Drysuit Cert vs. AOW

[diveandclimb]

So let me put out my situation and if anybody has advice I would welcome it:
This dive season I am only going to have time to take one class. I have plenty of opportunities to dive but rarely do I have more than one day free on a weekend. So my delema is this, I currently dive wet in a 7mm full suit with 3mm hooded vest which I have been renting and although I am essentially warm enough on mid summer dives when the water is in the sixties, I try my best to puch my season which ended up meaning that I was diving in 39 F water a couple of weeks ago. I was totally freezing and I couldn't go in for a second dive which was a huge bummer. I am away alot during the middle of the summer so I try to start diving as early as possible and end diving as late as possible. So with this in mind is seems like taking a drysuit class would be a good thing to do and then I would do my AOWs next year but I have also been told that AOWs are really meant to come pretty soon after OWs and so that would make me think that I should do my AOWs first and my drysuit cert next summer. I did consider diving dry without the cert but unfortunatly most of my LDSs wont let you take specialties dry unless you have the drysuit cert. I also figure that I would get more enjoyment out of my AOWs if I do them warm and dry but I don't know if I would get my out of my drysuit class if I had some more time to work on fundimentals through the AOWs. To add to the confusion is the fact that I am still growing sort-of. It's getting really expensive to rent a suit for $30 a day and I can't really imagine that this is cost effective but I am only sixteen and while I have only grown a half inch or so in the past several months Im told I will likely get another inch or so in a couple of years. This leave me with the choice of buying a used wetsuit and then going dry in a couple of years when I am totally sure I am done growing for good but I also have been told I could just get a drysuit which is fitted for someone who is an inch or two taller than me so I wouldn't outgrow it at all. Any advice/thought/words-of-wisdom would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[NeedABiggerBoat]

This is a no-brainer! How much do you want to spend? An AOW class is $400-$500 and a drysuit is $1000-$2000 for a decent rig (forget the price of the class). I got my AOW first and now I want a drysuit but $$$$$$ is a huge factor.

 

[Garrobo]

Move to Florida.

 

[Mark Michaud SELAUSAR]

Do your advanced. There are places you won't be able to dive without it. When you are able to get a drysuit...........find a mentor. I am pretty sure there is no one that requires a drysuit cert., in order to dive a location. A mentor will show you what you need to know. It is different from a wetsuit, but not a big deal. It is more taskloading, but again, not a big deal. AOW is a "liability safeguard" for operations and that will be more important at this point. Besides it furthers you education and experience a bit.

 

[jjhill]

I agree with doing your AOW. Many people (myself included) have learned to dive a dry-suit without taking the course. Find a friend who dives dry and just have them introduce you to it, then do a bunch of easy shallow dives to dial it in and get used to it.

There are a lot of us on here who dive dry that have never taken the actually certification course.

 

[spectrum]

diveandclimb

It all depends what you are really asking.

If you are diving with mentors and feel well equipped to dive independently with peers jumping into AOW is not necessary. If you wait too long (50+?) it will be a formality just to get the pass to go on advanced charters.

If you are diving cold and find your diving limited there is huge value in diving dry in terms of safety, comfort and more frequent diving.

As has been mentioned there is a huge difference in cost unless you stumble on a Cinderella deal on a used drysuit.

If you buy the suit new it's fairly common for the drysuit course to be thrown in "free". If a mentor teaches you to dive a used drysuit you can make "drysuit diver" your first AOW elective when it's time to do that.

The other possibility if the drysuit can't happen is to get into a better wetsuit. A new 7mm full suit with a 7mm step-in hooded vest let's many divers enjoy May through October. Some divers(self included) prefer the wet diving experience in the milder months so it's not necessarily money thrown away.

Pete

 

[IceCube]

Dry suits are hard, and I'm still trying master mine. Messing around with the dry suit during AOW could be a huge distraction for you if your new at it. Also, AOW doesn't need to be taken right away. I just finished my AOW, and I would probably gotten more out of it if I just had a bit more practice. Had 10 dives over three weekends between my OW and AOW, but I still feel that wasn't enough. Don't worry so much about getting AOW done right away.

Dry suits are expensive. It would kind of suck to outgrow one. I also feel your pain about spending $30 to rent one. I was a broke teenager too.

I can see that your stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one. Sorry, I really don't have a good answer for you.

 

[D_B]

I was going to post, but I think Spectrum has it covered

I will add that if you do get a drysuit, they do have some potentially dangerous failure modes and to get trained by a very good instructor or mentor, one that will stress you a bit and make you a safe drysuit diver
What my drysuit class was like ... http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/advanced-scuba-discussions/260824-dry-suit-class.html

 

[Pitchblack]

Taking the advanced class opens up alot of divesites, but a drysuit is way more comfortable than a wetsuit, especially in the temperetures you mention.

Since you'r only sixteen it would be a waste of money to buy a brand-new drysuit for a thousand dollars, the advice I can give you is to buy a used drysuit and take the advance class the same year, and make sure the 'drysuit-diving' adventure dive is in your advanced class. On that dives you'll learn the basics of drysuit diving and play a little with buoyancy. Also make sure the Peak Performance Buoyancy adventure dive is in the class, since there will be more focus on just buoyancy there.

 

[ligersandtions]

Find a good, used drysuit (they are out there....there are many good deals on the classifieds section of forums, craigslist, and ebay)....find a mentor or experienced diver who dives in a drysuit and have them show you the ins and outs. Diving in a drysuit is really not all that difficult. There are a few things to know, a few things to practice....but after a few dives, it really just becomes a non-issue.

After you get comfortable in your drysuit, then you can take your AOW class if you still want (however, if that drysuit mentor of yours is a good buddy, you can probably learn a lot more through him/her than you will through an AOW class....that is, unless you're one of those people who's lucky enough to have a great AOW instructor nearby).

For me, it's far more important to be warm and dry and able to do multiple dives whenever I want than it is to have someone teach me to navigate in a square or show me that if you break an egg open at 100 feet that it stays in its egg shape (though your AOW class may not be as useless as mine....ymmv).