i know...another gear question.

[jashaw]

I will be doing about 95% of my diving in the great lakes and other lakes of michigan. Is it ABSOLUTELY necessary to have a dry suit? Or would a thick, high-quality wetsuit be good?

Also, what are some decent, entry-mid level gear for scuba? I already have fins, snorkel, mask.

Thanks,
Jason

 

[jashaw]

i am in the process of getting my open waters done during the last weekend of april...that's why im in the "not certified" in my profile.

 

[Mike Boswell]

Cold tolerance seems to be highly variable, and everybody is different: Some are comfortable with a little cold but most are not. My wife and I and zillions of others here in Southern California dive 7-mil wetsuits down to the low 50's (degrees F) with no problems. If it were much colder than that, I would look into a drysuit.

 

[H2O 70]

If you want to dive a lot in your local waters I would argue that a dry suit is necessary. I've been doing a semi-dry for a while and I sort of dread putting that thing on because I know I'm still going to be cold. I put up with it.

If you're dry, you'll most likely be warm, you'll enjoy it more and do it more often.

 

[a22shady]

As others stated A wetsuit could work as I know of others who dive the Great Lakes in one. It comes down to each person and how well you can handle the cold. Personally I would recomend getting a Drysuit. I have it and Dive one all the time warm/cold waters. The longer your there even i warm water you will bgin to get cold. I have dove in the mid 40's was coldest in my drysuit while you do still get cold or I did atleast after 45min biggest benefit is when you get out of the water you are dry which makes a world of differnce. And after one dive you get too cold for your liking simply put more underneath.

 

[spectrum]

jashaw

In the end if you want a long season and get serious about diving you will be wanting a drysuit. The thing about fresh water in particular is that as you get deeper id gets colder, a lot colder and it stays that way. You may enter the water at the surface in the 80 degree range and find yourself in 40 something degree water for the objective of the dive.

While there are some novelty wetsuits out there they pretty much max out as 7mm suits with a second layer on your core. (groin & torso). Being neoprene they compress with depth and as you approach the century mark are much less protective than on the surface. That's why as a primarily lake diver you will have tough sledding as a long term wet diver. While tolerance varied 50F is a common limit for diving wet. Venturing into 40 something for a while can be practical but not for a whole dive in most cases.

As a new diver you should be planning on more conservative (shallow) dives and being new air consumption will probably limit your run time. Put all of that together and you can get good use and pleasure from a wetsuit for a while.

What a dry suit buys you is the ability to tailor your thermal protection. All dive wear provides warmth by trapping gas, either in neoprene foam rubber or drysuit garments. Where the neoprene's gas volume is at the mercy of depth you are able to inject air into the dry suit and control garment loft, hence warmth.

Some divers do not find dry suits especially warm. This usually stems from inferior or an inadequate choice in undergarment. There is some real good stuff out there but it has 2 drawbacks. First the good stiff is wicked expensive. Second goes back to warmth equating to gas volume. A thick incompressible undergarment drives up the amount of lead you will need to wear so it becomes a trade-off.

Regardless of garment you will be dry in a drysuit and not need to face peeling a wetsuit off your body in a chilling wind. In many situations that alone is worth the price of admission. Also in a drysuit your have no flushing. You may loose heat through conduction but water is not moving in and out of the suit, taking with it your body heat.

Lastly having mentioned flushing you do have different options of managing urine. As a wetsuit diver I maintain that you should feel compelled to pee during the dive and as a minimum have an urgent need as soon as you get out of the water. There are philological effects that promote urine production when diving. If you don't have that urgent need you probably went in under hydrated. In a drysuit you can be equipped with a pee valve that lets you void at will and not need to deal with a polluted suit. This lets you generously hydrate and that's a very healthy thing to be doing.

So those are some headlines why a drysuit can make your diving more enjoyable.

Pete

 

[TMHeimer]

As mentioned, it's all about your own tolerance. For me, I am fine with my 7 mil wetsuit when the bottom temp is 43F or higher. I can do more than a 30 min. dive, take a SI and do another quite easily if the air temp. is 50s and sunny or better. You just have to do it and find out.

 

[jashaw]

my cold tolerance is pretty high, i think. I snowmobile a lot, but that's cold air, cold water is totally different.

But anyways, i think my open water is going to be done with a 7 mil wetsuit at gilboa. Another classmate and i MIGHT do a dry suit course down there too. I can decide what i'll want when i do that.
Thanks for the advice so far!

 

[CalgaryDF]

Even if a wetsuit is going to be ok during the warmer months, a drysuit will allow you to enjoy a longer dive season when the water does get to cold for a wetsuit.

While a drysuit is not necessary, its so nice to be dry and warm when you get out of the water that i find the drysuit to be worth the extra expense.

 

[ScubaSteve]

I am still fairly new but have done roughly 300 cold water dives (and another 100+ warm water) and every single cold water dive was with a 2 pc Akona 7mm John/Jane. I have dove from 35 degree water to 70 degree water in that suit with hood and gloves. I am now waiting on my drysuit because I can no longer tolerate the cold. I now enjoy the dives less when I am cold. 55 and higher seems to be comfortable for me now. Any colder and I do not get the same enjoyment. You may be the same as me or completely different. Everybody is different as has been said.

My advice......if you can afford it now, get the drysuit. If not, get the wetsuit and enjoy every dive you can. It will just be with a greatly shortened season.