Viking Suits

[Compressor]

Hello:
Are Viking dry suits DIR? Answer must be no as I've rarely seen anyone mention them.
Thanks

 

[KevinNM]

Which suits? The common Viking suits (vulcanized rubber) are designed for Hazmat and PSD diving in contaminated water or heavy commercial use. You can apparently get pockets for them, so in theory they would appear to work, but they don't seem like the ideal tool unless you are diving in non-fun places. Viking also has trilaminate suits, of which I know nothing other then the web page, but look like they would work better if you are not pulling bodies out of harbors or doing similar non-fun stuff.

 

[lord1234]

Most viking suits are not front zip, which is recommended in DIR configuration(AFAIK). I'd also worry about non standard location of valves on their front zip suits, since we are all used to having our centered on our chest, and their zipper runs direct center making it seem like the best inflate valve location is going to be on the lapel/breast as opposed to center of the chest. Note they only have 2 front entry trilam suits, and both are ideal(per their site) for "shallow water wading operations". They do not come with valves fitted, so would be hard to do afterwards. Overall, I think the general answer is "no".

 

[Compressor]

Thanks for both replies.

 

[RTodd]

Vulcanized rubber suits create vastly more resistance in the water. Minor zipper location and proprietary inflation valve issues aside, the inefficiency of moving these suits through the water alone makes them non DIR.