Are dry suits worth it?

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Here in the northern parts of Europe diving wet is no fun between Octobre and May. Especially when boat diving on a windy day at sea, you get to cold. I have a Bare, trilam. Bought in 2009 for €1100 including hood and gloves. I had one leak, probably from an oyster while photographing. No flooding. And the seals were replaced this year because they were worn. That is all in 300 dives. My wife had a neopreen dry suit which became leaky after 900 dives and was not reparable anymore. But hey, 900 dives!
So now she bought a leftover Bare, which is the same as mine, for € 600.
In summer though I still like diving wet. The dry suit is worth it. Wet suits also are subject to wear and tear. They get thinner over time and the knee pads come off etc.
Maybe I'll replace my wetsuit with a semi dry Seac.
 
I'm on my eighth drysuit now. I've had every possible failure there is and still prefer a flooded drysuit over a wetsuit in the waters of California and British Columbia that I frequent. I've used homemade dry glove systems that failed miserably and duct-taped neck seals that stayed dry for months. I've had $300 Ebay suits that got nearly a thousand dives out of them and a brand new DUI TLS350 that leaked on 98% of the dives. I still can't imagine getting out of and back into a cold wetsuit between dives.
 
Perhaps my last post seemed a bit negative, so I'll clarify:

I still don't love my DS, but I no longer hate it and wish I'd never brought it. Part of it was because I felt like a total newbie again and nothing was intuitive. My suit is a breathable trilam with dry boots and wet gloves

The points about being disconnected from the water was my initial impressions. But as mentioned above it took me 10 - 20 dives to be at home in the suit. It didn't help that those dives were all in the ocean and generally with current so the whole learning experience was made more complicated than it would be in an inland site

I expected the dumps to be as fast as that on a BCD, but they're not, so it took a few dives to start to trust them. I found myself diving with the shoulder dump wide open, which of course dumped the air and whilst not cold I found I had a squeeze on my legs which inhibited finning.

How much of a squeeze is right and how much is too much. People can advise you, but in the end it's subjective and feel.

It took some time to figure out how I was going to control my buoyancy i.e all with the DS, or DS and Wing. I prefer the second.

I was advised that at 1 ATM bad stuff starts to happen. and they're right, you need to be prepared for the pressure change, more so than with a wetsuit. I never had an uncontrolled ascent, maybe a little too fast, and or hanging on while I vented air.


The plus points. Well I'm warm. At the end of a dive people are cold from the wind chill on the fast boat ride back the charter vessel. I have never used my P valve, and never need to rush to the bathroom straight after a dive. I get to dive in warm socks :) and never have to put on cold damp kit early on the second morning :):)

It's amazing how smelly your undergarments get after 2 days diving (basically living in your undergarments during the day).

It has recently gone with me to Indonesia as we were expecting water temps in one place of 20C where the rest was 28C. I could have worn it all trip as the air temps were only 30C (which was 15C less than Dubai) but I liked the 3mm as no weight is required. In the end the area where cold water was expected the sea was unseasonably warm, so it didn't get used. but it was no problem taking it just in case
 
I felt like a total newbie again and nothing was intuitive.
Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. I had the same problem when I went from a snug neo DS with little underwear to a trilam suit with a nice, thick, warm, cozy undersuit.

it took me 10 - 20 dives to be at home in the suit
That's not too bad. It took me some 10 dives to get to know my new trilam, and I even took my OW card dry.

I expected the dumps to be as fast as that on a BCD, but they're not
...by far. Add thick undergarments to the equation, and they're even slower since air has to travel through the undergarment to reach the valve.

I found myself diving with the shoulder dump wide open, which of course dumped the air and whilst not cold I found I had a squeeze on my legs which inhibited finning.
Horizontal trim is more important in a trilam DS than in any neoprene suit, wet or dry. I could easily stand on my head or do underwater somersaults in my neo DS. I'm more reluctant to do that in my trilam suit.

Also, I prefer to close the arm valve a few clicks from open to prevent it dumping too much air too fast if I go a bit head-up to shoot a picture.

How much of a squeeze is right and how much is too much. People can advise you, but in the end it's subjective and feel.
It's also about water temperature. I use a little more weight in the winter (about a couple of kilos), to accommodate a little more air in the undersuit. Keeps me warmer. IME those who prefer their suit on the very tight side often have more issues with getting cold during the dive.

It took some time to figure out how I was going to control my buoyancy i.e all with the DS, or DS and Wing. I prefer the second.
I use my wing to control the part of my buoyancy swing which is due to gas consumption. For my gear setup, the amount of air I add to the suit to alleviate squeeze when descending pretty much matches the amount of air I need to stay neutral. So for me, short-term buoyancy compensation is more or less automatic.
 
