7mm Thick Wetsuit

[nickridiculous]

Last week I did the PFI course up here in Vancouver. It was a great experience but I was eff-ing cold the whole time in the ocean. For reference the surface water temp was 11c and it got down to 8c at 10-15m or so. In the course we were just line diving so I we were spending 7-10mins breathing up between dives and spending about 1.5 hours in the water at a time. I have used a 6mm suit for recreational diving (2-5min surface intervals) lots of swimming about and I was warmish for 1-2 hours.

My question for the DB crew is: Does anyone actually have a 7mm suit? Where do you use it? What is the water temp like?

 

[foxfish]

Hi Nick where I live virtually all scuba divers use 7mm double lined suits, most spearos use 5mm open cell on the inside but there are a lot of guys who use 7mm in the winter.
I often wear a 2mm vest under my 5mm suit or even a 2mm shorty over my suit in the winter.
Water temps vary from 7 - 16.

 

[Erik]

I dive out there lots. I wear a custom Elios 7mm suit, and when in Port Hardy where it's 10C at the surface I wear a 3mm custom Elios full top over the 7mm. Dry gloves help but recently I've been wearing a really good Beuchat wet glove that's excellent.

Sometimes I wear the 7mm suit plus a 6mm scuba hood and a 3mm vest over top instead of the 3mm Elios.

I am spearfishing, wear 9 kilos of weight and will hunt to 30 metres at times. Lots of suit compression at 20 metres+ so medium-density neoprene is the way to go.

Cheers,
Erik

 

[Anders]

Here in Norway I wear my 7mm elios meshskin outside/open cell inside practically year round except the summer. Yesterday it was about 6 degrees C and I was in for just over two hours no problem, the feet and hands get cold way before I start feeling it on my body in a 7mm. I have used it down to 1C but then I didn't manage more than about an hour before I started getting cold. Above 15C the 7mm gets too warm for me.

 

[nickridiculous]

Re: 7mm Thick Wetsuit vs. 5mm

Upon consultation with other more experienced divers locally I have decided to get an Oceaner 5mm competition suit. My friends have all been extolling the virtues of getting the suit custom fit. According to them, a 5mm smooth-skin suit that fits well will be warm enough in our waters and will be superior to a 7mm suit.

Fair enough. I dive with them too so if I'm not warm enough it'll be my whining they have to listen to.

The problem I have is that I appear to be smack in the middle to the stated range for the medium suit. So to hedge my bets I took all my measurements anyway and submitted them with my order. Gary at Oceaner has assured me that they will not sell me a custom suit if I fit into a medium as well as I think I might.

 

[Matthew.e.c]

I dive in northern California and everyone I know up here dives a 7 mm wetsuit. I am both a freediver and a scuba diver. The 7mm wetsuit is perfectly warm for freediving, but for scuba I find that even the 7mm is too cold. Most people who get seriously into scuba in northern California eventually opt for a drysuit.