Drysuit undergarment questions

[greenacarina]

I am rounding up my last bits of gear and getting ready to get back in the water.
Picked up a good used drysuit and trying to figure out what type of undergarment setup I should be looking for.
The suit is made by Oceaner and is neoprene (same as my wetsuit, seems to be regular ol neoprene...not crushed or anything fancy). Since I am still at the "entry level" stage, I'm hoping to find something fairly cheap but effective.
In doing some reading, it seems like I could use fleece and/or some kind of synthetic long underwear...but not sure how other people's experience with trilam suits will translate to my neoprene suit (do I need more insulation? less?)
Any help is greatly appreciated!


Thanks,
Chris

[thefeve]

My first suit was a cheaper O'neil neoprene drysuit. I definitely needed less undergarment than I do now with the trilam. I was wearing some good wool layers I got at Seamar and a fleece pants. for the trilam, i recently upgraded to John R's old Weezle because I was freezing in the trilam. The Weezle fixed that problem real quick:)

Just my opinion, but with the neoprene suit you'll probably be fine a for a while with some good quality layers if you're tryin' to save some bucks.

[coulterboy]

Your question can be approached in different angles. The undergarment peeps on this board will recommend will depend on some factors, such as: how sensitive are you to cold temperature, how much extra wiggle room do you have when you have already donned your drysuit, etc. Understand, undergarments are made of different materials. Hence, a thick undergarment doesn't always translate to make you warmer underwater as compared to a thin undergarment made with good material that protects you from the cold temperature undergarment.

Another thing to consider is, do you want a separate pants, and an upper undergarment? There are a lot of undergarments that are one piece overalls.

I have both a neoprene and a trilam drysuit. With both, I use a USIA Exotherm overall. Check it out online. They're affordable and serves me well. Although, in the summer when the temps are hotter during SI, I have just worn a regular sweat pants and regular sweat shirt when I use my neoprene drysuit.

I will leave the rest of the recommendations to the other peeps on the board. To each his own.

[RoxnDox]

Hi Chris. I have a Bare D6 neoprene suit, and my undergarments are a set of thermal underwear "long Johns" from Cabelas (http://www.cabelas.com/product/Clothing ... t104035680). Usually with a fleece vest as well. I don't usually have any problems with getting cold, my limits are on air not body temp... :( A pair of heavy polypropylene (sp) socks over a lightweight pair usually keeps the feet warm enough.

Jim

[Linedog]

Jim's got some cute socks!

[Linedog]

Double post

[RoxnDox]

Jim's got some cute socks!

Dude! Yer giving away my secrets...

[WylerBear]

When I had a neoprene drysuit all I wore underneath was a good pair of fleece pants and a nice fleece sweatshirt. During the really cold months, I sometimes added a thin layer of Cabela's long underwear. You probably won't know until you try your suit to see how well it insulates. I wouldn't rush to buy some expensive undergarment until you've checked it out.

[fmerkel]

As indicated....depends almost entirely on the suit AND you.
If you are 'warm', move around a lot, and go through your air in 30" you will have an entirely different experience than someone 'cold', moving little, and spending an hour+ in the water.

Uncompressed neoprene will compress noticeably once you get deeper than 60', just like a regular neoprene wetsuit.

[Grateful Diver]

I am rounding up my last bits of gear and getting ready to get back in the water.
Picked up a good used drysuit and trying to figure out what type of undergarment setup I should be looking for.
The suit is made by Oceaner and is neoprene (same as my wetsuit, seems to be regular ol neoprene...not crushed or anything fancy). Since I am still at the "entry level" stage, I'm hoping to find something fairly cheap but effective.
In doing some reading, it seems like I could use fleece and/or some kind of synthetic long underwear...but not sure how other people's experience with trilam suits will translate to my neoprene suit (do I need more insulation? less?)
Any help is greatly appreciated!


Thanks,
Chris

What's your size, Chris? I have a few different types of used undergarments you can try out if they'll fit you ... everything from a Softwear fleece one-piece to a Weezle to an old Diving Concepts thinsulate. If you find one you like I'll sell it to you for very cheap ... better than having them sitting in my closet doing nothing, after all. They're all used, but still with some life in 'em ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Waynne Fowler]

Jim's got some cute socks!

Dude! Yer giving away my secrets...

YOUR secret... I think he gave away HIS secret too!... sock fetish

[RoxnDox]

Jim's got some cute socks!

Dude! Yer giving away my secrets...

