Drysuit tips.

[Kingpatzer]

something else I found very useful -- put some soft weights around your feet. It helps if the legs get a bit too buoyant.


But the biggest thing is dive, dive and dive some more -- and keep it easy and simple. It does take 20 dives or so to really get dry suits. Be patient with yourself and the suit.

[WaScubaDude]

A couple more thoughts:

1) On land...Practice the Chicken dance. Open your dump valve all the way, or almost all the way. Raise the valve shoulder (usually the left) higher than the other, make a chicken wing with your dump arm and pump. Try to keep the dump valve as the highest point in this whole endeavor. With alot of air in the suit you should be able to "pump" air out of the dump valve. This manuver works better in the water, again make the dump valve the highest point even if you are swimming horizontal.


2) If you have a pretty normal dive profile in mind...Before you start the dive, let all the air out of the suit. I do this onshore by squatting and opening the neck seal. You can do it at the surface as well if you can get to your neck seal. (the neck seal or a rist seal is a quick, but cold, way to dump in an emergency.)
As you go down use tiny sqirts (pst, never pssst) to the suit to establish and stay neutral. After each squirt give it a few seconds to see where you end up. If the suit is seriously ballooning you probably are carrying too much weight. Once near depth use your BC like normal.

3) There is a manuver to practice when the boots fill up and put you head- down. Put your hands palm up near your sides and swish them quickly toward your head in a big arc as you tuck your knees in and perform a nifty roll to put your feet back under you. You have probably done this with a wet suit while just screwing around. Practice it until you feel very confident and capeable. Just ask if my instructions are as clear as mud.

3) Purge all the air from the suit prior to ascending.

4) Consider gators and/or changing the boots to avoid ballooning feet.

5) Practice the emergency air purge from the neck seal and from an arm seal. Just hold it high and open the seal. Burp and cold.

All this does take time, dives and practice...so make sure your next few dives are easy and familiar. A simple down...maintain depth...ascend, is easier to learn on than an up and down up and down profile.

[ianr33]

This is what I do:

Leave the dump valve fully open.Always. (Except at the end of a dive when floating on the surface)
Only add air to the drysuit when it starts to squeeze
Ascend slowly so as to let the DS vent itself.Makes life MUCH easier.
During ascents I normally put my right hand on the BC deflate button , roll slightly to the right and go a little head up,that lets air out of both the wing and the DS at the same time.
I never touch the DS vent valve (no need to)

Sometimes I find myself starting to do a headstand. Only solution is to get maybe 45 degrees head up to get the air out of my feet.

I never took a DS class so take this for what it is worth!!

[BouzoukiJoe A.K.A. wrecker130 AKA Chuck Norris AKA joeforbroke (banned)]

I had a lot of trouble on my first 3 dives. Since then each dive has gotten better.

Just finished my 6th dry dive yesterday. Totally awesome dive. Perfect buoyancy on the whole dive. Nailed the stop at 18ft completely motionless. I don't think I've ever managed that without some finning in my wet suit.

Air temp was 27F (-3C) so the water drops on the suit froze afterward. My gloves and hood froze solid while I was loading my gear. I was so glad that my suit did not leak.

[cummings66]

The entire drysuit experience can be summed up in this thought. Pay attention to the air, dump it before it becomes a problem because afterwards it's going to get rough.

Some tips as Compudude said, dump air often and early, don't be bashful about it. Be absolutely sure to do many shallow dives with it before you go deep because that first deep dive might result in you losing control on the way up. I've seen a lot of new drysuit divers lose it around 40 to 50 feet after a 100 foot dive. If you've maxed your NDL you really want to do a good ascent and not blow it off.

It might go against the grain, but carry a couple extra lbs of lead at the start so you don't work so hard with buoyancy control, you can remove some as you get better at it. Don't get carried away, 2 lbs extra is enough.

Know your emergency skills, have them down so it's second nature. Valves stick, I had my inflator stick open at 120 feet on me but thanks to practice I disconnected and dumped before I got out of control. That's why I said to do lots of shallow dives first, get the suit mastered before you resume normal diving.

When your boots start feeling loose on you stop and dump the air, they'll always feel a bit sloppy right before you get too much air there. Pay attention to the feel.

Descend to 15 or 20 feet without adding air to the drysuit, remember that feeling and try to maintain that amount throughout the dive and you'll do much better.

[mwhities]

Great tips guys. I'm getting more and more excited about getting into my dry suit.

[mpd525]

yep, i'm ready to go again. I think the rental suit i was wearing may have been too long for me, and that's why my boots kept slipping off, and then there would be a vaccum, and i couldn't get them back on unless i surfaced. I'll get it, it just aggravates me, because i've picked everything up failry quickly and easily. Like i said it was weird, and I was nervous, and really having trouble with it. but i will not give up.

[danielh03]

Im getting dry suit envy

[mwhities]

Muhahaha

you want a dry suit!

muahahaha!

Dry Suits

Get you some!! (or at least one :P)

[RoadRacer1978]

I've had drysuit envy for some time. Especially now with the cold weather and no diving. If my wife wouldn't kill me I'd buy a Bare nexgen in a second.