What's the best way to stay warm wet

[fnfalman]

Keep warm during surface intervals help a lot.

Get a dive parka (aka boat coat) and wear it OUTSIDE of your wetsuit. These parkas are cut larger than normal because of that particular usage.

truWest Custom Sport Products There are several parka manufacturers/sellers but most of them are fairly flimsy. I don't know about the East Coast, but in SoCal we have TruWest and JMJ whose parkas are extremely thick with the nylon outer coating and inner fleece coating.

 

[Belce]

Alot of folks have suggested to add war/hot water to your wetsuit between dives. Doing so will provide warmth initially but that water will cool during your surface interval and it will also cause the bed of capilliaries beneath your skin to to fill with blood to maintain proper body temp. Bad thing about that is when you go back in the cold water your body has big time heat sinks deployed and you will loose alot of heat in the cold water, it takes time to pull them back and switch back to heat conservation mode.

When I dove a wetsuit I kept it on till I had to take it off. I made sure I was out of any wind and if you can add insulation while on the surface as the previous poster suggested it work better, also getting inside a warm place as well is nice. Dry your hair with a towel and wear a toque. There are those mylar space blankets as well, shiny side in they work really well and take 0 space. Make sure you eat between dives to maintain your energy stores, your body is working harder than you might think to just keep up with the heat loss.

 

[CardShark]

well... I am not considering dry yet because
I have 22 dives and have alot to learn yet before I add more complication. The complications being, as I see it...
another class (still working on my AOW)
Something else to complicate my buoyancy
a modification to my regulator (what happens to this hose when you dont use your dry suit?)
and yeah... $ Heck, I saw a pair of dry-gloves going for $200. The whole dry-suit thing seems a considerable investment.

John,

my second post-cert dive was in a used drysuit. It's not that big a deal to learn, really. Buoyancy, either wet or dry, is the sum of the total kit.
In the drysuit, I never am concerned about the water's temp, because my body temp is always warm. My dive season is 12 months long !
The regulator mod is adding one inflator hose. When diving wet, run it parallel to your other inflator hose. You might consider renting or borrowing a suit to test the idea, then look into buying a used drysuit ( for little more than the price of a high-end wetsuit ).

 

[KevinG58]

I think you can buy a belt that's designed to hold them. A buddy of mine uses one occasionally and he just places it between the farmer john and his jacket (under the zipper) and it's held in-place. They get quite hot, so just be sure that it doesn't touch bare skin so you don't get burned and you should be fine.

I've seen several folks using thermal wraps with good results. These are the chemical one-time use types. Typically for that aching back or joint.

I get by fine in my 7mil semi-dry with attached hood, eliminating water trickling down the back of the neck was a big leap in comfort /warmth for me.

 

[porbeagle]

Pete, (spectrum) on the board has an extremely well reasoned out article on
diving wet in cold water (He lives somewhere in Maine).It is his personal web-
site called " Scuba Knowtes ". Look up SPECTRUM and go to his site,You won't
be sorry.
Porbeagle