Wet suits and dry suits

[TMHeimer]

I have dived from our house several years in the Atlantic all winter wet to temps. in the mid 30s (once though 33F in May off a NS charter). But these are one dive a day for maybe 20+ minutes, gearing up inside the house. Gearing down is the real hassle outside. But most winters we are in FL or down there somewhere 2-3 months, in conditions similar to our mid summers up here. So while drysuit price is also a reason for staying with wet, it makes no sense to buy a drysuit for the few dives here when it's really cold to sites I visit anyway when it's warm (well "warm").
Another reason I don't dive dry is I'm the first guy who'll bust a zipper that surely costs more than my used wetsuit did.

 

[seaseadee]

For those of you experienced with both. Would you please speak to the differences in managing bouyancy between a thick (7mm of greater) and a dry suit? Does dealing with suit crush equate to the bubble management involved in a dry suit?

 

[boulderjohn]

For those of you experienced with both. Would you please speak to the differences in managing bouyancy between a thick (7mm of greater) and a dry suit? Does dealing with suit crush equate to the bubble management involved in a dry suit?

A thick wetsuit compresses with depth, and there is nothing you can do about that. The weight you needed to descend at the start of the dive and which you will need for a controlled ascent at the end of the dive is not needed at depth, so you will be overweighted during the dive wand will need additional air in your BCD to compensate for the lost buoyancy.

As a dry suit compresses with depth, you add puffs of air to compensate for it. If you are diving at 100 feet, the suit volume should be the same as it was at 10 feet. It takes very little practice to get the hang of it. As you ascend, you will let air out, usually by rolling slightly to make the shoulder dump the high point. WIth my suit, I barely notice I am doing it.

 

[Marie13]

I can speak for the difference between a 5mm and drysuit. I've been having some buoyancy issues in drysuit. Found things to be a great deal easier in wetsuit. However my drysuit is a bit big in chest/upper shoulders which might be the issue.

 

[Doby45]

I did my first 50 dives in a 5mm wetsuit and the next 100 in my Fusion drysuit. Now the only time I dive wet is if I am in tropic waters 80*+. The process of the using the drysuit is second nature and is an excellent redundant buoyancy device for technical dives..

 

[Storker]

the drysuit is [...] an excellent redundant buoyancy device for technical all types of dives..

FTFY

 

[MaxBottomtime]

For those of you experienced with both. Would you please speak to the differences in managing bouyancy between a thick (7mm of greater) and a dry suit? Does dealing with suit crush equate to the bubble management involved in a dry suit?

Exactly as Boulderjohn said. If you only add enough air to you suit to alleviate squeeze you won't have a bubble to manage. If you are overweighted at depth, use your BC for buoyancy, not your drysuit.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I can speak for the difference between a 5mm and drysuit. I've been having some buoyancy issues in drysuit. Found things to be a great deal easier in wetsuit. However my drysuit is a bit big in chest/upper shoulders which might be the issue.

Undergarments matter. I'm new to drysuits, and I only recently had the opportunity to try minimal undergarments--just a thin top and bottom of the type sold as "baselayer"--instead of the thick jumpsuit I had been using. It was like night and day. Whereas with the jumpsuit there was a delay between adding and venting air and feeling the effect on buoyancy and trim, with minimal undergarments the effect was immediate. You KNOW where the bubble is. If you can handle feeling shrinkwrapped, keeping it that way makes the drysuit handle like a wetsuit.

 

[Storker]

with minimal undergarments the effect was immediate froze my arse off

FTFY

More seriously, I've seen a kid (OK, he was in his early twenties) being on - if not past - the brink of hypothermia because he only wore a set of thin athletic undergarments under his drysuit. That wasn't fun to watch.

 

[Lorenzoid]

FTFY

More seriously, I've seen a kid (OK, he was in his early twenties) being on - if not past - the brink of hypothermia because he only wore a set of thin athletic undergarments under his drysuit. That wasn't fun to watch.

And that's the thing: Air is what insulates, and there is a limit to how little air you can get away with without freezing. Sometimes, the advice to "add just enough air to prevent you from feeling uncomfortably squeezed" leaves you feeling uncomfortably cold. Even with thicker undergarments, I sometimes feel cold before I feel squeezed.