Full Suit or 2 piece for cold water

[Seaweed Doc]

If you are going to get a 7mm you might look for one that has some form of wrist and ankle seal. I dive a Bare Velocity 7mm with a 5/3 hooded vest into the low 50s (F) and that works OK for me. The suit has mid-forearm and mid-calf seals that look pretty anemic, but do seem to help. I think Piranha sells an inexpensive 7mm with wrist and ankle gaskets, and I think the Mares Flexa has wrist and ankle seals. The hooded vest is key -- helps keep that "ice down your back" feeling to a minimum. Past that there are semi-drys -- and people seem to like the Hollis Neotek, though there are many other choices too.

I think a lot depends on the air temperature too. If it is a nice day outside and you can warm up after the first dive, the second dive is OK. If you're cold before you get in the water, though, it will be miserable. (I don't dive if it is cold outside.)

A drysuit is probably in my future -- but, for now, I want to spend more time in the water than fixing my suit.

Something connecting hood and neck is key for a wetsuit. I've always had suits where the hood is part of the jacket portion.

 

[60plus]

I read an article about diving in Scapa Flow and northern Scotland where the water temp varies between 7 and 14 Deg C which most people would regard as drysuit diving. However the female author (a very experienced instructor and drysuit certified) said she preferred the simplicity of diving in 5 mm wet or semi dry suit. For multiple dives in cooler weather a second suit is used for the second dive. She changes out of her dive gear into warm clothing between dives. I have a 7mm one piece and its a bit stiff and not t well fitting. With hindsight I would probably have been better with a stretchier (hence better fitting) 5 mm, possibly a two piece to give 10mm core. Most people in this area (northern England) use drysuits but very frequently they have to get out of the suit between dives to dry bits, sometimes a lot of it before doing subsequent dives, leaks being very common.

 

[Bierstadt]

I am very very cold-tolerant and I dive semi-dry. I got mine used and it is unquestionably simpler and quicker to don than a drysuit, and it keeps me sufficiently warm even in 32F water. But a drysuit is warmer and keeps you dry. Realistically, any of the three (farmer John, semi-dry, or dry) will let a given diver dive cold water, but personal preference and cold tolerance is going to determine what suits you best, pun intended.

 

[FinnMom]

I had a wetsuit for my 1st year in Finland, really high quality semidry (Waterproof from Sweden) 7mm fullsuit with 5mm hooded vest. It's fine underwater, but having to strip nearly naked to dress, then strip again with wet skin is a dealbreaker. Winter wind and occasionally even falling snow are just delightful on bare, wet skin. I just couldn't do it mid Oct - late April. Underwater the thing probably would have been fine even under the ice, but you gotta have a heated shack to get dressed/undressed. Even in the middle of summer, sitting around between dives is a bit cool (shortening your 2nd dive and increasing i.a. pulmonary edema risk). At sea the wind almost always blows and you are that much colder btwn dives. Once I switched to a drysuit my season immediately became Jan 1 to Dec 31 every year, 2 dives OK even in winter.

Talk to some friends and get someone, maybe even a drysuit sales person to let you try diving in good drysuit, with a proper undersuit, and both being properly sized for you. Greatest thing since sliced bread. I use my trilam in water from -4C (w/ merino long underwear + Weezle Extreme Plus) to +21C (w/ just long nylon-blend underwear). Neophrene suits seem to going out of style where I live. They compress, they are harder to dry out inside if you do several dives or a whole weekend somewhere and they don't do warm water as easily as a trilam suit. That said, my adult daughter, has a Waterproof-brand neophrene drysuit (about 8 yrs now) and loves it. Also a few (maybe 5, some of whom also own newer trilam or cordura suits) of my friends have neophrene suits and like them very much. Neophrene drysuits are warm (my kid's a cold water wuss in the extreme) and they very rarely get leaks (in maybe 600 dives daughter's suit has never leaked; gloves/glove seal oh God yes, but suit never even once) and in a pinch they can be worn over ordinary street clothes and still give you a remarkably warm dive.

About the need to pee: Drysuits almost make the issue go away for normal hydration levels and normal (60-75 min) dives. Not being compressed in cold neophrene makes a huge difference.

Are there any drysuit demo days coming up in your area?

 

[Neilwood]

I read an article about diving in Scapa Flow and northern Scotland where the water temp varies between 7 and 14 Deg C which most people would regard as drysuit diving. However the female author (a very experienced instructor and drysuit certified) said she preferred the simplicity of diving in 5 mm wet or semi dry suit. For multiple dives in cooler weather a second suit is used for the second dive. She changes out of her dive gear into warm clothing between dives. I have a 7mm one piece and its a bit stiff and not t well fitting. With hindsight I would probably have been better with a stretchier (hence better fitting) 5 mm, possibly a two piece to give 10mm core. Most people in this area (northern England) use drysuits but very frequently they have to get out of the suit between dives to dry bits, sometimes a lot of it before doing subsequent dives, leaks being very common.

If people are having as many leaks, that is either a problem with fit, maintenance or the suit itself. Most of the people I dive with are dry every dive and at the most take the suit down to waist level.

Fit - the seals should fit snugly but not too tight. Different materials can help with the sealing - silicone being the most flexible but also easiest to damage (you can buy zip seals which can be changed in a few minutes). Shape of seals has an effect as well whether they are bottle or cone
Maintenance - the zip isn't shutting fully (or hasn't been pulled tight enough). Wear or damage can introduce pin hole leaks but those can be addressed with sealant or patches.
Suit problems - some suits seem more prone to leaks (a good search on the net will help with that) whereas others appear pretty bombproof. Internal seams need an inspection every so often.

As @FinnMom suggests, wetsuit diving does shorten the season as it is no fun changing out of a wetsuit in cold surface conditions. I have dived wet in temperatures ranging from 8C to 23 C (with varying thickness of wetsuit) however standing in a car park or at the roadside in a pair of wet swim shorts gets old fast especially if surface conditions are cool/cold. Easier to get out of the drysuit and drive home in the undersuit. Given the choice of wet or dry, dry will win most of the time except possibly in the height of summer where I am coming out to 20+C temperatures. Even at that, I can always go for a thinner undersuit.

 

[Saboteur]

If you are going to be diving in the Puget Sound, I would highly recommend a drysuit. I got certified here in Seattle and did four dives past that in 7mm 2-piece wetsuits (14mm over your torso). I am normally pretty tolerant of cold, but the diving was pretty miserable, especially during the surface interval and the second dive of two-dive days. Since then I got my drysuit certification and diving, even in February, is much more comfortable.

Just my 2 psi.

Yep, even worse on an inflatable boat....