Get hood same thickness as wetsuit's?

[rnln]

Hi everyone,

I am new to scuba, but have been doing spearfishing for a while. All my suits are open cell freediving wetsuit. May I ask if I can go scuba with 5mm open cell wetsuit (freediving/spearfishing wetsuit) in winter or if I should have 7mm wetsuit?

If I get 7mm wetsuit, should I get 7mm hood, or 5mm hood?

Thanks in advance.

 

[johndiver999]

I think you would need to order a custom freedive suit if you did not want the hood to match the thickness of the suit. I've not seen an off the shelf suit with a different hood thickness, for a freedive suit.

Also, if you are new to scuba and have a lot of experience freediving, you may be surprised how much colder you will get when scuba versus freediving. Even if you freedive 80 or more feet, almost all your time in the water is on the surface where the suit is expanded. When you spend all your time on the bottom, then the suit is compressed for the whole time and the reduced thickness (and colder water on the bottom) makes a big difference.

If you are unsure which suit to get 5 or 7, it would help if you defined the expected air and water temperature.

 

[rnln]

Hi John,

all my freedive suits now have integrated hood. My first question is if the freedive 5mm suit good enough to go scuba on a cold day in California winter?

If not, then I would get a 7mm scuba-suit, which doesn't have integrated hood. In that case, I will need a separate hood. Then second question comes. What thickness of hood I should get to go with a 7mm scuba wetsuit?

 

[johndiver999]

Generally match the suit with the hood, but if you are used to freedive suit already, I would probably pick a 7 mm freedive suit for cold water.

 

[Brett Hatch]

The water in Monterey at least is pretty close to the same temp year-round (roughly 48F-56F) and there isn't much of a thermocline (1-2F is typical). Of course the air temps vary quite a bit (45F-80F).

I dove here for a year or so in an 8mm closed-cell wetsuit with integrated hood (aqualung solafx). It got the job done for awhile, but as my dives got deeper and longer, eventually cold became the limiting factor and we would often turn dives with gas+NDL remaining just due to cold. So I went for a drysuit, which I'm pretty happy with. I have never dove an open-cell wetsuit, but do understand that they are warmer than closed-cell of the same thickness.

If you're deciding between a thinner hood and a thicker one, I'd say go for the thicker one. There's no such thing as being too warm in California water, and you don't wear the hood on the dry surface for very long anyway. In any case, if you decide you want a different hood later, hoods aren't all that expensive, so it's not the end of the world to get a new one.

Edit to add: regarding scuba in your 5mm freedive suit, you can certainly try it. I don't think it will be so cold as to not be safe to dive at all, but I doubt you'll be happy with it longer term.

 

[broncobowsher]

A good fitting 5mm suit will be warmer that a poor 7mm suit.
Hoods can be used to tune your warmth. If the water is warmer, less hood. Colder, more hood.
If you do get a 7mm suit and are looking for a warm hood, find a hooded vest. Don't know how much the vest adds to the warmth, but the attached hood does a better job with water flow through the suit.

Since you have the 5mm suit, run it. If it isn't enough you will know it.

 

[rnln]

thanks everyone.

 

[lowwall]

Maybe layer a 3mm shorty on top if your 5mm isn't enough? It's a bit more hassle, but will save you quite a bit of cash compared to a 7mm full with hood. Especially since most of the wear and tear will happen to the cheap shorty, extending the life of your 5mm.

 

[Swedinsidemount]

Hi everyone,

I am new to scuba, but have been doing spearfishing for a while. All my suits are open cell freediving wetsuit. May I ask if I can go scuba with 5mm open cell wetsuit (freediving/spearfishing wetsuit) in winter or if I should have 7mm wetsuit?

If I get 7mm wetsuit, should I get 7mm hood, or 5mm hood?

Thanks in advance.

well i have a 7mm and during the cold seasons i'm still so hot in it. I would go 5mm suit and 5mm hood.... <TG>

 

[broncobowsher]

Cold season in Florida? what is cold for Florida? California you can expect 50's at depth year round. I've seen 40's without too much trouble. The 60's are at the surface.