Dry suits....

[BillZ]

I am not so worried about starting out in a wet suit, but my wife on the other hand I am afraid that if she gets really cold on her first few dives, will be very discouraged.... Something I would just as soon prevent if possible.....

Does anyone have an opinion on a Henrys compressed neoprene wet suit????

Samson-

Good point, if your wife is a cold person she may be absolutely miserable and get discouraged after the open water dives. My girlfriend Cindy (scubadoobadoo) and I both were certified in drysuits and she was still convinced after OW that she only wanted to dive on warm water vacations. It took alot of prodding and pushing on my part to keep her going. She slowly started to get comfortable in the water and now (especially after Bob got her streightened out in his AOW class) she is the one pushing me to go diving.

If she would have had to dive in a wetsuit I dont think she would have ever dove in the Puget Sound again.

[Dusty2]

So many reasons to buy??? Let me play the devil advocate here for a moment. After having made all those mistakes along the way and now being perfectly happy in my Bare CD pro that has 300+ dives on it. I think you should rent until after you have your cert and are sure you are going to use the equipment you buy. The INTERNET is full of lightly used gear that only has a few pool dives on it etc. Though you are throughly stoked right now sh--- happens. It is always possible that you may find physical or mental reasons that prevent you from diving. Hopefully you won't and most people don't but it does happen and finding out after dropping mega bucks on gear is not a good thing.

I'm sure you can find a shop that will fit your wife out in a rental dry suit if you look around. I know there are in the south sound.

I went out and bought almost all my gear before cert and I almost didn't make it. Thanks to a total commitment on my part and a new instructor who was willing to take the time to get me going in the right direction I'm still diving and loving it but I don't think I own a single piece of that gear now and if I do it's sitting someplace unused.

Go out and get that cert, do a few dives and then if your totally hooked like the rest of us start buying gear that you will keep and use for the long haul.

[Sockmonkey]

We laugh because its funny... we laugh because its true.

+ cold = Makes all us guys :hello2: In order to get to continue diving.

(best I could come up with)

Oh that's clever... and just as funny.

[Samson]

Great advice guys.... thank you! I have done enough diving in Mexico that I am already hooked. Diving was half of the reason I moved here. I am taking the course to get legal here in the states, and to get the rest of my family certified with me.......Unfortunatly, my wife says I am very obsessive compulsived... Once my mind is made up... I am obsessed! ....

I already have my regs, bcds, fins, masks, etc.... purchased... All I am lacking is the suits ..wet/dry.... and the tanks.... and a couple dive computers....

Anybody got any deals out there?????

I look forward to diving with you all!

Samson-

[dwashbur]

I'll just say this: if you go wet (and for the summer and early Fall months you may want to depending on how easily you get cold) go for hyperstretch. Henderson is the big name there and I love my 7mm Henderson even when the water gets cold. Harvey also makes a hyperstretch material but I don't have any personal experience with it. Regular neoprene bites the big one!

As for dry suits, I have a Bare D6 neoprene and am quite happy with it. But I only use it when the water gets really cold, because I have to add about 9 pounds of weight to compensate for its buoyancy. That's neither a plus nor a minus, just a for-what-it's-worth.

[Samson]

Ok, Dave,....Whats the story with the skeleton??

[Dusty2]

Another for what it's worth I prefer neoprene. Crushed or compressed??? I really can't speak to any but compressed but I can say that compressed has worked very well for me and stood up quite well. There are several good brands out there for Dry suits. Several of which you can get pretty good deals on if you can fit an off the shelf model. Bear, Apallo, whites, sea soft, and several more. All of which will work well at a modest price, comparitively speaking.

DUI builds an awesome suit but the cost factor about doubles over the others mentioned here. I would say shop a few of the area shops and see what fits and if you need custome sizeing then the choices drop considerably. Just remember, fit is everything in a drysuit.

[Tom Nic]

Just remember, fit is everything in a drysuit.

Particularly with the neoprene.

With a shell suit it's very important to not have it too small. There is NO give in them. A shell suit can be a little too big and you'll get away with it, my friend Keith dives a Moby's shell suit that he found used that is probably a size or two too large and it works just fine.

Of applies mostly to buying used...

I bought a custom USIA that has served me well, and with seal replacement should be fine even as I continue to loose weight (30 lbs down!)

As with much other gear, there's lots of good brands out there.

[dwashbur]

Ok, Dave,....Whats the story with the skeleton??

If you mean me (and as far as I know I'm the only Dave with a picture of a skeleton...) the person posing with it is my wife. I dive with her and my teenage daughter. We live in Boise, Idaho, and we did our AOW course at Hoodsport. Somebody had just put this skeleton down there, and when we did our first dive on our own, we went and found it and had some fun taking pictures of it. Later when I was looking at that one, I couldn't resist adding the caption "Always Dive with a Buddy!"

