Dry Suits?

That would be for scuba diving, as opposed to freediving, right?

I've used all sorts of wet and dry suits for scuba and freediving. There are many sorts of both types of suit. Dry suits can be membrane (in various weights/thickness), neoprene and crushed neoprene, plus some other rarer materials used by commercials/navy etc. Wet suits come in different thicknesses, linings, types of expanded neoprene, different cuts, wrist and leg seals etc. What exact info are you after? What water temp and what type of activity are minimum required info to help you.

Dave

Hi Chris

I read a previous message of yours stating that you are moving to Wisconsin. I live in Wisconsin also and am a newbie to Freediving. You'll find that most if not all the guys here have open celled wet suits. Most own 5mm suits and use them year round. I have not purchased mine yet but hope to this year. Looking forward to meeting you this summer. Do a search on open cell suits on this forum you'll find it very helpfull as did I.

Assuming we are talking about scuba:
I dive dry almost exclusively. It's a superior way to dive for a number of reasons. The two biggies are far better control over body temperature and redundant source of bouyancy. I would strongly encourage anyone who isn't only diving very shallow warm water to dive dry.

If you are freediving - we pretty much all use open cell suits. I use a 5 or 6 mil top and 5 mil bottoms - sometimes with a 1.5 titanium vest underneath. This works for me from 36f on up to around 55 when I definitely go 5 mil. If you are buying a suit for freediving I would suggest going with a 5 mil with a 1.5 vest or 6 mil top, 5 mil bottoms for max versatility. I've heard of guys using 7 mil as well - I don't but I generally do a few fin sprints if I start to get chilled.

Scuba, I don't wear a dry suit. I've never really dove cold enough water on scuba. Well, I have, but I toughed it out.

We have hit 32 degree water in our 5mm Open Cell's. I wear Omer, as our shop is a dealer here in IL. Scott and Jon will recommend Elios.

I'm not sure who it was, but someone talked about using a dry suit to freedive late last year here in the WI forum.

I've posted stories about freediving with a drysuit and 30 lbs of lead when I first started... crazy!
It's dangerous if you get deep and you will get squeezed by the suit. I was covered in whip marks after every session haha! However, for just snorkelling and very shallow (if you can get down), they are great, as you stay really warm. But, there's no comparison to a custom wetsuit with open rubber against your skin for all-round freediving purposes.
For scuba in temperate or cold water, there's nothing better than a good drysuit IMO.

I've freedove in my drysuits before, but had similar experiences as Erik. With my Viking I could get down about 25' before the squeeze was just too much to take. With my old DUI-TLS350 I could make it down about 35' before the squeeze became too painful. The type of underwear you use with it will make a difference as well- DUI Thinsulate was better than the Viking opencell foam stuff.

For freediving around here a good 5mm opencell wetsuit from Elios, OMER, Picasso, Cressi or others will work best. You can even use them for scuba if you get one with an outer lining made of nylon- to protect the suit from tank straps or BC's.

If you're talking about scuba then look into a drysuit for sure. As close as you are to Lake Michigan you'll want to dive the wrecks out there- some claim them to be about the best in the whole world. I don't know if I would go that far, but the certainly are the best I've ever dove in all my years of diving. You can go down inside a 150 year old wooden schooner and still see the paint on the walls which would never happen in salt water.

With wreck diving you'll find that the deeper you go the nicer the wrecks become- because they are more intact. There are plenty of wrecks in less than 40', but the good ones start at 60' and go down from there. A wetsuit could keep you warm, but as soon as you start adding some deco in a drysuit becomes the only choice for scuba.

If you don't plan on diving deeper than 60' on scuba then you could get away with a good freediving wetsuit for everything. Not to try and spam here, but if you want to try out a drysuit my father-in-law teaches courses and has them for rent through his shop and on his boats. It might be a good way to try one before you decided if you want to make the investment in time and money.

They do take some getting used to and there is the ever shifting bubble of air to contend with. About two years ago at Freedive-a-palooza I had to go rescue some lady who was doing a class, with another dive shop, and had a drysuit blow-up from 90'. That means the suit got away from her and shot her to the surface before she could vent it or flair out. She ended up bent and was flown, by helicopter, to a chamber a couple hindered miles away. I dragged her to shore and another instructor I know, from a third store, put her on 02 and called the medics. He told me she was numb from the waist down when they flew her out- and that's the last I heard about it.

Drysuits are great items, but you do need to know what your doing so you don't get hurt. I have more stories but that should give you a rough idea. As far as types of drysuits go it depends on what you're doing. For working I like a Viking drysuit with dry hood and gloves. For wreck and tech diving I prefer a DUI with thigh pockets, a Pee valve, wet hood, and argon bottle hooked up to it. Comfort wise my CF200 was the most comfortable suit I've ever owned, but it took forever to dry- there were some weeks in the summer where it never actually dried. My old TLS-350 was probably the most versatile and easiest to move around in- plus, it dried out almost as fast as my Vikings.

Hope the helps, more than confuses, you. Here's a few shots of some drysuits 've owned and some of the freediving wetsuits all of us use around here.

Jon

Ditto what Jon said.