Cold and unhappy...

[Polari]

Optional thoughts:

I dont like feeling cold either.
These days i dive for 4-5hours with a neoprene 4mm and a lavacore set (socks and full suit) and i feel like a chicken on grill.
I think neoprene rules in cold water.

 

[buddhasummer]

Optional thoughts:

I dont like feeling cold either.
These days i dive for 4-5hours with a neoprene 4mm and a lavacore set (socks and full suit) and i feel like a chicken on grill.
I think neoprene rules in cold water.

Yes, I'm starting to think I didn't do enough homework before making my purchase. I think if I were to do it all over again, certainly at this juncture anyway, I'd likely buy a neoprene drysuit. I was originally tossing up between the Santi and a O'Three. Guess I overestimated the warmth of dry diving in a shell suit and underestimated my tolerance to cold.

I'm going to buy body fit merino wool base layer I'll wear merino wool 260 weight on top of the first base layer and see how I go. Failing that I'll replace the BZ200 and likely buy a TF or Halo. And if all that fails I'll eat more food and learn to live with the chill. At approaching $5000 it's been an expensive experiment.

If I'm still cold wearing all that and a heated vest in 56dF water there is probably not a lot that can done. If I can't get warmer come next year I might look at a cheap neoprene suit. I notice O'Three has just come out with a more budget friendly suit.

 

[johnkendall]

Yes, I'm starting to think I didn't do enough homework before making my purchase. I think if I were to do it all over again, certainly at this juncture anyway, I'd likely buy a neoprene drysuit. I was originally tossing up between the Santi and a O'Three. Guess I overestimated the warmth of dry diving in a shell suit and underestimated my tolerance to cold.

I'm going to buy body fit merino wool base layer I'll wear merino wool 260 weight on top of the first base layer and see how I go. Failing that I'll replace the BZ200 and likely buy a TF or Halo. And if all that fails I'll eat more food and learn to live with the chill. At approaching $5000 it's been an expensive experiment.

If I'm still cold wearing all that and a heated vest in 56dF water there is probably not a lot that can done. If I can't get warmer come next year I might look at a cheap neoprene suit. I notice O'Three has just come out with a more budget friendly suit.

For a heated vest to properly work you need a decent bulk of insulation between it and the suit as otherwise you're loosing as much heat out of the system as you are gaining from it. Personally in that temp I wear a BZ400, and add heating for longer dives. I wear 200gr for 75deg water.

HTH

John

 

[jlovold]

I get cold in the Halo. The TF is much warmer, and requires less weights.

In addition to eating more food, start lifting weights to rise your metabolism.

Also, try not to fire up your heated vest before you start to get cold.

 

[buddhasummer]

For a heated vest to properly work you need a decent bulk of insulation between it and the suit as otherwise you're loosing as much heat out of the system as you are gaining from it. Personally in that temp I wear a BZ400, and add heating for longer dives. I wear 200gr for 75deg water.

HTH

John

Makes sense, cheers. I can get a MTM BZ400 for a reasonable price but am a little hesitant as people have said it's very bulky and requires a significant amount of lead. It is quite clear that the BZ200 is not warm enough for my conditions and cold tolerance. I think I'm chasing my tail trying various different base layers and it will end up being false economy in the long run. If I buy just one more set of base layers I've spent almost as much as a TF or BZ400.

---------- Post added February 24th, 2014 at 08:00 AM ----------

I get cold in the Halo. The TF is much warmer, and requires less weights.

In addition to eating more food, start lifting weights to rise your metabolism.

Also, try not to fire up your heated vest before you start to get cold.

The more I read I am leaning toward the TF, less bulk and less lead sounds nice.

Next dive I'll wait until I start to feel the chill before I fire up the vest. I turned it on as I descended so I guess during the length of the dive it lost some of it's effectiveness, certainly felt hotter at the beginning of the dive. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Agility]

the more air you trap in your undergarments the more lead you will need; because air is the insulating element that is the price you pay for staying warm.

 

[buddhasummer]

the more air you trap in your undergarments the more lead you will need; because air is the insulating element that is the price you pay for staying warm.

A price I'm willing to pay if necessary to be warm. Cheers.

 

[dbulmer]

Buddha,
Just a word on the BZ400. Contrary to what you might have heard it's not bulky once you've had about 10 dives or so in it. For bulk I'd argue that the Halo is more bulky.

It is true that you'll need more weight (in your case I'd guess about 3kg) to sink it but that will come down over time. If you can get to try it, it might be worth a shout rather than faffing with base layers.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

The most important question, and maybe I missed it...

What are you wearing on your hands and feet? Keeping them warm is just as important as the core

 

[dbulmer]

I was just thinking about hands when the poster above chimed in.
Here's another idea - probably won't help but ...
See if anyone has any neoprene gloves they don't want.
Cut off the gloves at the point they go over your wrists.
Put the flat part over your wrists - should be a bit warmer.