LG Diver
Guest
The other day I posted some initial impressions on the Whites Fusion with tech skin here:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/exposure-suits/226858-whites-fusion-first-impressions.html
I finally had the opportunity to dive the suit at Point Lobos this past Saturday and thought Id share some additional thoughts based on this dive.
Date: Saturday March 29, 2008
Location: Point Lobos State Park, Carmel, CA
Dive time: 62 minutes
Depth (avg/max): 48/82
Temp at depth: 48 F
I was diving the suit with the Whites Mk2 undergarment, a Softwear 200 weight undergarment layered under that, and a Patagonia Capilene base layer. The rest of the exposure protection consisted of wool socks with the Whites neoprene 3mm socks over them, Altera boots, Diving Concepts dry gloves, and Otter Bay 12mm hood. Both the drysuit and the undergarments were a change from my normal setup (DUI CF200x, USIA Superstretch UGs), so I had estimated a 4 lb increase in needed weight.
Donning the suit proved to be far less difficult than I had anticipated. Having done it at home several times, I had pretty well sorted out the process and managed to slip into the suit without drama. I did require help to completely close the zipper, although I think that better waxing may solve this problem. The pockets comfortably held wetnotes and spare mask on one side, and a small SMB and 100 spool in the other, and there was very little skin sag even with pockets loaded. I was happy to see that I could easily manipulate the cap on the Halcyon p-valve, even though I hadnt cut out a hole in the outer skin. Im still debating if Ill eventually cut the hole out, as it will need some sort of reinforcement. After some brief parking lot discussion about the suit with some of the other DMXers that were out that morning, we geared up and headed down the boat ramp and into the cove. Here I made my first new discovery about the suit- despite my initial misgivings about the Altera boots, I gained a newfound respect for them. It was low tide, the whole boat ramp was covered in a treacherous sliminess, and I suddenly really liked having a substantial sole on my boots that had some good traction. The sneaker-like sole provided sure footing and made navigating the rocks at the end of the ramp a breeze. Ill share a little trick I used that seems to work well with these boots- instead of putting the hook at the end of the elastic in its intended cutout on the side of the boot, I wrapped the elastic all the way around the ankle and put the plastic hook onto the elastic cord on the front of the boot. This took up all the slack and held it in place very securely, whereas the hook previously kept falling out of the little cutout.
As we entered the water, I had a few nervous moments as I waited to see if my p-valve and dry glove installations were watertight. After assuring myself that I wasnt taking on water we kicked out to the entrance to the cove, did bubble checks, and dropped down in about 30 of water. I immediately noticed that this suit and undergarment combination is warmer than my normal setup. As we worked our way out, the suits flexibility and range of motion proved superb. Despite the tightness of the skin, I felt that movement was completely free and the suit felt very streamlined and easy to push through the water. The feel of the suit was quite a bit different that what Im used to. Normally, as I feel the suit start to squeeze and I add air Ill feel a bubble form in the chest area and then disperse as the gas is distributed throughout the suit. With the Fusion, theres no such effect. First, the squeeze is more subtle, and as gas is added to the suit theres no discernable bubble and subsequent distribution of gas. The squeeze just sort of diminishes uniformly across the suit almost instantaneously. When I purposely over-inflated the suit (which I did on a few occasions to see how the suit would react) I could eventually feel a buildup of gas in the legs, but it took a lot of gas to get to this point- far more than I would normally add to eliminate suit squeeze. Working the gas back out of the legs to dump it proved trivial. My previous suit was ill-fitting- too short in the legs and too baggy in the torso, so I cant say whether the improved gas management of this suit is attributable to the Fusion outer skin or to just having a suit that fits well (I suspect a little of both). What I can say is that, whereas managing the bubble(s) in my prior suit could be best described as herding cats, this suit is an absolute joy to dive. Despite the height of the Altera boots, I was very pleased that ankle flexibility was significantly better than with Rockboots.
Even with an extra 4 pounds on a weight belt, holding the 20 stop at the end of the dive with 800 psi in the tanks proved very difficult. Back on the surface I drained the tanks down to about 500 psi and was unable to sink, so Im estimating required weight at 6-8 pounds over my previous setup, which is the only negative thing I can think of to say. In all, the extra warmth and range of motion is still worth the extra weight in my book.
Once out of the water, the weight of the wet outer skin and pocket contents did cause significant sagging of the skin, and I was definitely sporting the gangsta look. Still, comparing the weight of this suit to the weight of a wet CF200, this suit is significantly less heavy when wet. Whether the sagging causes any degradation of the skin over time remains to be seen. A grippy surface on the inside of the skin (something like the kneepad overlay) in the area of the pockets would be a welcome addition in preventing pocket/skin sag.
All in all, my initial impressions after one dive are that the suit delivers a custom-like fit in stock sizes (my main reason for purchasing), and definitely lives up to the hype about tremendous flexibility, range of motion, and easy 'diveability'. Regardless of how many (or few) undergarments are layered, the suit delivers a tight, streamlined fit and swims very easily. As others have pointed out, durability is the suits big unknown at this point, but the replaceable skin should take the brunt of the punishment and permit easy and inexpensive replacement. Hopefully you've found this helpful.
