Polar wet suit

[Cheetah223]

It looks like 29F according to this thread. Is that a typo? Would you die during a 45min dive at that temp in a wetsuit?

You're looking at two posts from different people The dive I did at 29* was practically a bounce dive because one of the other people on the dive had a reg freeze and freeflow within a minute of hitting depth (about 115ffw). 29F was the coldest, at depth. The water above the first thermocline was about 50F, once we got shallower the reg quit freeflowing and we finished the dive swimming around at about 30ffw and about 42F, with a total dive time around 25 minutes if I remember correctly, I'd have to pull my logbook out for extact details..It was COLD though.

[mikeguerrero]

After you check you log book make sure you let us know what brand wetsuit you use for this incredible dive at this depth under those parameters...

[jmitch3938]

I have the Pinnacle Polar, and it is a GREAT wetsuit, the lining and construction of the suit makes it one of the best wetsuits out there, definitely keeps you warm..however..with that being said..I dont know about 35 degree water..in the 50s range it works great..in water in the 30's , you're safer with a warm water heated dry suit, or at the minimum, a dry suit with some heavy underwear and a vest..

[Cheetah223]

After you check you log book make sure you let us know what brand wetsuit you use for this incredible dive at this depth under those parameters...

I don't have the brand of it in there, I can tell you that without even pulling it out It was a rental from the shop, so I'll guess scubapro? There were only three of us who dove wet, and that was the last time any of us got in the water for the day, we took the boat back to the dock and started a fire and let everyone smart enough to own a drysuit finish out the other two dives. Haven't been too deep in any of the lakes back home since

Edit: Pulled out the logbook, I was a bit off on numbers - water temp was 31* at depth of 112ffw, 10' vis and a total dive time of 18 minutes.

[flashover604]

I dive a Bare Arctic 7mil with an O'Neil hood, Tilos 7mil boots, and Arctic gloves. I'd like to have a drysuit, but my wetsuit hasn't let me down yet. I don't think that I'm particularly cold resistant, but I checked my logbook, and my coldest dive was in Ohio, January 8th, at 39 degrees, for 41 minutes, 40 ffw. I wrote in my logbook that I wasn't really that cold. "Could go colder" to be exact. My lips were numb, but a drysuit wouldn't help that. I guess I don't want to deal with the extra expense of the suit, the new hose, the drysuit class and it's expense, the maintainance, the learning curve, etc.. I'll keep my wetsuit until someone talks me out of it.

[cmburch]

Aqua Lung makes a lip protector.

Regulators, Diving Spare parts. Scubastore.com, buy, offers, scuba

[mpgunner]

My dive in 42 water was ok but is was the 30 degree air when I got out that froze my butt since we were doing 2 dives. That is when I switch to dry.

[themagni]

I remember my last wetsuit dive.

It was December 6th, 2003 - and we were at Willis Point. I was renting gear to get a dive in; this was before I owned all my kit. It was the standard wetsuit - 7mm farmer, 7mm jacket, 5mm boots / gloves / hood.

In the Saanich Inlet, there's a thermocline at about 40 feet. The temperature in the summer drops to about 4C. This makes for great vis. I've seen 120 feet in the summer. In the winter; it's colder.

I was the only one there in a wetsuit. In retrospect, this should have been a good clue. Nevertheless, I had packed warm clothes and hot cocoa, so I'd live.

At this point, I'd like to mention that my log book is at home with my dive gear. When I said "I remember my last wetsuit dive.", I meant that I remember my last wetsuit dive.

My second clue (warning?) was when the divemaster went over signals. The first one was "cold". He went over it with me three times. I don't remember going over any other signals.

All my dives are in the Pacific, up north of what you'd call the Pacific Northwest. My OW checkout dives were at McKenzie Bight. I'm mentioning this so you don't think, "well, yeah, if you learned on vacation, I'm sure it felt cold." Not so! -- my last vacation was my honeymoon 10 years ago, long before I'd picked up my first reg.

We got into the water, and it was indeed cold, but not much colder than the normal dives I'd been on. I did my usual bracing, and settled in after the initial shock. The thing about the ocean here is that it's roughly the same temperature all year round.

Surface temperature.

After descending below the thermocline, I felt cold.

When I say cold, I've been swimming in the open ocean in swim trunks. I've been on polar bear swims in fresh water lakes with snow on the ground. I've swam in glacier-fed pools in a mountainous river.