I dive dry unless it's too damn hot to do so
Drysuits are the BEST
 
My first dry suit was one of the first Whites Fusions. I had a world of trouble with it. It kept getting holes, and there were a lot of problems with seals going bad. (There was a lot of discussion about this at the time.) I had it in for repairs as much as I had it in use. When I had it in for repairs, I used a nearly identical Whites Fusion as a loaner. I never had a single wet dive in the loaner.

Because I was having so much trouble with the original Fusion, Whites cut me a good deal on a replacement. I never had a wet dive with it.

For a number of reasons, though, I went to a Santi. The only times I have had a problem were caused by the fact that for some reason, when I pull the zipper shut, it catches a little just before it's fully closed. In that case, you know you have a problem the second you get in the water. It only took two times for me to figure out I had to be careful about closing the zipper. I have had no problems since.

We seem to follow some similar pathways. I was an early adopter of the White's Fusion. Had some issues with fit ... their earliest core was really designed for skinny arms and legs, and the suit binded in those areas on a stockier body like mine. I had issues with seals, leaking socks, and a few other minor things that just made the suit unloveable. I sent it back to Whites ... even got a tour of their facility on my trip to Victoria once ... and they took care of me. But eventually I gave up and sold the suit to someone who, AFAIK, is still using it.

I have also had similar zipper issues on my Santi. What I discovered is that when it catches like that ... about a quarter-inch from being fully closed ... it's the zipper's way of letting me know it needs to be lubricated. With the TiZips you only need to put a bit of grease right in that area where it's catching ... and it's easy to get complacent because the zipper otherwise opens and closes so easily.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
Seals eventually wear out and deteriorate; plan on replacing every two years or so.

... if only ... but it really depends on how often you dive ... and the general condition of the water. I tend to replace my latex seals about twice a year, on average ... 100-150 dives. But our local waters ... particularly those sites in and around urban development ... are subject to a lot of stormwater runoff, which contains pollutants that don't play well with latex ... and that might have something to do with it.

I tend to replace my drysuits about every two or three years, on average ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
... if only ... but it really depends on how often you dive ... and the general condition of the water. I tend to replace my latex seals about twice a year, on average ... 100-150 dives. But our local waters ... particularly those sites in and around urban development ... are subject to a lot of stormwater runoff, which contains pollutants that don't play well with latex ... and that might have something to do with it.

I tend to replace my drysuits about every two or three years, on average ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
Agreed that there's going to be variation.

That's a pretty frequent rate of replacing suits though. What kind are you using?
 
Agreed that there's going to be variation.

That's a pretty frequent rate of replacing suits though. What kind are you using?

Started with a Diving Concepts trilam ... loved that suit. Put about 600 dives on it before I finally had to admit it was too worn out to hold together with aquaseal anymore.
Next was a Northern Diver cordura ... hated it, didn't fit right. Sold it rather quickly to someone six inches taller than me. Fit him nicely.
After that was a DUI TLS350 ... best fitting suit yet. Loved it. Wore it out ... several hundred dives.
Then came a DUI CLX450 ... didn't fit quite right. Put a couple hundred dives on it and sold it.
After that was a White's Fusion ... never could love that suit. Sold it after maybe a hundred dives.
Santi eSpace ... put a few hundred dives on it. Still got it. It's my third suit now ... doesn't fit me anymore because I lost a lot of weight.
Then came a Bare XCSD neo ... nice suit. Still my backup. Got maybe 400 dives on it.
Current suit is a Santi eMotion ... had it since last year. Got probably 150 dives on it by now ... and new boots.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
Started with a Diving Concepts trilam ... loved that suit. Put about 600 dives on it before I finally had to admit it was too worn out to hold together with aquaseal anymore.
Next was a Northern Diver cordura ... hated it, didn't fit right. Sold it rather quickly to someone six inches taller than me. Fit him nicely.
After that was a DUI TLS350 ... best fitting suit yet. Loved it. Wore it out ... several hundred dives.
Then came a DUI CLX450 ... didn't fit quite right. Put a couple hundred dives on it and sold it.
After that was a White's Fusion ... never could love that suit. Sold it after maybe a hundred dives.
Santi eSpace ... put a few hundred dives on it. Still got it. It's my third suit now ... doesn't fit me anymore because I lost a lot of weight.
Then came a Bare XCSD neo ... nice suit. Still my backup. Got maybe 400 dives on it.
Current suit is a Santi eMotion ... had it since last year. Got probably 150 dives on it by now ... and new boots.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Good dry suit history. What about neoprene seals? Why do you prefer Latex?
 

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