-John
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/exposure-suits/226858-whites-fusion-first-impressions.html
I finally had the opportunity to dive the suit at Point Lobos this past Saturday and thought Id share some additional thoughts based on this dive.
Date: Saturday March 29, 2008
Location: Point Lobos State Park, Carmel, CA
Dive time: 62 minutes
Depth (avg/max): 48/82
Temp at depth: 48 F
I was diving the suit with the Whites Mk2 undergarment, a Softwear 200 weight undergarment layered under that, and a Patagonia Capilene base layer. The rest of the exposure protection consisted of wool socks with the Whites neoprene 3mm socks over them, Altera boots, Diving Concepts dry gloves, and Otter Bay 12mm hood. Both the drysuit and the undergarments were a change from my normal setup (DUI CF200x, USIA Superstretch UGs), so I had estimated a 4 lb increase in needed weight.
Donning the suit proved to be far less difficult than I had anticipated. Having done it at home several times, I had pretty well sorted out the process and managed to slip into the suit without drama. I did require help to completely close the zipper, although I think that better waxing may solve this problem. The pockets comfortably held wetnotes and spare mask on one side, and a small SMB and 100 spool in the other, and there was very little skin sag even with pockets loaded. I was happy to see that I could easily manipulate the cap on the Halcyon p-valve, even though I hadnt cut out a hole in the outer skin. Im still debating if Ill eventually cut the hole out, as it will need some sort of reinforcement. After some brief parking lot discussion about the suit with some of the other DMXers that were out that morning, we geared up and headed down the boat ramp and into the cove. Here I made my first new discovery about the suit- despite my initial misgivings about the Altera boots, I gained a newfound respect for them. It was low tide, the whole boat ramp was covered in a treacherous sliminess, and I suddenly really liked having a substantial sole on my boots that had some good traction. The sneaker-like sole provided sure footing and made navigating the rocks at the end of the ramp a breeze. Ill share a little trick I used that seems to work well with these boots- instead of putting the hook at the end of the elastic in its intended cutout on the side of the boot, I wrapped the elastic all the way around the ankle and put the plastic hook onto the elastic cord on the front of the boot. This took up all the slack and held it in place very securely, whereas the hook previously kept falling out of the little cutout.
As we entered the water, I had a few nervous moments as I waited to see if my p-valve and dry glove installations were watertight. After assuring myself that I wasnt taking on water we kicked out to the entrance to the cove, did bubble checks, and dropped down in about 30 of water. I immediately noticed that this suit and undergarment combination is warmer than my normal setup. As we worked our way out, the suits flexibility and range of motion proved superb. Despite the tightness of the skin, I felt that movement was completely free and the suit felt very streamlined and easy to push through the water. The feel of the suit was quite a bit different that what Im used to. Normally, as I feel the suit start to squeeze and I add air Ill feel a bubble form in the chest area and then disperse as the gas is distributed throughout the suit. With the Fusion, theres no such effect. First, the squeeze is more subtle, and as gas is added to the suit theres no discernable bubble and subsequent distribution of gas. The squeeze just sort of diminishes uniformly across the suit almost instantaneously. When I purposely over-inflated the suit (which I did on a few occasions to see how the suit would react) I could eventually feel a buildup of gas in the legs, but it took a lot of gas to get to this point- far more than I would normally add to eliminate suit squeeze. Working the gas back out of the legs to dump it proved trivial. My previous suit was ill-fitting- too short in the legs and too baggy in the torso, so I cant say whether the improved gas management of this suit is attributable to the Fusion outer skin or to just having a suit that fits well (I suspect a little of both). What I can say is that, whereas managing the bubble(s) in my prior suit could be best described as herding cats, this suit is an absolute joy to dive. Despite the height of the Altera boots, I was very pleased that ankle flexibility was significantly better than with Rockboots.
Even with an extra 4 pounds on a weight belt, holding the 20 stop at the end of the dive with 800 psi in the tanks proved very difficult. Back on the surface I drained the tanks down to about 500 psi and was unable to sink, so Im estimating required weight at 6-8 pounds over my previous setup, which is the only negative thing I can think of to say. In all, the extra warmth and range of motion is still worth the extra weight in my book.
Once out of the water, the weight of the wet outer skin and pocket contents did cause significant sagging of the skin, and I was definitely sporting the gangsta look. Still, comparing the weight of this suit to the weight of a wet CF200, this suit is significantly less heavy when wet. Whether the sagging causes any degradation of the skin over time remains to be seen. A grippy surface on the inside of the skin (something like the kneepad overlay) in the area of the pockets would be a welcome addition in preventing pocket/skin sag.
All in all, my initial impressions after one dive are that the suit delivers a custom-like fit in stock sizes (my main reason for purchasing), and definitely lives up to the hype about tremendous flexibility, range of motion, and easy 'diveability'. Regardless of how many (or few) undergarments are layered, the suit delivers a tight, streamlined fit and swims very easily. As others have pointed out, durability is the suits big unknown at this point, but the replaceable skin should take the brunt of the punishment and permit easy and inexpensive replacement. Hopefully you've found this helpful.
-John