Wetsuit, Semi-Dry, Dry Suit Feedback

[JeffG]

OK, I've got my protective equipment on, let the eggs begin!

Safe Diving,
George

You did a fine job. Over complicating a simple thing..but its all good.


One detail

The layer of water does not insulate the body, the suit insulates the water, and does so through it's thickness (which is lost at depth)

Its the air in the suit (in the form of bubbles) which provides the insulation.

 

[reefugee]

I dive in my drysuit and I love it. However, there are situations where a semi-dry might be a better choice. I got my daughter (13 year old) a dry suit. I should have really gotten her a semi-dry. The drysuit added another layer of multi-tasking to her dive.

 

[pasley]

Nope........Ding....try again.

I love how this misconception goes around and around.

OK your right, I continued the oversimplified explanation that is not precisely technically accurate but conveys the concept. I was attempting to keep an already long response short. I think Standingbear56 covered it in more detail, and I agree it is the air bubbles in the neoprene that insulates and the thin layer of water is stealing heat, but at least we are not heating the whole ocean. But OK, I will try again:

The Wet-suit works by trapping a thin layer of water next to the body. This layer of water is insulated by the air bubbles in the neoprene and is heated by your body and the introduction of warm urine to feel more comfortable which you perceive as warm. Your body must maintain the heat in the water as new water seeps in (depending on the age and holes in the suit) by loosing heat and urine into this thin layer. The introduction of urine into this thin layer will result in an immediate increase in perceived warmth while draining additional heat from the bodies core and so is usually done only 1 to 3 times during any standard recreational dive. The requirement to continually heat the water next to your skin causes you to loose energy. Air, on the other hand, conducting heat mucg less efficiently saps heat away from the body less quickly thus requiring comparatively less energy from your body.

 

[pasley]

I dive in my dry-suit and I love it. However, there are situations where a semi-dry might be a better choice. I got my daughter (13 year old) a dry suit. I should have really gotten her a semi-dry. The dry-suit added another layer of multi-tasking to her dive.

Well said. A dry-suit is not the right answer to every situation. For example when I go lobster hunting, I will switch to a wet-suit as the large less flexible rings on the ends of my arm will be a challenge when reaching into a hole to grab a bug. Urchins are an issue in surge if you get too close. If you are diving shallow (20 feet or less) a dry-suit can be a real pain and a wet or semi-dry suit might be a better choice for that situation.

 

[*Floater*]

For both wet- and (semi-)dry suits, fit is super important. With a wetsuit, if it's too loose, you get more water in it and consequently it won't keep you as warm. With a drysuit, if it's too loose (with max undergarments), the excess material will be squeezed into folds underwater that make you less streamlined and trap air making buoyancy control harder. If either suit is too tight, they'll be uncomfortable and will reduce mobility and reach. That said, I've ordered my wet- and drysuit online, but it's always a risk unless you've had a chance to try the suit before.

 

[SlowRain]

Given your geographical location...I would recommend dry suit. I dove for years in Puget Sound (water temp in the 50's year round) with a 7mm until I finally got a deal on an OS Systems drysuit (this was in the mid 80's). Once I dove dry....I would never consider diving cold water in a wetsuit again. Yes, on trips to warmer waters...i.e. 80 degree, I am going to be using a 3mm wetsuit, but the vast majority of my diving is not in 80 degree water.

Price can be a consideration, however as someone pointed out, you can get a drysuit for fairly reasonable prices, although probably it will be more $$$ than a wetsuit. Sure, there are drysuits that run north of 2 grand, but if you hunt around and are willing to do the research, you can find them as package deals. I bought a Bare XD Trilam (pretty good drysuit) when Bare was running a special that if you bought the suit you got undergarments free, and the whole thing was 1600 dollars. This is a tough suit and maybe overkill for pure recreational diving...but you get the point. Deals can be had.

 

[JeffG]

The Wet-suit works by trapping a thin layer of water next to the body.

Still wrong

 

[WHITES Justin]

Hello Scubaboarders,

The answer to the qustion of wet, semi-dry or dry is the Whites Fusion Drysuit. For those of you who may own a Fusion or have seen it, you know what I'm talking about.

At Whites, we have developed the worlds most flexible, streamlined drysuit that fits like a wet suit and is completely dry. We were able to achieve this by creating a 2 layer suit.

