Cold water exposure suits discussion

[scubashawn123]

There was once an Irishman who walked into an American Bar. He sat down and asked the Bartender "Give me three shots o' your finest Irish Whiskey!" the Bartender does that.

After about a week the bartender asks, "Irishman, would it be better for you if I put all three shots of Irish Whiskey into one glass?"

The Irishman says, "well no. See I have two other brothers back at home, Bill and Shawn, and every time I come into a Pub I order a shot for each o' them so I can remember the fun times, the great times, really all the good times."

Well, after another week of this routine, the Irishman comes into the bar and only asks for two shots of Irish Whiskey. The bartender immediately says "Irishman, is everything ok? Did something happen to one of your brothers?" "Oh no", the Irishman said, "I just decided to quit drinkin!"





You can find more irish jokes on http://irishjokes.com/jlist.php?id=2

 

[Mack Diver]

Granted, leaks in a dry suit are no fun. Thankfully, from what I hear, yours was caused by a rolled seal as opposed to a torn seal. That makes the situation preventable.

I'm all in favor of diving dry. Once the water temp dips much below 70, I prefer the comfort that a dry suit offers. That is especially true for the SIT times that Bill mentioned. I even wear my BARE drysuit at Aquarena, just because of the SITs that are involved with some of the classes that I help with out there.

As far as the irishman in the bar, I thought he just gave up drinking for Lent. It's a bit more believable that way.

 

[scubashawn123]

Volunteered and worked as a Science Diver today at Aquarena and it was just a great day to dive.

I used my new 5 mil without hood and vest and actually stayed warm in the 70 degree water for over an hour.

Saturday we will see how this works in Lake Travis now 61 degree temperature just reported in today it dropped 2 degrees from last weekend.

We will see.

What group is planning a New Years day dive at Windy Point? Anyone know?

 

[cavemn]

My Waterproof W1 5mil has arrived. Time to visit the springs next week to break it in.

 

[rakpix]

There was a nice boat discussion on USIA, Bare, and DUI dry suits Saturday with an interested diver. Thus prompting this open discussion for those that may want to dive during the winter months and not break the bank on a dry suit.

well, i've always been one of those divers. you know: suffering through 45-55 F water in my 5mm without a hood ... grinning from ear-to-ear in my "comfort." at least on the first dive. on the second, yeeeeah that smile starts to fade a bit. third ... and it starts to turn into a grimace. but after the fourth, the only thing that keeps me going is that cliff bar popsicle slowly thawing in my gut.

always smiled at the warm-water-wusses in their 7mm farmer johns and DUI crushed neoprene with 300 gram undergarmets of course, now that i'm diving dry, looking back on those drops to 110 FT in 54 degree water in thin, damp neoprene ... i just chalk that up to "character building." ya know, something to convince myself i'm not one of those warm-water-wusses yet, even as i layer mutiple fleece's for a 20 FT drop into aquarena's 72 degree bathwater in blissful comfort! shut up

as to the neck seal, might i interest you in this Si Tech Neck Tite Drysuit Neck Seal System - Dive Right In Scuba - Plainfield, IL

 

[bogrady]

Granted, leaks in a dry suit are no fun. Thankfully, from what I hear, yours was caused by a rolled seal as opposed to a torn seal. That makes the situation preventable.

The aforementioned leak was NOT, I repeat NOT caused by a neck seal roll. As the buddy who inspected and adjusted his neck seal prior to the dive I can state under oath that the neck seal was PERFECT! ABSOLUTLY PERFECT prior to the dive .... that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I believe a professionally executed root cause analysis of the situation will show that the diver in question violated the integrity of the perfectly inspected and adjusted neck seal after entering the water.

Sensitive? Me ... no I'm not sensitive ...

 

[ZzzKing]

Ya know, Shawn, a couple of years ago I bought a semi-dry 7/9 mm suit with similar expectations to what you have. I dove it through December including one memroable day at Lake Murray where it was sleeting during the surface interval. I thought to myself "yeah, I can handle this winter diving stuff".

Went back in February. Water temps in the Low 40's. HOLYCRAP it was cold. Thankfully Timeliner had a really old Farmer John that was flushing water through so fast that he had to turn the dive and look like the wimp rather than me.

So good luck with your manly 5 mm theory and Bill, bring plenty of hot chocolate to thaw your buddy out between dives.

 

[scubashawn123]

The aforementioned leak was NOT, I repeat NOT caused by a neck seal roll. As the buddy who inspected and adjusted his neck seal prior to the dive I can state under oath that the neck seal was PERFECT! ABSOLUTLY PERFECT prior to the dive .... that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I believe a professionally executed root cause analysis of the situation will show that the diver in question violated the integrity of the perfectly inspected and adjusted neck seal after entering the water.

Sensitive? Me ... no I'm not sensitive ...

Yes you are..............

If you are unable to vent enough air through the exhaust valve, open the neck
seal or wrist seal(s) to allow air to escape.

Water will enter the drysuit.

I chose the neck seal accordingly........


By the way I am still waiting on delivery of my hood and vest to add to my warmth factor for winter swamp diving in Texas that should make my 5 mil set up really work well this winter

Anyone want to buy my drysuit?

 

[Timeliner]

Went back in February. Water temps in the Low 40's. HOLYCRAP it was cold. Thankfully Timeliner had a really old Farmer John that was flushing water through so fast that he had to turn the dive and look like the wimp rather than me.

So good luck with your manly 5 mm theory and Bill, bring plenty of hot chocolate to thaw your buddy out between dives.

That felt like it was one of the coldest dives I can ever remember doing... all of us were just frozen man ! 41 degrees and we out for an hour in wetsuits at 40 to 70 feet.

I seem to remember that I built a rippin' fire just after that !!

I know I've done cold dives like that before... sometimes two in a row, but that day was different for some reason. I permanently lost an inch of height. My arms, hands and feet got shorter, and otherwise I disappeared or became " Completely Ineffective " for several days.

 

[Bogie]

I have ad very few leaks in my drysuit. I have to make sure the seals are adjusted properly.

I dive in high 40's low 50's and only dive dry. It is great to be warm between dives.