Semi-dry : the best of both world ?

[LetterBoy]

just remember to flush your suit before you take it off please. . .

[CompuDude]

Semi-dry suits need a pee valve more than either dry or regular wet suits. Peeing in a wetsuit, as long as you don't do it just before climbing the stairs(!), will generally flush out no problem during the course of a dive.

Peeing in a drysuit would be a nightmare. (Unless you have the optional p valve)

Peeing in a semi dry is somewhere in between the two. It won't go anywhere unless you open it up enough to flush it out, which defeats the purpose of it's design, and even then it's not going to be easy to do. And no p valve available.

I say go wet if it's warm enough, else go dry. At least, from a bodily function standpoint.

[andyallen69]

You can probably get a dry suit off ebay for less than the price of a new semi dry anyway and once you've had a nice and warm dive in your drysuit you wont want to go back.

[DiverLS]

I used to dive semi dry. About 3 years ago in April I was diving Catalina Island, then Santa Barbara Island on the second day. On the third day it was Anacapa and I jumped off and right back on. Too cold in the Northern Channel Islands. Luckily a representative of DUI was on the boat. She let me borrow her suit. I bought one the next spring and dive dry ever since. If I ever get to warm water (maybe in 08), I will use a 4/2 tropical wet suit I bought for the Bahamas 8 years ago (yes - still fits)

By the way it's a DUI CFX350 and I do dive DRY! :

[AtRanger]

I'm going to Galapagos in '08 and I don't want to travel with a dry suit and undergarments. Also, since I'll be on a liveaboard, I'm concerned about getting in and out of dry suit multiple times everday. Since the water temp is in the 70's, I've been considering a semi dry. Any comments?

[Rainer]

From those I've talked to who dove dry in the Galapagos. they all said they would do so again. The water is not warm (low 70s), and multiple days of diving can take their toll. I'd dive dry.

[String]

Semi-dry == worst of both worlds.

In warm water due to seals its a bit less comfortable than a wetsuit.

..and in cold water they're nowhere NEAR as warm as even a cheap drysuit.

[TaoH]

I currently dive with a XCel 6/7/8 semi-dry and an aeroskin skinsuit. The skinsuit was supposed to make it easier to get in/out of my semi-dry, but it also seems to help with making the water temperature seem just a bit more comfortable/tolerable.

For freediving, I like this setup in 50F water. I would say the water feels like 70~80F in my suit and that's just about where I like my water temps. There some occasions where I've noticed suit hugging from the constant diving/surfacing but that's easy to fix by pulling the lower face opening of the hood to relieve the vacuum while on the surface.

On SCUBA, I have noticed it a bit cold at depth of maybe ~60ft (49F) because of the thinning suit and longer submerged interval. I would guess the suit would start to feel like 60~65F. For me, that's cold but tolerable.

If I had to dive where a hood is required, I prefer the semi-dry as a personal choice. But if it's any more colder, I would start looking into a drysuit.

[spc751]

Last year I was looking at an 8mm semi dry or a 7mm full with 7mm Shorty (14mm total) so I contacted the manufacturer for information.They told me that the 14mm would be warmer. I did not think the 14mm was suitable for me so I got a drysuit and am very happy I did.

The drysuit is much easier to put on and take off than a wetsuit or semidry and the surface interval is much more comfortable. With a drysuit I also have a longer diving season. I can vary my undergarments depending if I am diving on a hot summer day (shorts and tee) or a cold winter day (two layers of long underwear) to everything in between.

For me I would say that a semidry has the worst features of a wetsuit and a drysuit with few of the advantages of either.

I just got back from Riveria Maya and some days it was cold and windy enough during the surface interval that I missed my drysuit.