I'm still cold!

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Consider the thermolution heated vest. I use it when I dive wet in very cold (30-40s) under my 7/8mm semidry and it is very toasty. They have different grades, go with the highest that can to extend battery life. I typically get 2.5 hours on med for the blue level I think
 
yep, hooded vest. doesn't seem to give you that neck choking feeling either for unknown reason. easy to pack too.
 
Hood - mine's 1.5 mm neoprene and it makes a huge difference. I'm sure booties make a big difference. And I wear a fleece inside my Lavacore. It traps the water, inhibits flushing, and the trapped water soon warms up.

Counter intuitive - but how about wearing less? I had problems and was layering neoprene. I thought I was comfortable. Got so fed up with wriggling in and out of the suit/top that I just went in wearing one suit - and was much warmer. I must have been much freer in my movements and blood flow through the skin must have been less compressed, more relaxed, although I didn't really notice it. As one of the group said, any kind of stress or strain robs you of at least a degree. The soft fleece jumper inside the soft Lavacore suit doesn't restrict. Tried a rash guard - never again - the compression just chilled me.
 
I’m currently in Roatan (Anthony’s Key) and was really chilled wearing rash guards, a 2 mil jacket and 5 mil boots. I tried adding a vest but the extra weight I had to use wasn’t worth it. I added my Lavacore socks and - unbelievably - it was just enough to keep me comfortable.
 
Circling back to this thread to say that I've discovered something amazing since originally posting in this thread. Frogskins from Probe. Way better than Lavacore and Sharkskin. Here's why below. Please scroll down to my update post-dives a couple of posts below that one. I am in love. I plan to get the wetsuit next. Don't miss reading the OP's review as well. It's a great review. I can't stop talking about it to anyone who will listen. They don't bag out or stretch underwater and the fleece lining dries in under 10 minutes. NO wet or cold piece to put on for repetitive dives!

Probe Frogskins--Best Dive Skins Yet?
 
In a pinch you can always pour warm water into your wetsuit before you splash.

Saves the heat necessary to warm the cold water that will get in anyway.

If cold after the dive, pour in some more warm water.

Never more than body temperature 38C max.

I have seen people ice dive with this trick in 7 mm farmer john plus shorty (with hood and gloves as well)
 
@annmarie722
You live in a cold climate and don't know how to protect upirself from the cold and keep warm in the cold ?

Perhaps I can provide a wee bit of advice from way out west in California- where diving began

In the genesis of diving prior to the development of the exposure suits (first the Barada dry suit then the Bradner wet suit ) divers used all sorts of coverings for thermal protection- WW11 electrical heated wool flight suits with the wires removed or a set of WW11 wool long underwear- put on the baggy bathing suit, then the flight suit or the long underwear then another bathing suit to keep the thermal protection suit in place.

I was a young dumb kid so I preferred a WW 11 GI khaki wool sweater about 2 sizes too small so it had a sung fit.
(FYI --there are two pictures of me in this costume painted by the great John Steel in the anniversary issue of Skin Diver magazine -about 20 years ago)

It was soon discovered - serendipitously- that if the areas with venous flow nearest the surface were keep warm, such as the ankles, wrist and the head, the diver retained heat for a longer period So enter the gooey sticky cloth backed electrician's tape-- copious amounts were taped around the ankles and wrist to some what keep those areas warm allowing for a few moments more of diving.

Also it was serendipitously discovered that the USN WW11 Surplus submarine lined watch hat complete with a chin strap or a WW 11 surplus US AF fur lined crewmen's cap offered a certain amount of cranial thermal protection

In modern day diving many use dry suits other wet suits...You chose the later - It should be tight fitting with no bunches or gaps-- Your first wet suit you will consider tight - your second should be tighter and the third one -if you grace the diving world that long should be very very tight ,, so there is absolutely no water flow,

The ankles require a reasonably well fitted dive bootie to insure the ankle venous flow is warm- I have, possibly by habit, always pull my wet suit down over the booties it insure a tight fit - My red headed Canadian born wife just the opposite.

When I began diving with a wet suit a WW11 sheet of neoprene could be purchased from Kirkoff Rubber company in Brea California for $1.00 and a can of wet suit glue "Black Magic" also for a dollar.. with some injunity of pattern design wet suit was created for 2 hard earned California Yankee dollars.

As a result I designed my own wet suits which were later graciously cut and glued at no charge by the local wet suit manufactures- All my suits featured an attached hood. Often on those cold SoCal nights when diving for lobsters I wore a neoprene vest under the extremely tight fitting wet suit.

If your head, which is richly endowed with venous flow becomes cold, your body core temperature will drop accordingly. Therefore a good fitting thick hood or even better in extreme cold a hooded vest is appropriate

Therefore three areas to review and improve
Wet suit fit
Wet suit hood
Booties - fit for no flow

Have a serious conversation with your fuzzy faces instructor for additional input

And last and equally important - get in shape ! Join a swim club swim regularly with all the vim and vigor you can muster at 50 plus years.

Sam Miller, III
LA Co UW instructor #11
NAUI instructor # A27
PADI instructor # 241 or 2241 ?


At the moment diving in 6 degree C, obviously in drysuit. Cannot but agree with above. Certainly fit is vital to
prevent flushing. I use wet gloves and find that a minimal ingress of water keeps you much warmer as in the hood. But keeping warm in between dives helps greatly with being comfortable on the second dive.
I suspect those people who mock are either immature or inexperienced. I dive where it is rarely above 16/18 degrees c in the sea, diving in these conditions does not make you immune from hypothermia, but perhaps more cold tolerant. Anyone who mocks people for keeping warm ,which reduces so many risks, is foolish.



 
hey I'm a 180lb male and I get chilled in in mid 70s water even when I'm wearing a 7mm with a 5mm hooded vest.

But I saw someone on a boat I was on recently putting a couple of those heated gel packs into her wetsuit. Think they were something like these:

https://www.amazon.com/Reusable-Hea...eywords=heat+gel+packs&qid=1582362114&sr=8-34

they're liquid filled so unlikely to rupture at depth
 

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