How cold have you've dived with a wetsuit?

[NARCOSISOFTHERIVER]

Niagara II Tobermory, 7mm Triton one piece, 5mm boots, gloves and hood. Temperature in the boat, 83 degrees, surface temp,64 degrees, 40 feet to 98 feet, 41 degrees. Shrinkage, PRICELESS. Cheers, Buzz.

 

[Bob3]

... how cold could you dive with a 7mm wetsuit.

The answer will come down to "How well does the suit fit?"
A good fit = longer dive times; poor fit will have your teeth chattering in just a few minutes.
As some others have mentioned, the use of a hooded vest helps considerably, as does the use of one of those critters referred to as a "semi-dry" (or more accurately, "semi-wet") suit.
There are some wetsuits that are 1-piece, including an attached hood. If one of these is well fit you can come out of the water with a dry back & most of your hair will also be dry.
Tricks & tips:
Use 3-finger mitts vs 5-finger gloves. They're not only warmer, but also impart greater dexterity than 5-finger gloves of the same material type & thickness. There's a lot less material in way of the sides of the fingers going into tension & compression so your hands will tire much more slowly.
If you have a gallon (or larger) Igloo-type cooler, bring some water that's "comfortably hot" along & pre-fill your suit with that. As the icewater [hopefully] slowly seeps into the suit there are a couple areas that trigger a "voice octave raising" response that can be lessened or eliminated by the hot water trick.
Having hot water in a jug also comes in handy to thaw frozen zippers, buckles & straps out after the dive, which can freeze solid near instantly of exiting the water.

 

[bigfrog23]

If you have a gallon (or larger) Igloo-type cooler, bring some water that's "comfortably hot" along & pre-fill your suit with that. As the icewater [hopefully] slowly seeps into the suit there are a couple areas that trigger a "voice octave raising" response that can be lessened or eliminated by the hot water trick.
Having hot water in a jug also comes in handy to thaw frozen zippers, buckles & straps out after the dive, which can freeze solid near instantly of exiting the water.

this is a bad idea for several reasons one even though this might feel good it is actually doing more harm than good because the worm water will cause you capillary blood vessels to dilate which will in-turn allow worm blood to circulated closer to the surface and when that cold water comes in contact with the skin it will cool your blood which will intern cool down your core. so even though you may feel wormer for a bit you are actual doing more harm than good by cooling down core faster. this is also what happen when you pee in your suit

as far as the coldest water i have been in with a 7mm one peace Henderson wet-suit was 36 degrees at 55-60 feet for 50m

 

[jim2386]

When I did my AOW this summer, I got down in the lake to 70' and when I checked my gauge is was about 45 degrees. I was there for about 10 minutes. Wore a 3mm full wetsuit, hood, gloves, boots, and a extra 6mm chest vest thing. It's not so bad once you're there for a minute just the thermoclines are killer.

 

[Gary D.]

Old 1/4 Farmer John under Artic Ice at 28df. The water is never cold so you can't be cold. Ask me to do it today you will be greeted by a one finger wave.

Gary D.

 

[Buoyant1]

I've done 42 in my 7mm with hood and gloves..but it's that dang AIR temp that will kill you afterwards! (my local quarry sets up heaters so it helps)

I bailed from the dive today due to a cold (my annual Christmas season cold that I usually get from friggin' relatives!) But I wasn't planning on it to begin with because the air temps weren't supposed to be as warm as they ended up, but if I didn't have the cold I would have gone out ...Oh well...

 

[GSDMan]

7/5 mill one piece wetsuit, 5 mill boots, gloves, and hood. Entire water column was 41-45 degrees and we stayed for 31 minutes.

Jim

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Gilboa Halloween weekend of 06, Frost on the pier, I think coldest water was 39/60 on surface probably 10mm on core, 7mm arms and legs 5 mm gloves and boots. Cold during SI ok the rest of the time 4 dives on Saturday. Propane heater, fire and really sunny little wind.

 

[reel-wild]

at the lake 52 degrees in 3 mil with 3 mil gloves and a 3mil hooded vest i was comfortable it was the new years dive at fantasy lake temp at 58 ft was a lot colder

 

[DOkie]

My husband got the one finger wave a few years back... Early spring deep dive, didn't want to go because the dry suit was out for service, but he convinced me that it "really isn't that bad". 90 feet, 21 minutes, temperature of 41 degrees. Got back on the boat with all "dry divers" and asked him how on earth he could do that! I nearly froze to death. The answer I got was "don't know, never done it before...." To bad there were witnesses.....