Advice on suit for scuba and freediving

[Ms Mer]

Hi, I'm new to DB and wanting to learn to scuba dive and freedive and so wanting a suit that is suitable for both. I've been snorkeling for a few years in a triathlon wetsuit but obviously need a more specifc suit for diving. I have looked through both this and the freediving forum to get more ideas and I'm looking at getting a custom made Elios suit (i'm small and off the rack won't work for me), 7mm 2 piece with attached hood - not sure if long johns or high waisted bottoms are best. Wanting smoothskin outside, open cell inside. I'll be diving in water ranging from 10-16 deg Cel.

Things I'm not sure about and interested to know are:
(1) Are 7mm suits REALLY hard to get on? - I swim in smoothskin triathlon wetsuits alot and my best one is a BlueSeventy with about 5mm on the upper legs for buoyancy which I have found hard pull up at times because of the thickness. I use gloves for pulling it on which helps but 7mm sounds like it might be alot harder to get on?
(2) What's the benefits and minuses of longjohn pants vs highwaisted pants and which should I be getting?
(3) Is it realistic of me to expect to get a suit I can use for both types of diving - at least until I've done enough diving to think about getting specific suits.

I see that there are a few people on DB that do both types of diving and hope that people might be able to share their opinions to help me make the right decision.

cheers
Ms Mer

 

[Simos]

Poor Elios smoothskin... I don't scuba anymore but if I did, I wouldn't do it in my Elios (and it's not even smoothskin).

Seriously I wouldn't do it, I think you'll end up damaging the suit in no time. Sadly (because of initial cost) the right thing to do is have different suits (which will work out cheaper in fact as they'll last a lot more).

Also not sure you'll need 7mm (or even smoothskin) - normal 5mm would do the job I think especially if custom made. Maybe if you get cold, you can wear a vest underneath.

If you didn't scuba, you wouldn't have these problems lol

Anyway let's see what others think - I am not expert and I don't scuba but freediving suits are sensitive beauties

 

[Simos]

About putting it on - I've never used a 7mm but I would imagine that if you use lube and get the technique right it should be ok. Usually the top is harder to put on... If you have a custom made suit, things should be better...

 

[Ms Mer]

Cheers for the tips Simos. As far as the 7mm thickness goes, that's what I was advised to get by my local dive shop. Initially I was thinking 5mm too, but was told that for a cold winter (which this is looking to be), 7mm for scuba is advisable.

 

[foxfish]

You can compromise on a duel use suit but, scuba suits and free diving suits are very different in many ways.
Free movement & relatively shallow water require stretchy thin material where as carrying cumbersome tanks etc & deep water compressing the material requires a different style of suit!
Perhaps a 5mm free diving MTM suit from Diveskin, then you could but a cheap shorty surf suit to go over the free dive suit for scuba?

 

[foxfish]

Here is a good link for custum suits Custom Wetsuits for Spearfishing, Scuba, Triathlon | Oceanos Wetsuits

 

[tracidfish]

Use lube!

We use anything from fairy liquid (washing up liquid), KY jelkly or hair shampoo.

 

[sross]

Use lube!

We use anything from fairy liquid

Heh, Fairy Liquid. Now that brings back memories!

Can dessicate your skin, but man, do you ever have a clean suit all the time

Anyhows, I've tried everything one can imagine to lube suits, corn starch, talcum, dish detergent, Ivory soap, hair shampoo, hair conditioner, vaseline (yeah, I know it damages rubber, but I figured I had to give it a go anyway, I did it for science )

I've tried water-based sex lubricants (KY, Astroglide) silicone-based ones (Pjur, Wet Platinum) and then I finally tried SuitSlip, the translucent glop invented by Sven of SpearGunShop.com.

They all work, some better and some worser (Vaseline is the pits BTW, and I quickly gave up on corn startch when I learned it was a common cause of allergy development, back in my student days) but I'm now a permanent convert to SuitSlip. That stuff gets me into my suits faster than anything else I've ever tried, and it also works well when you have a wet nylon-lined suit, and need a lube to help get it on that will wash out of the nylon afterwards.

I would say the silicone lubes, both Pjur & Wet Platinum came in second, and I think they actually have a protective effect on the neoprene rubber, but don't even think about using them with nylon-lined suits.

 

[Ms Mer]

I'll be doing majority shore diving. I think max depth around where I'll be mainly diving is 20m. I'm not intending on competitive freediving to depth, I just wish to be able to master the techniques so that I can dive without gear to for my own enjoyment and feeling part of the environment. Not intending on spearfishing or creeping along the bottom on my tummy.
However, I certainly don;t want to invest my hard earned cash on a lovely suit that is easily torn by entering the sea from our rocky shoreline or wearing scuba equipment over it or which can;t withstand diving at 20-30m.

 

[foxfish]

In that case what was wrong with my idea?

 

[Ms Mer]

In that case what was wrong with my idea?

Hi Foxfish, sorry for not replying to your post - I kinda figured that I might be being too unrealistic to get a freediving suit that would do for scuba also. Your idea sounds like a very practical solution and would I imagine protect the freediving suit in the parts that would come into contact with scuba gear.

I think my problem is that I have worn smoothskin for swimming for too long and have too much of an attachment to it!

 

[Simos]

Cheers for the tips Simos. As far as the 7mm thickness goes, that's what I was advised to get by my local dive shop. Initially I was thinking 5mm too, but was told that for a cold winter (which this is looking to be), 7mm for scuba is advisable.

Don't know exactly how cold winters are there but if they're similar to the UK i'd say you'd need 7mm too (not that I've tried a 7mm but I wouldn't go dive in winter in the UK in my 5mm)...

Having said that it really depends how often you'll be diving in winter vs the summer - 5mm is a lot more flexible in terms of being able to wear it in summer and in warmer waters too, requires less weights etc

If you are just going diving a few times in winter vs all summer and you can live with wearing an extra couple of mm of neoprene underneath a 5mm, it might be an option worth considering.

Having said this most of the time I went diving in spring/autumn in the UK in my 5mm elios I did get cold towards the end of the session. An idea if possible would be to borrow a suit (from a freediving club if possible) and try it out...

 

[OTGav]

Give these guys a call:-
Welcome to Wettie

Their suits are used for both scuba and spearing (which is close enough) and is built for NZ conditions - i.e. tough.