[Samson]

That is a hilarious pic! I had to ask.....

Samson-

[narcosis Junky]

Here is my two cents:
I boughta an anderson hyperstretch, the only way to go with a wet suit. And I own a DUI 450. I did my first 150 dives in a wet suit here in the cold lakes and ocean of Oregon. I have done 5 dives in Clear Lake in one day, in the winter with water around 39 degrees. Piece of cake. Now I made my wife do 150 dives before I got her, her dry suit. the same thing(a 450). She saw how durable mine was. As far as why you should get a wet suit, so that you have something to ware when you send the dry suit in for a major over hall. Other wise you will be out of the water for a month. That's a big no no in my house. Now as far as what I read about pinch in a shell suit ](*,) I don't agree about the pinch thing unless you dive naked in your suit then yes you will get the pinch. You have to ware an under garment wheather you wear the sports wear (my favorite) or you ware a 300 or 400(my next favorite) thinsulate undergarment. your body doesn't get pinched. I have 100'ssss of dives in my dry suit, and I have never experienced a pinch. DUI makes custom suits for us unique people and they fit awsome. And yes they dry very fast. with in a n hour in the wind. They are a lot lighter than the 200. and if you go dive the Galapagos, you will not want a crused suit, they are to warm. But if you like to dive the Alaska, than that's the only way to go. Now if you are rich, then I would own a hyperstretch, a 450 or 350 or 250 for warmer waters and a 200 for cold water. But I have a wife who likes quality gear so good gear for me and good gear for her, no money left for the 200 . Hope this helps.
PS When I went from a hyperstretch to my dry suit with the sports wear from DUI, I did't change my weights at all and neither did my wife FYI. I condiser that a good thing.

[oregondiver]

I just want to add my two cents..
I have always been cold, have always gotten cold easiy, and I have had frost bite on my toes so I lose feelign in them frequently even during warm days if I don't keep my feet moving around.

I did my OW in rental wetsuit/booties. Turns out the booties had holes in them. I got my certification, but in retrospect, I was hypothermic for half my dives. MInimum. I had to be helped out of my gear and fins in the water. I needed help up to the car because I couldn't feel my toes and was not able to walk well after each dive. I did not have a good time. Although I KNEW I would love diving if I could just get warm enough, I almost never dove again because I was so miserable. If there weren't holes in my booties...maybe it wouldn't have been so bad?

I got a drysuit immediately after my AOW. I dive a White Trilam custom suit. I got the trilam (at the time) because I used the suit in biohazard diving areas and needed to be able to be disinfected by the firetrucks afterwards. I had to get a custom suit (yea...they saw me coming) because I guess my ASS IS TOO LARGE for a normal shell suit. OK, and I have monkey arms. sigh. they phrased it differently but that is what it boiled down to.

So...if you get your wife a trilam, if she has weight fluctuations...make sure you get one that fits for her lows AND highs of weight gains. Mine handled a 50lb weight gain, but just barely. (40 down, 10 more to go). Because it is a shell suit, it gets air pockets trapped which if you use your suit for bouyancy, can make it hard at the end of your dive to get all the stinkin air out!

But I do love my suit. It dries quickly too. My suit is 10 years old, with one zipper repair, and 4 gasket repairs over that period. It has between 200 and 300 dives on it (stopped logging years ago, but will be restarting next weekend!). So it is a very durable suit. You can see the red jelly bean if you make it to the Club Dive next weekend....
Shell

[camerone]

But if you like to dive the Alaska, than that's the only way to go.

Not true... It is somewhat true that the neoprene suits are warmer (we've got one in the garage, actually, and the warmth issue is dubious for the thin compressed stuff, although the thicker or uncompressed suits definitely give some thermal protection).

We were highly advised by those "in the know" to take our tri-lams with us down to Antarctica last year, and we'll be taking tri-lams back there this year. Why? They dry a lot faster than the neoprenes, of any variety, and, when temps are sub-zero, the neoprene gets too stiff from the frozen water to get into and out of comfortably. Ice crystals are sharp, too, so not the worlds best choice if you're trying to stuff a frozen suit into a bag.

So, there's clearly a threshold that you want to watch out for. Fortunately, in the mild Puget Sound conditions, it's a mixed bag. You've got to go with comfort, fit, and whatever you feel like you can get a good "value" out of.

FWIW, Heidi and I each have a pair of drysuits; mine are both tri-laminate, and she's got one tri-lam and one Diving Concepts 4mm compressed neoprene. She never wears the DC any more - too much lead to sink it, thicker fabric restricts movement, and it's heavy to pack and carry. I can't remember the last time she's put it on; we'll probably dive it soon, as her trilam needs a new zipper, so it's got to get sent off to Minnesota for repairs...It's definitely a more streamlined fit, and more abrasion/puncture resistant, but it's always a struggle to get into and out of, and lacks the flexibility of undergarment choices for varying water conditions.

