I started diving 2 years ago, and since that time have logged a little over 50 dives (mostly in warm water: Belize, Phonpei, Palau, Yap). But I live in San Francisco, and want to dive in local waters (Monterey) without freezing. So naturally I'm looking at dry suits.
In fact, when I did my diving in Belize, and Micronesia / Palau, I didn't wear any suit or skin at all. Sure I got just slightly chilly, but never much colder than walking around in San Francisco.
This is the start of my research on drysuits, and I've read quite a few posts about various technologies and manufacturers. It's amazing how many dry suit makers there are.
I think -- and correct me if I'm wrong -- that vulcanized rubber dry suits (such as Aquala) are typically used by commercial / tech divers.
I understand that the main advantage of vulcanized rubber is that if you hit grimey gunk, it's less of a hassle to clean. I guess drying time of a rubber suit is as good as it gets. But clearly Aquala makes a suit aimed at the sport diver too -- so it's not the case that if you're wearing this type of suit, that you're going in to clean your local atomic reactor cooling tank, or giving your local offshore oil drilling platform it's leisurly afternoon backrub.
Does anybody here own a vulcanized rubber dry suit? I kind of like the Aquala Sport (don't really know why -- never seen one in real live) -- anybody have any experience with it?
What about other Viking (or any other rubber dry suit for that matter) If so, why did you get that kind of suit?
It seems though, that vulcanized rubber dry suits are not quite as popular. What are the reasons? Are the trilaminate shell suits (such as TLS350) more sturdy, easier to maintain? What about repair?
The Aquala sport suit base price is 1500 USD, 1600 for complete custom. Seems prettly much in line with mid to high end suits from DUI, and others.
I'm also wondering if there is a reason not to get attached gloves and hood? Seems to make sense to me to keep the hands and head dry too.
If you're wondering what kind of diving I'm going to do... I just don't know yet. I don't mind cavern dives, I've done some wreck dives (and scraped my calf on a rusty WWII ship -- so I know how fast I might test the robustness of the suit).
The thing about Aquala is that I don't know of any LDS that actually sells one (or any vulc rubber suit for that matter). Perhaps this kind of suit is becomming obsolete?
In fact, when I did my diving in Belize, and Micronesia / Palau, I didn't wear any suit or skin at all. Sure I got just slightly chilly, but never much colder than walking around in San Francisco.
This is the start of my research on drysuits, and I've read quite a few posts about various technologies and manufacturers. It's amazing how many dry suit makers there are.
I think -- and correct me if I'm wrong -- that vulcanized rubber dry suits (such as Aquala) are typically used by commercial / tech divers.
I understand that the main advantage of vulcanized rubber is that if you hit grimey gunk, it's less of a hassle to clean. I guess drying time of a rubber suit is as good as it gets. But clearly Aquala makes a suit aimed at the sport diver too -- so it's not the case that if you're wearing this type of suit, that you're going in to clean your local atomic reactor cooling tank, or giving your local offshore oil drilling platform it's leisurly afternoon backrub.
Does anybody here own a vulcanized rubber dry suit? I kind of like the Aquala Sport (don't really know why -- never seen one in real live) -- anybody have any experience with it?
What about other Viking (or any other rubber dry suit for that matter) If so, why did you get that kind of suit?
It seems though, that vulcanized rubber dry suits are not quite as popular. What are the reasons? Are the trilaminate shell suits (such as TLS350) more sturdy, easier to maintain? What about repair?
The Aquala sport suit base price is 1500 USD, 1600 for complete custom. Seems prettly much in line with mid to high end suits from DUI, and others.
I'm also wondering if there is a reason not to get attached gloves and hood? Seems to make sense to me to keep the hands and head dry too.
If you're wondering what kind of diving I'm going to do... I just don't know yet. I don't mind cavern dives, I've done some wreck dives (and scraped my calf on a rusty WWII ship -- so I know how fast I might test the robustness of the suit).
The thing about Aquala is that I don't know of any LDS that actually sells one (or any vulc rubber suit for that matter). Perhaps this kind of suit is becomming obsolete?
