Dry suits...Pee valves or Depends

[Garrobo]

I got some free samples of the types of condoms available for the pee valve. They came in three sizes: small, medium and large. None of the fit correctly.

 

[ehuber]

Being an adult and armed with the knowledge that you are able to hold your pee for more than an hour after using the facilities should make a pee valve a little silly unless you're planning a ludicrously long ranged deco dive. Just pee before you go and save your drysuit from an unnecessary hole.

If you lack the mental fortitude to hold your pee for more than a couple hours, perhaps you're in the wrong leisure activity or need to toughen up a little?

Hydration issues should be dealt with 12-24 hours before your dive, not in a cram session an hour before you're getting wet. Those who feel they need to chug 3 gallons of water an hour before a dive are probably making up for a long night's drinking and perhaps shouldn't be diving at all... or simply overdoing it.

Just my opinion...

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Being an adult and armed with the knowledge that you are able to hold your pee for more than an hour after using the facilities should make a pee valve a little silly unless you're planning a ludicrously long ranged deco dive. Just pee before you go and save your drysuit from an unnecessary hole.

If you lack the mental fortitude to hold your pee for more than a couple hours, perhaps you're in the wrong leisure activity or need to toughen up a little?

Hydration issues should be dealt with 12-24 hours before your dive, not in a cram session an hour before you're getting wet. Those who feel they need to chug 3 gallons of water an hour before a dive are probably making up for a long night's drinking and perhaps shouldn't be diving at all... or simply overdoing it.

Just my opinion...

You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but this is some of the most uninformed advice I've read on this board in awhile.

Most people's opinions are formed by their own environments and experiences - so I'm guessing that you don't do a whole lot of mixed gas or planned decompression diving.

While gas transfer at a molecular level is a poorly understood mechanism, proper hydration has been shown to play a critical role in facilitating the transfer of nitrogen molecules across semipermiable membranes (e.g. the alveoli in the lungs). Hydration is one important element to facilitating the use of different helium gas mixes to most efficiently and effectively offgas during ascents.

Moreover, even in recreational diving, some studies have recognized the effect of proper hydration in avoiding decompression sickness; this in cases where, of one group of divers, all of whom were diving the same profiles, only one would get bent while the others did not. Often alcohol consumption and hydration played roles that, while not strictly determinative, allowed for hypotheses to be drawn regarding the role of hydration in preventing DCI.

I agree with you when you state "Hydration issues should be dealt with 12-24 hours before your dive, not in a cram session an hour before you're getting wet". I also agree that proper hydration does not consist of "chugging 3 gallons of water just before a dive" - but proper hydration does consist of drinking significant quantities of water throughout the period preceding the dive(s) (as well as afterwards) which could certainly cause a diver to feel a need to urinate at any time during any dive.

Safe mixed gas diving is not about "mental fortitude" nor do recreational divers need to "toughen up a little" to dive in drysuits. Safety is about prudent practices and in-depth understanding of physiological processes at the molecular level. A P-valve is an important bit of gear for a diver who is interested in using helium mixes to conduct decompression diving, and could very well provide additional safety as well as comfort to a recreational diver who is conducting multiple dives each day thereby retaining significant levels of residual nitrogen loading.

P-valves should not be dismissed lightly as a whim for effete wimps.

Dive safe,

Doc

 

[Rec Diver]

Being an adult and armed with the knowledge that you are able to hold your pee for more than an hour after using the facilities should make a pee valve a little silly unless you're planning a ludicrously long ranged deco dive. Just pee before you go and save your drysuit from an unnecessary hole.

If you lack the mental fortitude to hold your pee for more than a couple hours, perhaps you're in the wrong leisure activity or need to toughen up a little?

Hydration issues should be dealt with 12-24 hours before your dive, not in a cram session an hour before you're getting wet. Those who feel they need to chug 3 gallons of water an hour before a dive are probably making up for a long night's drinking and perhaps shouldn't be diving at all... or simply overdoing it.

Just my opinion...

I used to feel the same way you do. Hey, be a man, you can hold it!

With my upcoming class, the instructor required that I install and use a P-vlave. Now that I have used my P-valve I would not have a dry suit without one. Instead of swimming with my legs and eyes crossed waiting to get out of the water, I can just say aaaaaaaahhhhhh. And if you are worried you won't be a man while peeing in the water. You can always stop in a vertical position rather that horizontal, that way you can still pee standing up.

The reason this instructror requires a p-valve is because he had a student that took a DCS hit. The cause of the hit was do to hydration.

 

[all4scuba05]

In my tiny opinion, The pee valve isn't needed by all divers or for all dives. In my 80 drysuit dives, I've never needed to pee while diving. But then again, they were less than 1 hour long. I pee before I dive.
Quite a few divers here do "long" dives. I think they SHOULD have pee valves. It's great. When I get to that level, I for sure will install one. Failure point or not.
But for now, some of us don't need it.

 

[ian@1904]

I do a fair bit of extended range diving and the odd trimix dive, but don't use a P valve. As has been suggested get fully hydrated the day before-and no alcohol the night before diving. Check with the skipper when you will be jumping in and plan your comfort visit accordingly, leave say 10 mins for putting your kit on. I get through 75minute dives this way.
In the UK the cold air and water temps have added effect on the bladder. So make sure you have plenty of thermal protection, as getting cold will make you need the loo even more.
Apparently, so I'm told, most men have an exaggerated view of which condom size they require

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I agree with ehuber. I have done a lot of two hour+ dives, many involving nearly an hour of decompression in water temps of 48-60F. I try to pee before a dive, no matter which type of dive it is. In over 1300 dives I have never peed in my drysuit nor wetsuit and only aborted one dive early because of the urge. Most people confuse proper hydration with over hydration. Drinking water before a dive, even an hour or two before is asking for trouble. If I can't hold it for a couple of hours, I've had too much to drink.

 

[Fyshebait]

From the information I'm seeing, I'd have to agree that a p-valve is probably not a necessity for everyone, but could be an important accessory depending on the type of diving you're doing. Personally, it's not something that sounds like I'd need it. As I've mentioned, my dives are currently all on air, no gas mixes; they are all on SCUBA and are all no-decompression dives, generally in moderate depth of 60-130 feet (which is plenty deep, I realize, but likely not considered deep at all by those who are involved in tech diving). That said, waiting to relieve myself between dives isn't a big issue. That's for me and what I do...for others, spending what could be hours at a time in the water, the p-valve could make a lot of sense.

I stand by my statement that no dry suit should ever be sold without a pee ZIPPER, though, unless you plan to do only single dives. Trust me, spend one December day peeling a suit off to the waist on a rolling open-sided vessel in the Northumberland strait between each of four or five dives, and you'll be installing a zipper very quickly.

 

[TSandM]

It kind of amazes me, given what I've read about the nuisance value of putting on the condom caths, that almost all my dive buddies use them just for our hour plus recreational dives. I've managed so far without a diaper (I've worn them a couple of times, but never had to use one) although I've ended a few dives with the desperate restroom waddle. For classes, I dope myself up on salt right before I get in the water, which has the temporary effect of reducing urine output while INCREASING volume status, and that's been a handy dodge.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

It kind of amazes me, given what I've read about the nuisance value of putting on the condom caths, that almost all my dive buddies use them just for our hour plus recreational dives.

Really? I put one every mornng just in case the opportunity to dive might suddenly arise during the day...