So, with those qualifications, I mean cold. Right now I have to go into a little thermodynamics. Any exposure suit, terrestrial or aquatic, doesn't keep you warm. What it does is provide a barrier to heat transfer. In other words, it slows down the rate where the heat from your body will dissipate into the surroundings. In the long term, all hot bodies will eventually reach the temperature of the surroundings. A wetsuit transfers heat faster than a drysuit. An air-filled drysuit will transfer heat faster than an Argon-filled one. (And yes, some people on this dive were using Argon.) Usually, you can tolerate the heat transfer for a limited time. If this heat transfer is more than you can tolerate, then you get cold. In the extreme case, you die. In all cases, if you are cold, you will consume more air.

We went and saw the sights at Willis. It's a nice dive site, and I'd recommend going if you get the chance. We saw stout lobster, Spanish dancers, and a myriad of other critters. No octopus sightings, but we saw a den.

I remember the safety stop clearly: we're all at 15 feet, looking around at the shallower lifeforms. (The advantage to a shore dive is that there's always stuff to look at.) I remember the divemaster pointing at me and asking "cold?". I replied with the pre-arranged "cold, but okay" sign. I thought about kicking back, opening the suit, and fanning myself off.

After a few minutes, we swam up to the surface and walked to our cars to change.

It's December 6th, and it's started to rain. The ground was muddy and cold. It was here where I started to get fantastically cold. I was miserable, wet, chilled to the core from the dive, and now my extremities were being wind-blown and rained on, with a cold, nearly-freezing rain.

I was still wet, and trying desperately to towel off while keeping from, ahem, flapping around. With the cold, I might have left, shall we say, the wrong impression. Also, there are many houses around the area, and they already have a low opinion of divers.

After finally getting into warm woolen socks (A sensation I still remember five years later) and having a hot cup of cocoa, I drove back to the dive shop, vowing to get a drysuit.

I bought a used one from a co-worker. I've been diving dry ever since. My first was an old Gates shell suit. I now dive in a 3mm neoprene drysuit. Most of the year, I can wear just a pair of spandex pants / dryfit shirt underneath. For the winter, I throw on a fleece shirt.

If you're going to dive in cold conditions, get a drysuit. End of story. Even the fanciest of fancy wetsuit is going to be cold.

[Original Renegade]

I agree with Hudson on how easy it is to dive wet. The drysuit has a lot more parameters that need to be placed into account before the dive. If you can make the dive in wet and be done then it is your best choice over dry.

Wesuit diving off of California Coast has only one problem; multiple dives. This is where a drysuit simply placed out shines a wetsuit.

You will not be comfortable on surface intervals as would a drysuit diver even worse if you are boat diving and cannot seek shelter.

Your second and third dive are felt hard compared to that first dive you took, you must hope for the suns rays on the SI or else you will be cold.

Having said that the wetsuit outshines the drysuit in ease of use, you can be in the water much faster with less precautions than dry. You will also be less prone to serious accidents that can occur while diving dry.

You make a mistake with drysuit diving and you risk serious injury if not death; they are far in between but they are there.

Dive safely...

Hi There,

Being a diver in the Pacific North West, I can tell you that no one here dives wet unless they are Open Water students.

I am constantly surprised that there are so many wet suit divers in Clifornia given the temperature of the water. I think that one of the reasons is that drysuit diving has recieved an undeserved reputation as being somewhat "Technical" or "Dangerous".

The fact is that drysuit diving is very easy and safe with the proper training and experience. There are many advantages to drysuit diving over wetsuit diving including warmth, comfort, repetitive diving, year round diving, reduced breathing rate etc. Also, I can don and doff my drysuit faster than a wetsuit becasue I am not peeiling the thing onto my body.

In fact a case could be made to say that drysuit diving is actually safer than wetsuit diving as you are protecting your body from a possibly hazardous drop in core temperature. As an instructor I constantly see students miserable and cold during training dives in wetsuits, and once we set them up in drysuits they are more comfortable and have better diving experiences.

The fact is that drysuit diving is the next step for many divers and if you choose to take that step and recieve the proper training, your diving will become more enjoyable.

Cheers,

[Nismo]

I've gone to the mid 40's wet. I wouldnt want to go any colder. This is with the Pinnacle Kodiak. For 35 degree, I would say go dry. I doubt any wet suit would allow for any kind of repetitive diving in that temp.

My main reason for remaining wet was cost. Two dry suits is a whole lot more than two wet. However, if getting my wife a dry suit got her to go more, I'd consider the cost savings to be no benefit, if we only were to go on vacation to the caribbean once a year.