Why buy drysuit undergarments?

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You don't need specialized undies. Any fleece or polypro or Thermax from climbing, mountaineering, skiing that insulates as well as wicks is fine.
 
I use Patagonia stuff. Three layers on top, one or two depending, for pants.

If you got quality non bulky ski undergarments, it'll work. The cheap stuff won't.
 
I wear some heavyweight EMS next to skin Polartec PowerStretch pants and top. The inside surface is a nice soft brushed fleece and the exterior is a nylon/spandex/polyester kinda thing. The fleecy interior wicks moisture away and holds it in the external face, which is quite neat. That under my Bare HD has done fine for me down to 45 degree water... any colder and I'll toss on either some of the coolass super heavy green Army style polypro from Wal Mart or a fleece layer.

IMO, from a gearhead's perspective only, a lot of this stuff about needing special drysuit undergarments is entirely hokey. The idea is to create loft and wick moisture (which isn't really going to go anywhere anyway), and high performance underwear and fleece do exactly that.

The Thinsulate stuff I've seen is nice, though.
 
Thanks, Bob!

I guess like anything else, you have to define what your goals and environment are. If you're going to be stuck in a cave for 9 hours, I'm pretty sure GI3 is the guy to turn to for advice.

Now, if most of your dives average 45 to 60 minutes in a non-overhead environment, I don't think Thinsulate is a requirement. It's just a better material.

I flooded my dry suit 2 days ago and I was wearing the "jack s#@@t layers". Luckily, it was on the last dive of the day. Water temp was high 50's. I completed the dive as planned. When I got back on dry land, there probably was about 1 gallon of water in my suit.

Seems to me the reasoning for choosing undies may be very close to the singles vs. H valve vs. doubles debate.
 
If you're going to be stuck in a cave for 9 hours...
During my commercial diving career, I've done stretches where I'd be be in the water for 10-11 hrs/night, 7 days/week, for weeks/months on end.
I've also had to do the 28°F water thing for 4 hr stretches, sometimes 2 per day, without the benefit of a hot water machine.
I've developed a very good sense of what works & what doesn't work.

I would like to dissect & do a side by side comparison on the Viking vs DUI 400 gm Thinsulates so I can find out why the Viking will cook a guy in the same temp water that a DUI user finds comfy.
Must be that Canadian made vs California thing.:wink:
 
netmage once bubbled...
For the most part you should be ok for cool waters - the key is to avoid cotton and go with Polartec type fabrics which retain heat when wet/damp.... When the water gets downright cold - Polar Fleece isn't cutting it - for me at least...

In 60-70 degree water I use a set of Cabela Polartec longjohns...
In 45-60 degree water I use a set of 300 weight PolarTec jumpsuit (TJ's Softwear)

Below that and the jumpsuit isn't cutting it to the point of warmth - but I'm not freezing either.... So now I'm exploring a custom jumpsuit using 400 weigt thinsulate.

Hey Tim, ya might consider the Weezle extreme+. You can get it locally ( somewhat ) from Visibility Unlimited. It's about a 45 minute drive, but the garment is toasty in cold waters. PM me if you need an address.
Cheers.
 
hehehheh

That George is a real card :)

So why does he sit on the fence so much?

I detect a complex somewhere within him :wacko:

Well, I'm just a dumb stroke, but I have Thinsulate 200, for above 50 degrees, and weezle extreme for colder. I wear nothing under my weezles....wanna look and see????

They rock, even when wet.

Regards.

P.S. Regardless of his diving prowess,........an A$$hole is certainly always an A$$hole.

And he sounds like he's 9hrs up someones A/Hole!!!
 
he sure has a way with words, doesn't he.....:rolleyes:

SS
 

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