Why are all dive skins one piece?

[carlk3]

Greetings,

All the inexpensive dive skins we see are one piece. Wouldn't two piece be more convenient? Can any one suggest two piece sets that aren't $100 per piece?

More Details:

We think we want dive skins to go under our 5mm wetsuits (for ease of entry and a little warmth, for Playa del Carmen Mexico). NeoSport Wetsuits Full Body Sports Skins see OK and are only $25.
http://www.amazon.com/NeoSport-Wetsuits ... 326&sr=1-1

Also, this will be our first warm water diving, so we'd be interested in general options about dive skins.

Thanks,
Carl

[BillZ]

Also, this will be our first warm water diving, so we'd be interested in general options about dive skins.

1) Unless you're Pamela Anderson you'll look horrible in one

2) If you do insist on wearing one, please wear your bathing suit underneath - Nobody wants to see your twig and berries


Seriously, your 5 mil will be warm enough. A dive skin provides very little insulation value and will actually make you chilly if you wear one between dives.

[carlk3]

Does anyone like skins? Are they good for helping get the wetsuit on? (Is something else better? baby shampoo? It seems like the answer is always "baby shampoo")

[60south]

Bought one years ago for a trip to Mexico. (Thought the same thing you did, that it might be easier to put on a wetsuit, and offer a bit more insulation.)

Wore it once, maybe twice. Ugh. It was more of a hassle than anything; it stretched too much, bunched-up, and I did get chilled. And I definitely didn't look like Pamela Anderson. A two-piece would just bunch-up more.

I agree with BillZ: simply get a wetsuit that has enough insulation from the start. If you think donning/doffing will be a problem, consider a wetsuit with ankle zippers... I like those.

[CaptnJack]

Drysuit, seriously. A lot of us don't bother with wet suits at all anymore. A drysuit with long underwear underneath or possibly 100wt fleece is dreamy to dive in the tropics. A lot fewer skin infections, rashes etc too.

[johndo88]

Drysuit, seriously. A lot of us don't bother with wet suits at all anymore. A drysuit with long underwear underneath or possibly 100wt fleece is dreamy to dive in the tropics. A lot fewer skin infections, rashes etc too.

Have you ever found water temps too warm for a drysuit? Ever get too warm in your suit?

[CaptnJack]

Drysuit, seriously. A lot of us don't bother with wet suits at all anymore. A drysuit with long underwear underneath or possibly 100wt fleece is dreamy to dive in the tropics. A lot fewer skin infections, rashes etc too.

Have you ever found water temps too warm for a drysuit? Ever get too warm in your suit?

No and I did full Cave in Mexico in June. Yes it was ghastly hot out. Zip up and get wet. Its not like you will be comfortable in a wetsuit on deck either.

With a pee valve diving dry in the tropics in a thin shell dry suit is the closest you get to diving naked. When the wind kicks up on the boat you won't chill from evaporation. Everyone else will be cool, cold, or lying. On the 4th or 5th dive of the day just add an extra long underwear Tshirt and its there's no thermal deficit. You will be way more comfortable, get dressed and undressed way faster than everyone else, and have virtually infinite ability to compensate thermally. Its also less bulky in luggage than a 5mm suit, booties etc. If the water is 2 deg cooler than advertised you can compensate. In a wetsuit if you find yourself cold about all you can do is skip or shorten a dive.

I have not been in water warmer than 80F. But I still wear a drysuit, thin hood, no gloves. If the water were warmer still I would use thinner undies and possibly skip the hood (assuming I wasn't wreck or cave diving where you need scalp protection).

[LCF]

I don't dive wet anywhere any more. When we were in the Red Sea and the water temps were 84 degrees, everybody teased me until I did a dive in a 3 mil suit. 30 minutes into the dive, I'm thinking, "I'm not comfortable any more.". I wasn't really COLD, but I was losing enough heat to be aware of it, so I was thinking about how I felt instead of what was around me. Back to the dry suit after that.

Yes, you get hot gearing up in hot weather. Ever seen the face of somebody who has just struggled into their wetsuit in 100 degree air temperatures?

[CaptnJack]

Yes, you get hot gearing up in hot weather. Ever seen the face of somebody who has just struggled into their wetsuit in 100 degree air temperatures?

Sticky sweat and 20mins to pull the wetsuit on.
Sticky sweat and 2 mins to zip up the drysuit and dunk.



