Wetsuit for 5 celsius water

[kasper wendelboe]

Anyone there can recomend wetsuit for 8- celsius Cold water. Not fond of dry suit... Plus they Are expensive.

 

[scubadada]

Wow, 5=41, 8=46.4, generally too cold for me in a wetsuit. I've dived 47 in a full 7mm, 7/5 hooded best, good booties and gloves, got quite cold by 45 minutes. I do fine when the temp is in the low 50s, about 11. Maybe a good semi-dry would work for you. If I regularly dived in water that cold, it would be in a drysuit.

 

[runsongas]

how many drysuit dives do you have? if you have less than 20 drysuit dives, keep at it some more. it does take a little bit of time to get comfortable in the drysuit.

 

[RyanT]

Just don't. That is drysuit water.

 

[Hoag]

I find that when the water at home is that temp, what works for me is a 3mm wetsuit (and a plane ticket to someplace with palm trees).

 

[Seaweed Doc]

I dove a wetsuit at those temps and a bit cooler for 20 years, but never multiple dives the same day. Tried repeatedly diving the same day and went drysuit.

You'll want the thickest wetsuit made, double layer on your core. 7 mm farmer John's and same for the jacket. An attached hood is critical.

 

[Diver0001]

Anyone there can recomend wetsuit for 8- celsius Cold water. Not fond of dry suit... Plus they Are expensive.

In my personal opinion there are no good alternatives to a drysuit in those temperatures.

I've dived comfortably in a well fitting 7+5mm wetsuit in 9C water a number of times but the key here are the words "well fitting". At that, it was ok for a 40-45 min dive and for one dive on a day. A second dive was out of the question. I had to do this a number of times during my teaching career when my drysuit was in for repairs.

My advice, therefore, is to consider what diving wet means in 8C water. It means making 1 dive on a day and that dive will be a maximum of 40 min, of which the last 10 will probably involve fantasies of laying naked on a sheep skin rug in front of an open fire.....

Personally, and I am not kidding here, I prefer to wear a drysuit up to about 25C by changing the thickness of the undersuit. At 25c I may wear a 7mm suit but if I'm making 3 or 4 dives a day then even that starts feeling cold after a week or so.

I fully understand what you mean when you say that drysuits are expensive. It's a major investment that won't pay back easily if you don't dive in cold water on a regular basis. That said, my advice would STILL be to take a drysuit specialty and find a shop that has a rental suit that fits well so you can avoid the inevitable disappointment of trying to find some kind of wetsuit that will make you happy in 8C water.

R..

 

[melanie.]

Double 7mm farmer john? Thick hood and lobster claw gloves? Wool sweater underneath. Or semi dry

Buddy used to always bring a huge thermos of hot water and prefill his suit with hot water to hold off the cold just a bit longer.

But really. If you have to buy a new wetsuit, and gloves, and hood... why not save for drysuit. Yes they are expensive.... but you can find used.

 

[Bowers]

though drysuit is the answer.. ill indulge the question.

i have comfortably dove 46 deg F multiple 45 minute dives a day wearing a 7-6-5 (7mm core, 6mm legs, 5mm arms), boots and gloves. the catch is i wore a 2mm hooded vest so that there were less wrinkles around my neck that let water pass and i duck taped my wrist and ankles to create a poor mans semidry.

a buddy of mine dove 8mm semidrysuit with me and was also comfy.

i also have buddies who wear lavacores under 7mm in very cold temps and it works for them.

another trick is to pour a thermose of warm water down your suit just before getting in the water to help reduce the shock of sudden cold.

 

[kasper wendelboe]

Then there is the open cell suit. How about that? Will it easy get ruined or what?