Wetsuit, Semi, or Dry suit?

[scutterjoe]

OK, having done my first dozen dives in the red sea, 28 degrees centigrate, basically like bath water, I'm now back home.

Home is in the UK, not too far from Stoney Stanton...or rather Stoney Cove National Dive centre.

Question is, Come December/ January time I guess I won't be wearing a 5mm shortie wetsuit! :11:
SO, semi wet or Dry? I've spoken to divers experienced of that fresh water at Stoney that time of year. Some say Dry, so say semi?
Rugby players rub grease fat into keep legs and arms warm, do divers do similar?

Anyone else care to chip in?

PS, we're talking temperatures of 6 degrees centigrade

 

[mrgreen]

drysuit

 

[ShakaZulu]

How warm do you want to be???? How many dives do you do right after each other?? How often do you dive?? You'll be diving more weight with a drysuit, depending on how many undergarments you wear. I dive 10 degree C here with a wetsuit (XCEL Titanium Polar Quad Density). Get's a little cold towards the end of the dive.

 

[WJL]

Water temps in the Great Lakes are generally 8 degrees C and lower below 25 meters, and ofter colder. Speaking from that experience, you will want a drysuit, just for warmth considerations. You should also consider that a thick neoprene wetsuit compresses a great deal at depth. The compression decreases the suit's thermal protection. It also leads to issues in controlling your bouyancy. The suit will be considerably more bouyant at the surface than it will at depth. As a consequence, you will need a good deal of weight to first submerge, but then you will be substantially overweighted at depth. Overweighting is something to avoid.

 

[SubMariner]

Do some research on what type of drysuit will be best for you, take a course from a knowledgeable dive professional, and go have fun. You won't regret the drysuit!

 

[mjh]

Dive in -55 degree water all the time and love my drysuit. Northern Diver makes and excellent one. I have a Trilam which I like but if I had it to do over I might go with one of the crushed neos.

 

[Don Burke]

Anyone else care to chip in?

PS, we're talking temperatures of 6 degrees centigrade

drysuit

If you are going to stay with the cold water, crushed neoprene may be fine.

I have a trilam which lets me adjust my insulation over a wider range.

My only regret is not going dry sooner.

 

[eod]

No questions about it, if you can afford a dry suit, buy it. If you can't, save until you can.

I dove semi-dry a few dives before I bought a dry suit. Very cold, even in summer. That is here in Sweden, we have about the same temperatures in the water as you in UK during summer I guess.

 

[Jacobsen]

Rugby players rub grease fat into keep legs and arms warm, do divers do similar?


I don't know about you guys in the UK but NO,for the most part we don't.

 

[DandyDon]

Rugby players rub grease fat into keep legs and arms warm, do divers do similar?


I don't know about you guys in the UK but NO,for the most part we don't.

There is some history of cold water swimmers doing this before neoprene, so it's not unheard of, but it'd be dangerous in diving - as the grease would come off onto decks, etc, causing people to slip & fall while wearing heavy equipment. Even wearing grease carefully under a wetsuit would make it a foul challenge to clean without damaging the suit. Then there'd be the grease floating on the quarry surface after a number of divers have been in. :no