Pulled The Trigger. Waterproof Hybrid D1

[Matthew love]

Haven't dove it yet.. if weather behaves I'll be doing a class in the AM tomorrow.

Picked this up for the oil rigs out here and eventually a trip to Vancouver.

First thing I must say.. this suit's quality is friggin amazing. The 3D mesh liner is awesome.

I will say it may be a bit over kill here, so I ma pull the liner for So Cal diving and just go with a BARE SB layer underneath.. anyone running something similar in 55-60 degree water?

Anyone else diving this suit? with my 8mm and steel 100 HP I usually take about 18 LBS to sink.. anyone know where I should start with this guy? 30lbs?

IMG_7780 by Matthew Love, on Flickr

IMG_7779 by Matthew Love, on Flickr

 

[Trailboss123]

My dive buddy and fellow instructor and his wife both dive them and absolutely love them. They are definitely the best looking drysuit I have ever seen and appear to be bullet proof. They are always toasty warm and don't wear a traditional undergarment or they would really be overheated. They basically just wear a polypropylene/wool base layer. They are heavy and very positively buoyant though. If you use 18lbs in your 8mm wetsuit, then you should probably start out with 30lbs of lead and do a buoyancy check and go from there. I think 30lbs will be pretty close, but it wouldn't surprise me if you needed a couple lbs more either. All of our diving (nearly every other weekend) is out at Anacapa or Santa Cruz islands in the same conditions as you. Personally, I have a Whites drysuit. I have had it for 5 years and I can't justify changing it out, since it has been phenomenal. But if I did need to, I'd seriously consider the D1- if for know other reason than it looks awesome!

 

[Asheron]

Nice looking suit, plan to wear alot of extra lead. I was wearing the thicker long johns from Bass Pro and Cabelas(ECWS) and then adding a vest for longer dives in monterey(50-60deg F). It has to be one of the finest manufactured suits around but was just too heavy duty for me and i had a lot of flexibility problems with the liner installed. Once i removed the liner and went with normal undergarments it was better.

Lol, Trailboss(not at you, just coincidence the grass seems greener on the other side), i did the exact opposite just recently. I went from a D1 to a Aqualung Bullet and am super happy with the flexibility.

 

[Asheron]

Also, take the undergarment out over night as it will never dry very well inside and will hold alot of moisture on repetitive days.

 

[Trailboss123]

Nice looking suit, plan to wear alot of extra lead. I was wearing the thicker long johns from Bass Pro and Cabelas(ECWS) and then adding a vest for longer dives in monterey(50-60deg F). It has to be one of the finest manufactured suits around but was just too heavy duty for me and i had a lot of flexibility problems with the liner installed. Once i removed the liner and went with normal undergarments it was better.

Lol, Trailboss(not at you, just coincidence the grass seems greener on the other side), i did the exact opposite just recently. I went from a D1 to a Aqualung Bullet and am super happy with the flexibility.

Yeah-- I have never worn my buddy's D1- and I would before I'd consider a switch. I love my Whites. Feels like I am in a wetsuit with all of the flexibility. Darn thing still looks brand new after 5 years also. LOL!

 

[Matthew love]

Hit the pool today with it. Amazing suit. Had the liner on and wore some shorts and a tank top underneath.

Holy hell was I sweating haha.

Craftsmanship is amazing. Can’t wait to get it out in the ocean. Feeling like I may loose the 3D liner and throw in a BARE SB one piece liner for the dives here.

 

[stuartv]

Why would you take the liner out and then wear an undergarment?

One of the things my friends with a D1 love is that they can often dive with no special undergarments on because the liner works to keep them so warm.

They also say the D1 was a little tricky to sort out buoyancy compared to previous drysuits, because of the liner and the air being so free to move around. But, once they got dialed in, they love it.

Last, just an FYI, I believe Waterproof does make a thinner 3D liner that you can buy, in case the stock one keeps too much air in the suit for your taste.

Personally, I would dive it at least 8 or 10 times with the liner in, to get used to it (or try, anyway) before I started changing stuff (like taking the liner out).

Congrats on the new suit and enjoy!

 

[Chanly83]

Thread is a little old but my question is related. @stuartv I have been trying to find the lighter liner for my D1 and in the states if I am lucky it’s $300+ but in uk I can get it for roughly $175ish. I am just wondering if you know of anyone that owns one. I LOVE MY SUIT! I live in Wisconsin so I went from my OW in a crappy 5mm rental into the LDS gently used D1 for less then half of what they generally sell for, but it is toasty! The orange lining holds a lot of air and you can probably use it to sand rust of 90% of the vehicles up here. I found a killer deal on a full suit of Sharkskin covert chillproof that I will be using for tropical and I guess I could ditch the liner and use it in the suit I just don’t know how the longevity of the “covert” will last washing it all the time. It would be awesome to have a light, soft liner for my suit for the summer and late fall.

 

[stuartv]

Off the top of my head, I don't.

For tropical, why not just leave the liner in and wear shorts and a t-shirt underneath

 

[Chanly83]

The inside of that suit is like sandpaper.