The first layer is called the "Dry Core" and is the inner bladder of the suit. It is constructed of a 200 weight bi-laminate material which is soft, lightweight, and very tough. The Dry Core is cut over sized so that there is no restriction in movement which is great for flexibility, but wouldn't be very effecient alone in the water. To over come this issue we next attach an outer layer or "Skin" to the suit.

The Skin is a stretchy outer layer that pulls the inner dry core into your body, but allows full range of motion as it is made out of stretchy Lycra and Neoprene. So when you put the suit on, you have all the freedom of movement of the oversized inner dry core, and all the streamlining of the outer skin.

Whe the suit is on it hugs every curve of the divers body and looks more like a wet suit than a drysuit and there is absolutelty no restriction in movement. The advantage of this suit is it can be used in the cold waters of the Pacific North West with maximum undergarments, or in the warmer tropical waters with light undergarments and the suit will fit the same expanding or contracting with the diver.

For those who haven't seen the suit check out www.whitesdiving.com or go to the Whites forum on Scubaboard and see what our customers have been saying.

If anyone has any further questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers,

Justin Balaski
Regional Sales Manager
Whites Manufacturing Ltd.

 

[Phrenzy]

Hello Zues8,
I don’t have a lot of varied experience in this area, but maybe I can help. I started diving (again) last year and I was slowing purchasing my equipment as I went along. During the summer and winter of 2007, I was diving in the Puget Sound (Seattle Washington) area using a wet suit. It was a rental from my LDS. There was a 7mm step-in jacket that covered my arms and went down my thighs. Underneath that there was a 7mm farmer john. During the summer I did some varied dives on both salt and fresh water.

I did notice that I had more issues with being cold after the dive then my drysuit wearing divebuddies. If it was a shore dive, I just made sure I ate plenty of food before I went to give my body plenty of energy to keep me warm. If it was a boat dive, I quickly put on some warm clothes after the dive.

During the winter, I mostly did night dives. I never did more than one dive at a time. Partly because it was pretty late once we got out of the water, but mostly because I was just too damn cold to do another dive. There were a few dives when I couldn’t feel my feet when I got out of the water!

A little while ago, I bought a drysuit. I picked up a DUI CF200 and I am quite happy with it. I have only done 2 dives with it, so I still have some buoyancy issues with it.

My first dive with the drysuit was quite an eye-opening experience. Throughout the dive I had the concern in the back of my head of popping up like a cork. With time I will get that under control. Even with that concern in the back on my mind, I felt so much freer in my drysuit. I felt as though I was cheating compared to wetsuit diving. I was quite comfortable and I could concentrate more on my surroundings. I also didn’t have to worry about errant jets of cold water shooting down my back.

I cannot comment on semi-dry, but the points of debate in wetsuit vs. drysuit are as follows:

Wetsuit is cheaper than drysuit. $10 per rental vs. $50 drysuit at my LDS. If I were to purchase the wetsuit I was using it would have been around $500 while my drysuit setup was around $2500.

Wetsuit was a little easier to take care of. When I got home from a dive, I tossed it into the tub and rinsed it off. Then I let it sit in the tub until morning and then I set it out in the living room to finish drying. The drysuit takes more care. I still have to rinse it out in the tub and then turn it inside out to dry, wait a day or so and then turn it right side out to finish drying. Once it is dry, I wax the zipper and then fold it up. Then is it almost time to dive again.

The wetsuit was more predictable underwater. I didn’t have to worry about blowing up like a balloon and shooting up to the surface. I also didn’t have 3 fragile rubber seals that are a tear away from ruining a month of dives. In time, I will upgrade to the zipseals, but until then, I will be very, very careful.

The wetsuit was colder, because…. Wait for it…. You are wet. It is so much more comfortable for me now that I am using a drysuit. Plus, I can now put my keys in a pocket in my undergarments. It is so much easier to open my car door if I forgot something or I need to add some more weight. Before, I had a key in the pocket inside the wetsuit. It was a real pain to get into my car.

If the expense isn’t too much of an issue for you, I would recommend a drysuit. Yes, they are expensive, but I have found that they are worth it. I like to say that you pay for expensive gear when you buy it, but you pay for cheap gear every time you use it.

I hope this helps.

 

[floridanewbe]

Three most important point
1 fit
2 fit
3 fit