[oregondiver]

Scuba girl...you coming to the dive next weekend? If so, lets compare michelin stories. :rr:

For DUI drysuit looking folks...I just found this craigslist ad. DUI drysuit...dirt cheap since the guy ain't diving any more
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/for/876877708.html

[coachrenz]

I will put in my vote for the High Tide Dry Suit. Made locally. Great suit. Comes with everything. Lots of suits are priced as a bare bones suit and once you add all the "extras" they price out similar or even more than a High Tide. My suit is not only dry, but it is warm as well.

I have dove with people or heard people talking in the parking lot (some who have chimed in on this thread) in other suits who complain about getting wet (a dry suit is supposed to be DRY) or who call a dive due to being cold (dry suits are supposed to be warm) yet will still advocate that others buy the same suits that they are wearing. If you ask around, you may hear of a particular "disease" that some dry suit divers are afflicted with. Marketing is an amazing thing. All you have to do is tell enough people enough times something and they start to believe it.

There are lots of people who buy a cheap suit, sometimes used, that isn't the suit for them. It doesn't fit right, it leaks a little bit, whatever the reason they end up buying the next suit up the line. It still isn't right for whatever reason and eventually they end up with the top of the line (or close to it) suit that is custom fit, etc. My view was that I didn't want to "waste" that in between money, why buy something 2 or 3 times when I can buy it right the first time.

Some would argue that Thermal Protection is the most important purchase for diving in our water. I am not necessarily one of those people, but, it is important. Being cold can be as dangerous, or more so, that lots of other issues in the water.

[Samson]

Does the club have weekly dive meets?? How often do you all get together??

Samson-

[Tom Nic]

Does the club have weekly dive meets?? How often do you all get together??

Samson-

No dues, no politics, (hopefully) no officers, no bs.

Every now and then someone organizes a "club" dive. But mainly it's just folks getting together and diving. If you saw what area you're from (north, south, oregon, etc) and what days you're free to dive you'll usually find a group of folks to connect and dive with. And there are many on the board who "advertise" that they are willing to take newer divers pretty much anytime.

[LCF]

I got certified in a dry suit, and I can tell you for absolute certain that, had I tried to do my OW dives in Puget Sound in a wetsuit, my already dubious view of diving would have gone negative in a heartbeat. (Nearly did in a dry suit, anyway!) It is quite doable to get certified in a dry suit, and if someone loathes being cold, I'd suggest it. The biggest problem with getting certified in a dry suit is that the suit is a HUGE investment, if you are not sure you are going to continue diving (and they don't hold their value any better than cars do). In addition, if you have the wrong undergarments, the dry suit won't keep you warm. Dry suits aren't really warm; it's what you wear under them that does the trick, and doing what I did (trying to make the polarfleece I used for other winter sports work) is a setup for not being very comfortable.

I own three dry suits. One is a Mobby's laminate suit, which was my first suit. Another is a Diving Concepts compressed neoprene, and the third is my White's Fusion. Each suit has over a hundred dives on it (The Mobby's has the most.) This is my take: Good undergarments and Argon obviate the necessity for a thick, heavy and relatively inflexible suit. I don't use the DC suit at all any more, because it's simply such a pain to get in and out of. Laminate suits have a problem, because if they're cut generously, they can trap gas or make buoyancy control with trim changes difficult. If they are cut close to the body, they can severely limit mobility, which can range from annoying to a safety issue.

The White's Fusion solves both problems. It's cut very generously, so you have a lot of flexibility, but the overskin keeps the bag from ballooning with inflation or trim changes. It's the most comfortable suit I own, and I dive it virtually 100% of the time (can't say 100%, because it's in the shop getting a neoprene neck seal installed!)

If you are unsure of your wife's willingness to dive, by all means get her certified in a dry suit. But make sure the suit you are renting FITS, and most importantly, that the seals fit. Leaking seals will have her colder than a good wetsuit would. If she seems to like diving, you can either look into buying a second hand dry suit (there are, believe it or not, good ones to be had, and as I said, the price is MUCH lower than new) or get her into a Fusion, which is a relatively inexpensive dry suit. The one place not to cut corners or penny-pinch is on undergarments.

[NomadV]

I have a USIA drysuit XL with size 9 boots, in great shape but seals will need to be replaced. You can get a kit and to the neck and wrest seals yourself for about $80 and the suit will be brand new again. Or you can send it to your lds that does that kind of repair and should cost you about twice that much. The suit comes with exotherm II Undergarment, suspenders and its own USIA carry gear bag. I bought this suit as a package with a bunch of other stuff that I could use, but the Drysuit is to large for me. Making it available to the club members first at a awsome price but if no takers will ebay it. I'm in gresham, Oregon.