I have dove wet in the tropics (Bahamas and MX). Some days I was fine, some days I was great for the first dive. Some days I couldn't wait to exit my suit and wrap a towel around me and un-blue my lips. Drysuits avoid all of that. The only people teasing you are people who haven't figured out that lightweight, packable, infinitely adjustable thermal protection, no skin infections, and no baby shampoo pollution are liberating and a joy.

[60south]

Sticky sweat and 20mins to pull the wetsuit on.

Really?

I can put on a 3mm wetsuit in under a minute. And pee copiously during the dive. I kinda like that.

[Penopolypants]

I have never been cold on a boat in a wetsuit, even in the wind (and no reason to lie about it ), don't struggle to get into mine (it fits well and is stretchy, and dons in 1-2 minutes tops), and have never been cold in the water while wearing it, even after a week of 4+ dives a day. I have brought a hood for posterity but have yet to need it.

I personally don 't want to have to worry about p valves, torn seals, clammy plastic interiors and theft of a rather expensive item if I don't have to.

YM (clearly!) MV.

To answer the OP's question - two piece garments tend to move around, which aren't great for exposure protection. You can buy rash guard shirts, and I know that Lavacore makes separates, but they are expensive. Skins don't do much for exposure protection, and once it gets wet it won't help with donning either.

[CaptnJack]

Sticky sweat and 20mins to pull the wetsuit on.

Really?

I can put on a 3mm wetsuit in under a minute. And pee copiously during the dive. I kinda like that.

Yes as apparently there's baby shampoo involved.

I have a 3mm and a 7mm suit I use for dog training in local lakes. I would never use one diving again, what a pain in the arse. I think one of my coldest dives ever was in the Bahamas in November. It was pouring rain for days, windy with no sun. Coldest 76F water ever. I hate cutting dives short and being even slightly cool ups my gas consumption and shortens the dive long before there's a shiver.

[LCF]

It's not even the first dive of the day in a wetsuit. It's the fourth, or the fifth, by which time I am regarding the wet, clammy, sticky, nasty, uncooperative neoprene straitjacket with utter loathing.

Fourth dive of the day in a dry suit is the same as the first. Step into base layer, pull on suit, settle seals, and we're off! Even if we are doing long enough dives to make a p-valve worthwhile, we're still talking an additional 10 second hookup. (All the work was done in the morning )

[ljjames]

I use wetsuits for snorkeling in rivers. I tried the layering thing because I had no interest in buying a full on cold water wetsuit, but didn't really want to hammer the crap out of my drysuit. I used 1mm under 5mm and yes, part of a two piece, the 1mm top underneath it all, the 2mm board shorts with pockets on top. What Richard said... Things bunched and were weird and uncomfortable.

River snorkeling is fun so at the end of the day I went ahead and picked up a one piece wetsuit, its hood attached and some convoluted zipping up in front nonsense but when bouncing around on rocks the thick neoprene is awesome and every hole I DON'T put in my drysuit is even awesome-er. The new wetsuits are light years ahead of what i used in the past, and WAY better than some old one picked up used or that has been hanging in your closet for past 5 years.

I don't use a wetsuit for scuba diving in the northwest as the depth compression makes me way way way way to cold. (could be read as "I'm a thermal whimp")

I used a 5mm wetsuit in MAUI a few years back and did a lot of 70 min dives, both shore and boat and I was getting bit chilly at the end. A hood/vest attached combo would have helped, or a drysuit with light undergarments. Hawaiian sun on the SI made it mostly tolerable Suit compression and not being able to use my drysuit lofting for 'neutral' was a bit obnoxious, i was a total cluster the first dive The very salty water was itchy.

[nwscubamom]

I used to use a dive skin all the time under my 3/2 mil wetsuit when diving warm waters. The advantages:

1. Helps you to get into your wetsuit really easily. It's one piece, not two, for that reason. It usually has stirrups for the feet and thumb loops for the arms, to aid in squeezing into the wetsuit.
2. Serves as a way to prevent sunburn when you peel your wetsuit halfway down between dives.
3. Dries really quickly, so when you put on your wetsuit again the next day, you've got something nice and dry between you and the probably-still-damp neoprene of your wetsuit.

Note it does not provide any insulation. And another disadvantage is the stretchy lycra goes bad pretty quickly, leaving the skin pretty useless.

Just my two psi,
- Janna

[pogiguy05]

I have been to Bonaire twice and the second time the water temp was a little colder (Jan.) and yes 79 degrees can feel much different then 82 degrees. I also took a hit on the fire coral which prompted me to buy a 2MM long wetsuit. I wore my swim suit under it and had no problems getting it on or off. It did make a difference insulating from the colder water temp for that time of year.

MY 2 PSI