YOUR secret... I think he gave away HIS secret too!... sock fetish

Those are definitely way cooler than my socks...

Jim

[GearHead]

^^ Those are some mighty fine socks. What material?

[defied]

Cotton.

http://www.wheelhousedesigns.com/

[greenacarina]

Great replies all!! I did my certification dives in a 7mm wetsuit at Edmonds and Cove 2...didn't get uncomfortably cold at any point. Longest dive was probably an hour. I am thinking the Cabelas long johns might be the way to go!


Thanks a bunch everyone! Will probably see some of you at Mukilteo in the near future.

Chris

[Mortuus]

Honestly, I think the amount you move around underwater plays a much larger role than the undergarment you use. Keep moving, and you will be warm no matter what you wear. Barely move, and you will freeze regardless of what you put on.

[ljjames]

Actually in addition to all the other good stuff folks have pointed out, in this case it also will depend a lot on how deep he dives. "fluffy" (non compressed, non crushed) neoprene suits loose some thermal capacity at depth (30' and they are like half the suit they were on the surface). So, like Georgia, with a neoprene suit, i found that as long as it was 60' and shallower, i dove a pair of long johns and maybe a thin fleece vest. deeper than that I used something in the range of a 100 wt bunny suit over the long johns, almost as much to take up some space as for added warmth. The suit will also loose thermal capacity over time. I think i put 400-500 dives on the one I had and it was more like a stiff compressed neoprene damp suit before it got retired to river snorkeling

The "fluffy" neoprene suit seems to still gives a fair bit more thermal insulation than a trilam even at depth.

The warmest moderate duration dive (without thinsualate/CCR and a suit heater) i've ever done was actually in a Hightide non-crushed/compressed neoprene suit with their stock fleece undergarment, a goodly portion depth was 100', and swimming at slow pace (any faster and would have roasted) I think we were down for 90-120 min.

You will find that the compression causes buoyancy changes at depth (you'll need way more air in BC or suit compared to trilam at depth) and on ascent be aware that although it doesn't uncompress as fast as it compressed, you'll be regaining some of the lost suit buoyancy on the way up so take that into account when you are doing a weight check. This is one of the few times that i'd actually recommend doing a more painstaking weight check, as in take a mostly empty tank into water before you've done a whole dive and compressed your suit to do a weight check, and then swap tanks out and go for your dive. More often than not, on the dive you'll think "man, i was so overweighted!" but you need to weight for worst case scenario, fluffy suit and 400psi in tank. AKA... dive it like you dive a wetsuit, just warmer and more comfortable to get in and out of

[greenacarina]

Actually in addition to all the other good stuff folks have pointed out, in this case it also will depend a lot on how deep he dives. "fluffy" (non compressed, non crushed) neoprene suits loose some thermal capacity at depth (30' and they are like half the suit they were on the surface). So, like Georgia, with a neoprene suit, i found that as long as it was 60' and shallower, i dove a pair of long johns and maybe a thin fleece vest. deeper than that I used something in the range of a 100 wt bunny suit over the long johns, almost as much to take up some space as for added warmth. The suit will also loose thermal capacity over time. I think i put 400-500 dives on the one I had and it was more like a stiff compressed neoprene damp suit before it got retired to river snorkeling

The "fluffy" neoprene suit seems to still gives a fair bit more thermal insulation than a trilam even at depth.

The warmest moderate duration dive (without thinsualate/CCR and a suit heater) i've ever done was actually in a Hightide non-crushed/compressed neoprene suit with their stock fleece undergarment, a goodly portion depth was 100', and swimming at slow pace (any faster and would have roasted) I think we were down for 90-120 min.

You will find that the compression causes buoyancy changes at depth (you'll need way more air in BC or suit compared to trilam at depth) and on ascent be aware that although it doesn't uncompress as fast as it compressed, you'll be regaining some of the lost suit buoyancy on the way up so take that into account when you are doing a weight check. This is one of the few times that i'd actually recommend doing a more painstaking weight check, as in take a mostly empty tank into water before you've done a whole dive and compressed your suit to do a weight check, and then swap tanks out and go for your dive. More often than not, on the dive you'll think "man, i was so overweighted!" but you need to weight for worst case scenario, fluffy suit and 400psi in tank. AKA... dive it like you dive a wetsuit, just warmer and more comfortable to get in and out of

Thanks for the good info on weighting!! That is my next hurdle since I have zero dives on any of this gear...no clue on how much weight I will need. It will be a great learning experience.

Chris