Drysuit 101

[GlennL]

Dive Georgia is the only shop I have ever dealt with that had this policy, but I have heard of others experiencing these types of policies in other locations. Dive Georgia has a PSI-PCI Instructor on staff and they sell PSI-PCI cylinder inspector training. This is a case where it is "their shop, their rules". I would look for another shop for your Nitrox fills. I think it is out of your way, but Peachtree Dive Center in Peachtree City banks 32%.

HEY your from newnan.....sharpsburg born and raised right here!!

 

[GlennL]

Finished up the drysuit class this morning. There was another couple in the class. I more or less felt like I was just there. Most of the focus was on the girl. The couple were on their second day of drysuit class. They didn't get it first day I suppose.
After the class met up with some guys for a real dive. Water was 49 f at 80 ft down. About 10 ft of vis.
So any tricks for staying nice and trim without getting too floaty in the feet? Other than practice.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Congrats. I'm guessing with 49F temps, it was in a quarry. I did mine down in the FL springs.

So any tricks for staying nice and trim without getting too floaty in the feet? Other than practice.

I have all of 27 hours of time in my drysuit at this point, so I can say I went through this relatively recently. Every once in a while you just have to break your nice trim and put your feet down for a few seconds to let the air migrate up. In other words, yeah, it just takes practice.

 

[GlennL]

Also, I had an issue maintaining depth of my safety stop at the end of my dive. I tried venting gas from my suit and from my wing. Nothing. I didn't skyrocket or nothing. But as we were tooling around at about 20 ft. After I got to about 650psi in my double 117's, I slowly began to float up. The only weight was the doubles and my SS backplate(gas weight was gone). I remember being kosher at about 1000psi but struggling after and then uncontrollable at about 650. I'm thinking about adding either a tail weight or a v weight. Also this was fresh water. Don't know about salt. Hard to guess really without experience how much weight to add. But experimenting on charters really doesn't appeal to me.

 

[GlennL]

Also being drysuit noob I'm sure my anxiety didn't help

 

[KevinNM]

So any tricks for staying nice and trim without getting too floaty in the feet? Other than practice.

Once you get your weight distributed correctly the trick I've been shown is to use minimum gas in the suit. For example, once you stretch the suit on the surface you open the valve and shrink wrap yourself from the feet. You want the extra material up on your chest, not on your waist. Then only add air when it gets tight. Typically I descend to 20 feet before adding gas, and then just a bit as needed to keep it from hurtling or limiting movement.

Weight distributed may mean you need heavier or lighter fins than you used to use. Typically you want heavier fins, but it depends. Plus you can shift around your hard weights.

 

[Sevenrider860]

Once you get your weight distributed correctly the trick I've been shown is to use minimum gas in the suit. For example, once you stretch the suit on the surface you open the valve and shrink wrap yourself from the feet. You want the extra material up on your chest, not on your waist. Then only add air when it gets tight. Typically I descend to 20 feet before adding gas, and then just a bit as needed to keep it from hurtling or limiting movement.

Weight distributed may mean you need heavier or lighter fins than you used to use. Typically you want heavier fins, but it depends. Plus you can shift around your hard weights.

There are a lot of people that suggest minimum gas in the suit. That is how I started too. Then I learned that more gas equaled more loft in the undergarments and more warmth for me. So I stopped using the "just keep it from hurting" method of drysuit inflation. I also think it has a little to do with the drysuit material. In my DUI CF200 I am a little more conscious of the "bubble" than I am with my O'Three Neoprene suit. I also use heavier fins ( Hollis F1 ) when diving backmount in my drysuits.

It was also mentioned that if you do get too much air migrating to the legs, stop and allow your legs to drop a bit. No need to go full vertical, but let some of the gas migrate back up to your torso. That is my 2 cents. I know a lot of people have founds ways that work for them and starting with minimum gas works and you develop the skills to manage your trim with a little more gas over time.