Wetsuit Wierdness

[dbickle]

When I dive I seem to retain a lot of air in my wetsuit. Submerged I hear air trying to escape from around my hood causing a lot of noise. No big deal really. Someone had mentioned to me that all this extra air trapped in the suit especially around the ears can make equalization difficult. Is this true? If so what can be done about it? Its been suggested that I poke holes in the hood to rectify this problem. Is this a good idea?
Thanks in advance.

 

[tylerz]

Poking holes is what most people do. 2mm wide hole I think. Enough to allow the water in. I have never done this to my suits and so far no problem. Most of the time this is done to release the small amounts of air that are trapped by the hood sealing to your ear. This is not much air at all, so what you are experiencing sounds like areas of your hood that do not fit well, or just the fact that you have not released this air at the beginning of your diving.

To deal with excessive air trapped in the suit, just submerge a little and open your hood on both sides, the water pressure should squeeze most the air out. Of course you may get a little water in, but once done at the beginning, you will warm up. Do the same for air stuck around the torso, opening the neck so the air can escape up. Just float, exhale, kick up, and let yourself drop under the water as you open the way for the air to escape (just until head submerged). I often do this as Elios suits seal extremely well around the neck.

Cheers,

Tyler

 

[alein]

It is a good idea to avoid air pockets in the wetsuit, especially near the ears. Such residual air can indeed cause equalization problems, since it will eventually be at a residual negative pressure, effectively "sucking" on your eardrums. Not fun. I've seen more than one diving day end in pain (and once, injury) this way.

Like Tyler says, this can be corrected by flooding the hood. I like to do this at the beginning of a breathup, on my back. If you do it vertically, the water can just spill down into your suit. I also find that it helps to have some cotton in my ears, soaked in warm water, to keep the cold water from hitting the ear canal and eardrum suddenly, which can be very uncomfortable and always messes with my equalizations.