7mm Wetsuit and added layers

[soder3]

Hello. I am diving in German lakes and it gets pretty cold below the thermocline (about 7 deg Celsius at 32m is the coldest so far). I have a 7mm Bare Reactive suit, with 2mm gloves, and 3mm hood. With this setup I am functional, just very uncomfortable. I am going to upgrade my gloves to Bare's 5mm Ultrawarmth to see how that works out for my hands.

My question is how much added warmth does a 7mm Ultrawarmth Hooded Vest or Step-in hooded vest or like products add and is it worth the investment? I unfortunately do not have near enough money in the fun fund for two dry-suits (my wife is my dive buddy)

 

[Zef]

You will have 14mm of neoprene on your core...that is a lot of buoyancy at the beginning of the dive that must be countered with lead. Some might say that this type of combination is unsafe to dive with and recommend a drysuit. I would recommend the drysuit specifically for the comfort...it is so much nicer to wear a drysuit than thick layers of neoprene. In the past I would dive a 5.5 wetsuit with a 5.5 shorty on top and often a 2.5 vest underneath. I hated how restrictive things felt especially in my shoulder area, and while the cold waters of the lakes and quarries of Belgium were tolerable, I can't say that I was ever truly comfortable in terms of temperature....my setup limited the length of my season as I typically would not start diving until late May to early-mid June depending on the water temps...and then things were over by mid-october. With a drysuit I am ready to extend both ends of my season....I only wish I had bought it sooner.

-Z

 

[Valyngar]

7mm Hood vest heaps a bit but still diving with wetsuit under 10c is not nice -at least your dive times are going to be under 30 min. Remember hypothermia increases the risk of DCS, so I would recommend against using wetsuit in those conditions. It's just expensive to dive in cold climate :-(. One thing you can do it before you go to dive you pour warm water inside the suit, so water is preheated inside the suit (mix hot water from thermos to lake/sea water in canister and then pour that mix in).

 

[Wah]

One thing you can do it before you go to dive you pour warm water inside the suit, so water is preheated inside the suit (mix hot water from thermos to lake/sea water in canister and then pour that mix in).

Or pee in your wetsuit at the beginning of the dive... sorry I had to.

 

[Marie13]

I’ve dived as cold as 43F in a Bare Evoke 7mm. I’ve found a Lavacore hooded vest (not neoprene) greatly adds to my comfort. I wear my regular 5mm hood over the vest hood.

Neoprene socks inside your boots make a big difference as well.

I’ll probably be getting down to about 40F in Lake Huron this weekend.

 

[soder3]

Or pee in your wetsuit at the beginning of the dive... sorry I had to.

lol

I’ve dived as cold as 43F in a Bare Evoke 7mm. I’ve found a Lavacore hooded vest (not neoprene) greatly adds to my comfort. I wear my regular 5mm hood over the vest hood.

Neoprene socks inside your boots make a big difference as well.

I’ll probably be getting down to about 40F in Lake Huron this weekend.

If you get the time, please let me know how your setup worked. Thanks.

 

[emoreira]

You should seriously consider a dry suit.
Diving wet in those german lakes is too much pain.

 

[soder3]

You should seriously consider a dry suit.
Diving wet in those german lakes is too much pain.

I am seriously considering it. It is the 4500 euro price tag I was quoted that I am having heartburn over. I need one of them to be custom fitted. I have a problem allowing debt to linger around.

 

[Bowers]

this spring i made multiple 45 min dives in mid 40 deg F water (and snowing on land). My buddy wore an 8mm semidry with hood, boots and gloves, and said he was comfortable. I wore a 7-6-5 wetsuit with hood, boots and gloves, then duck taped the wrist and ankles (keeps water from moving through). I did not use a thermos of warm water or any of those sorts of tricks but still felt fine for entire dive.
The semidry or duck taped improvised semi dry is far cheaper than drysuit if money is the issue, but far better solutions than super thick neoprene that requires a bucket of weights to get underwater.

 

[Valyngar]

4

I am seriously considering it. It is the 4500 euro price tag I was quoted that I am having heartburn over. I need one of them to be custom fitted. I have a problem allowing debt to linger around.

4500 euros seems bit too much for drysuit. My friend had custom made drysuit from kevlar and it costed about 2300 euros. You could ask Ursuit BDS Kevlar | Dry suits | Varuste.net English about custom size (it says on Finnish language that i's +250 euros). Website is very trustworthy place and I have bought many items from there over the times.