Warmest undergarment available?

[indigoscratch]

I use a White's Fusion Sport with the MK2 undergarment and the fleece booties it came with. Under that, I wear moisture wicking clothing. I freeze on every dive. Today I couldn't feel my feet walking back to car. I get so cold that it almost ruins the second half of the dive for me. The water was registering at 7/8'C. I *think* I need a warmer undergarment, any advice? I'm new to this, any and all advice is appreciated.

 

[jIM STEELE]

I layer

 

[Scuba_Noob]

Another layer of socks underneath the fleece booties. And another layer under the MK2.

 

[jIM STEELE]

try lavacore under your underwear maybe wool soc and sweater will need more lead

 

[g1138]

Does the cold start in your head, hands, and/or feet or start straight at your core.
If it's the former, getting better fitting or thicker neoprene there may help; or going fully dry.

If it starts at your core, you may want to look at a different underlayer. Some moisture wicking clothing may be ill suited for cold temps. Fleece is a good choice, but sports shirts may not be. Those may be designed to keep you cool and dry.

For your feet you can try to double layer with wool socks. Wearing an athletic polyester (low cotton) sock at the very base can keep your feet from becoming slippery wet (but you may not even need them if your feet still don't get toasty enough).

 

[TSandM]

The MK2 is hopelessly inadequate insulation for winter water in the Pacific Northwest, in my opinion. You either need to add another significant insulating layer, or move up to a heavier undergarment, like the MK3, or the Thermal Fusion. I have to say that I've been blown away by the performance of the TF. So far this winter, I have not used Argon at all, and my heated vest has been on the fritz. So I've been diving the TF with the Whites socks, and today was the first time I've ended a dive really cold -- and that was the second dive, with a short surface interval spent outdoors, and neither dive involved swimming much at all (I was filming a class).

Of course, you need to pay attention to a number of other factors as well. You need a thick and well-fitted hood, to minimize water circulation over your scalp. You need good gloves or dry gloves with liners, to keep your hands warm. And you need to make sure that whatever footgear you are using does not compress your socks too much and cause the insulation to lose effectiveness. You also need to pay close attention to your pre-dive routine. Do not lose thermal units in the parking lot! No jeans at a dive site, and a hat unless the temperature is well above 70. I go to the dive site in my base layer and undergarment, and wear a wind-proof coat over that while putting gear together. I want to be just at the point of sweating, right until I put on my dry suit.

Hope this helps! We dive in similar conditions, and this time of year is a challenge. But you should easily be able to do a 45 minute dive and end it feeling as though it was time to get out, but not past time.

 

[eelnoraa]

7/8C is below 50F. MK2 undergarment is not suitable for that kind of temp unless you are exercising a lot in water. For that kind of temp, I would say go with something like 400g thinsulate. If you want the best, take a look at Santi BZ400

 

[Aqua-Andy]

The warmest undergarment I have used so far is the Fourth Element SubX, Too bad they discontinued this undergarment. I also have a Thermal Fusion, it is warm but does not even compare to the SubX.

 

[drl]

Weezle extreme plus is very warm.

 

[Aqua-Andy]

It all comes down to trapped air, the more air an undergarment can trap the warmer it will be. The down side to this is how much weight you are willing to carry to offset said trapped air. A one hour dive in a Thermal Fusion in sub 40 degree water and I'm frozen when I get out, I really wish this undergarment would work for me but it just does not seem to cut it. Undergarments opinions are kind of like drysuit opinions, most people have only tried a few different models and worse everyone's cold tolerance is different. I think the best advice would be to surf the forums and see what everyone else is using in really cold water. I also think different undergarments work differently for different people. Some of my buddies have gone from the Weezle extreme+ to the arctics in 42 degree water and say they are almost identical warmth, other people will tell you different. I am also starting to think other than the design of the suit the there is not much special about diving specific undergarments. Look at the TF for example, it uses a layer of Polartec 200 fleece and a layer or Polartec powerstretch Pro. These products can be bought at most outdoor stores for half the cost of what diving specific undergarments are sold for. one other thing, the Polartec products come from an american company, and to give people more respect for this company just google Malden Mills fire. Back then people said the owner of the mill was nuts and was committing financial suicideand he did not listen to any of them, he is what I would define a true hero in my book. The company has been sold off since the fire but they still stick to there morals. Sorry for the tangent, I'm home sick and have nothing better to do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry7_FcSiQL8