]

Lava core is a good start

 

[Doc]

Drink two liters of coffee pre-dive.

 

[koozemani]

Dive in warm water. If the weathers turns, contact a good travel agent.

 

[bergersau]

+1 for a Drysuit

Though a hood and layering does help if you can only dive wet.

 

[Storker]

For those who dive in cold water temperatures, which is better, a thick well fitting wetsuit or a drysuit?

I dive dry. I come up from the water nice and toasty, even in the winter when the water is in the single digits (C) and there's not a wetsuit to see. I don the DS before getting aboard the boat, particularly on a small open boat, and my DS doubles as a survival suit/flotation device during the boat ride to the site. I'm nice and warm even in sub-freezing temperatures during wintertime in an open boat. When I come up, I squirt a little air into my suit and have a nice warm(ish) SI, while the guys diving wet are shivering, squirming to get out of the suit and don some dry clothes. When we're getting ready for the second dive, I don my gear and look at the wetsuit divers struggling to get into a wet, clammy, sticky, cold!!! wetsuit. I know what I prefer, even if I've never dived wet in cold temperatures.

Does putting extra layers on under the drysuit make much difference.

Yes. Some divers around here have one summer undergarment (100-200 g/cm²) and one winter undergarment (400+ g/cm²). But what helps even more is an extra couple of kilos of weight to allow for a little more air inside the suit. And a piece of a closed-cell foam sleeping pad tucked underneath the suspenders of the suit, covering the chest and stomach area, gives extra insulation where the heat loss is greatest and the suit/undergarments compress the most.

 

[TSandM]

I have found that, on the rare occasions that I dive a wetsuit, even a rash guard under the suit helps. Anything that slows water flow seems to be useful. I'd really like to try the Lavacore or something similar under the suit to see how much it would help.

With dry suits, additional layers make a difference, but so do really good undergarments. I have not yet regretted spending MORE money on undergarments, and thick is not necessarily better. Right now, I've gone from the Whites MK3 (thick, warm, but very bulky and floaty) to the Thermal Fusion (seemingly thinner, much more flexible, and a little less floaty) and yet I am equally warm.