Question on drysuit and buoyancy

[Ben Prusinski]

Yesterday I dove a drysuit for the first time and it felt great not freezing or getting wet in Monterey! For buoyancy I have heard two camps of thought.

1. Use the BCD only on surface and the drysuit for buoyancy control
2. Use the BCD for buoyancy control and only use drysuit to avoid squeeze and run away ascents.

I plan to take the drysuit class from an instructor with whom I have dove with and to buy one since it feels great diving in one compared to the 7mm wetsuit I dove in before for cold water places like Monterey and Carmel. Only downside for drysuit is the initial upfront cost and time to suit up and get the seals just right. I like the drysuit gloves except they are a pain to put on.

 

[Blackwood]

I use my suit for comfort. My wing is for buoyancy.

 

[yodelhawk]

Hi Ben, I had the reverse the other day when I dove a 7mm for the first time. Can't really say that the 7mm was all that much easier to put on.. As you work with your drysuit, it gets a lot easier. Cost can be a problem, but I really like not freezing my butt off.
I use the drysuit for buoyancy. Since you have to inflate it anyway so that you don't feel like you have been placed in a space bag, might as well use it.

 

[g1138]

Hey Ben, I'm assuming you went to the DUI demo day. Don't forget you get free zip seals and a 20% discount if you buy before Aug 31st. If you save up the money you can buy one next year right after doing the demo day again. I know Any Water was offering that, I'm not sure if it was particular to them or the DUI site.

For the drysuit gloves, they make versions that you put on after you don your suit, and they makes those that zip seal over the suit, so they stay on when you doff your suit. So if you were zip sealing onto your suit on demo day, it might have been just a logistics thing for the staff.

And don't forget, suiting up time will decrease with practice. You should see the Underwater Explorer program at the aquarium. We can suit up 3 kids in under 10 mins. Took us about that long for 1 kid when we first started.

 

[Scuba_Noob]

Like many others, I use the drysuit only to alleviate squeeze and be comfortable. My BCD is for buoyancy.

Why? Personal preference. And the BC expels air faster than the drysuit - which helped early on when I would constantly ascend involuntarily. My OW instructor only used the drysuit for buoyancy, and he was completely fine.

 

[eelnoraa]

Yesterday I dove a drysuit for the first time and it felt great not freezing or getting wet in Monterey! For buoyancy I have heard two camps of thought.

1. Use the BCD only on surface and the drysuit for buoyancy control
2. Use the BCD for buoyancy control and only use drysuit to avoid squeeze and run away ascents.

I plan to take the drysuit class from an instructor with whom I have dove with and to buy one since it feels great diving in one compared to the 7mm wetsuit I dove in before for cold water places like Monterey and Carmel. Only downside for drysuit is the initial upfront cost and time to suit up and get the seals just right. I like the drysuit gloves except they are a pain to put on.

Ben, #2 is the right way to do it.

People do #1 and get away with it because for single tank diving, and probably smaller tank, AL80, you can put enought air in drysuit to offset the gas and still manageable. It won't work once with weight of the gas get to a point. Some instructor teaches this because it is a easier way to start diving a drysuit because you only have one air space to manage. But IMO, you should start by doing thing the right way, NOT the easier and dirty way.

 

[Tigerman]

There IS no "right way" of doing it, thats why theres 2 different ways being taught.

HOWEVER, when rec diving if you are properly weighted and using the suit for comfort you are also using the suit for bouyancy cause you wont need more air than required for bouyancy..

 

[TSandM]

Dry suit only for buoyancy is taught largely because it requires you to keep track of, and manage, only one air space. But it's a big, unstable air space, and I think a lot of people have a great deal of trouble with that approach if they are new divers.

Dry suit for squeeze and BC for buoyancy requires you to keep track of two air spaces, but the BC vents faster, and you are used to using it.

Eventually, as you become more practiced, you can play with both approaches and do what works for you. I use as much gas in my suit as the suit will comfortably hold, because it keeps me warmer and makes me more mobile. With doubles, of course, I can't compensate for all the gas with my suit, so I use my wing as well. I can keep track of both

 

[eelnoraa]

There IS no "right way" of doing it, thats why theres 2 different ways being taught.

HOWEVER, when rec diving if you are properly weighted and using the suit for comfort you are also using the suit for bouyancy cause you wont need more air than required for bouyancy..

You serious?? trying diving double hp100 with the dry suit only, or maybe even single hp130. YOu will quickly find it doesn't work, or it is a highly sub optimal way to do it. Again, OW students are taught that only becase 1)they use smaller tank, 2)one less thing to manage becaue they are already "very" task loaded.

 

[Them]

There IS no "right way" of doing it, thats why theres 2 different ways being taught.

I found it interesting that the SDI/TDI instructor (actually his businesses card reads "instructor trainer" - whatever that means) I talked to said pretty much the same thing. He wanted me to be aware of both approaches and opined that ideally a diver would learn both, though which a diver used would come down to personal preference or perhaps circumstances.