Gaiters

[mikeguerrero]

I was thinking about getting gaitors but with more practice and better trim, the floaty feet syndrome went away. I use Jets which are heavy and would keep my feet down. Ocassionaly I would descend head first and forget to dump excess air out.

End result is all the air rushing to my feet, I can feel my feet have air because you no longer feel the squeeze in your foot, you feel it has lots of room and it feels akward to fin.

At that point I make sure all my air is out of my BC and I invert vertically for 2 secs and I feel all the air rush from my feet upward. At that moment I will raise my dump valve on my left arm above my head and crunch into a ball, you will see and hear the bubbles rushing out of the suit.

No need for gaitors if you follow this step. Also I want normal circulation of air all over my body with me deciding what gets expelled. Gaitors I would assume would restrict air from reaching the feet and I could get colder. As of now I'm warm all over with my drygloves and Argon.

MG

 

[Belmont]

Mike, what you just said is right but you should try to descend and ascend while staying horizontal. This way you would not have to make corrections like you described and you would always be in control of the air bubble in your dry suit.

 

[burna]

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for your replies, I'll try and answer some of your questions.

have you tried ankle weights yet? commercial are around $30/pair, DIY around $20.
Allen

No not yet. I have considered them to be a last resort but for shallow water I might have to use them. I had to start experimenting somewhere and I thought I'd start with gaiters.

Are your fins negatively buoyant?

No they are pretty neutral. I have just started using OMS Slipstreams, they seem pretty neutral as did my dacors which were my wetsuit fins which I used with my drysuit until the last dive. I didn't have floaty feet feet in my wetsuit which is why I'm thinking I might have some air down there.

I would suggest you work for a while on the DS and re-evaluate after a dozen or so dives.

The gators seem like a solution now but with time and experience you may think them unnecessary. (and jeez, that's a lot of snaps, buckels and velcro)

I think you are right, but last time I felt a small bubble move into my drysuit socks but when I went head up I couldn't seem to vent any air out.

All those buckles (I think) would be easier to work with than the elasticated straps on the ones I've received although they probably are set and forget in terms of adjusting them and no need to adjust for every dive, but the first dive will take 10 mins to get them right!

Do these two pics show the version you received instead of the 5-buckle version you ordered?

Are you saying the manufacturer has further changed their design by sewing the protective flap down at the sides? Might it possibly be a "second quality" item with defective sewing?

Dave C

Yes Dave, your pics show the ones I have received. The 3 straps are elastic and a pain in the RRRzz to adjust. The stitching is definately not a manufacturing fault and has been stiched right across the top and bottom to just prior to the corner.

I also don't like the straps being exposed (possible snagging points ) plus there is no protection offered by the gaiter to the shin as others do.

But first, is your issue of "floaty feet" a constant trim issue or is it just when the air bubble moves into the legs?

If it's constant, you may find, as others have suggested, that more experience in the suit may show you other solutions. Those might include purging more air from your suit while in the water, moving your tank lower on your body, wearing heavier fins and/or ankle weights, shifting some weight from integrated pockets to a weight belt, or even wearing more insulation in the chest area, etc.

Dave C

To be honest I haven't dived enough to know exactly what's causing the floaty feet, sure to be a number of things including lack of diving experience. I definately noticed a diff below 3 metres and I know these buoyancy probs are exaggerated in shallow water.

One thing I know is it isn't due to adding too much air to my suit as I haven't been able to add any, I'm already too floaty. I have burped as much out as I can before getting in and I'm already carrying a ton of weight (33lbs) and that wasn't enough for the shallow water. Again, deeper than 3 metres I can add a little air so I think my weighting is in the ballpark.

I have been using a 12.2ltr (100cf) steelie and have it set as low as I can go. I have played around with moving the weights around as much as I can.

I am naturally buoyant though I think, it took me 22lbs in a 5mm semi-dry that's with an Al tank tho'. I'm going to chuck on a couple of extra pounds next dive and see how I go. I might also try dodging up a gaiter setup and see if it makes a diff before using the ones I have.

Thanks for all your replies/help/feedback/responses.