Booties -- Over or Under Wetsuit?

[ScubaBoy]

Do most of you wear your booties over or inside your wetsuit? Any advantage/disadvantage either way?

[Gombessa]

Booties under wetsuit. That way, when you're going forward, you're more streamlined and water is less likely to enter from the boot/wetsuit "seam."

[snagel]

Definately, under the wetsuit. For reasons Gombessa described, but also the water in the suit will not fill your boots when you exit.

S. Nagel

[calwolf]

If you want warm feet (and who doesn't?), I've noticed they stay warmer with the boots tucked under the wetsuit. There's a lot less water flowing into the boots that way, which helps the feet stay warm. Sometimes I'll just zip them over the top (it is a *little* more convenient), but only when I'm in water warm enough that I don't care if the boots are regularly flushed.

On the flip side, I usually *don't* do this with gloves (though the warmth principle is somewhat similar). With most gloves, the velcro would be too bulky under a wetsuit sleeve, but mine are flat (henderson hyperstretch 5mm - great gloves!). With any gloves though, it's also a safety issue... if I were ever in a rescue situation, I'd need dexterity quick, and it takes a while to untuck gloves. Not a big deal with boots.

So I like to tuck the boots under, but leave the gloves on the outside.

Jesse Walker
President, USU Scuba Club
USU SCUBA - The Utah State University Scuba Diving Club

[fisheater]

Under.

[FishFood]

On your next dive have one under and one over. Then you be the judge.

[DiverBry]

Definitely wear your boots under the wetsuit.

I saw a guy getting out of the water a few months ago... he had tucked his wetsuit into his boots, and the shins of his wetsuit were full of liquid... when he took his boots off... the liquid obviously wasn't lake water!

[ScubaBoy]

I've heard about this problem in another forum and it ain't pretty. lol Inside it is, for a variety of reasons.

[WaScubaDude]

Originally Posted by calwolf

SNIP...

On the flip side, I usually *don't* do this with gloves (though the warmth principle is somewhat similar). With most gloves, the velcro would be too bulky under a wetsuit sleeve, but mine are flat (henderson hyperstretch 5mm - great gloves!). With any gloves though, it's also a safety issue... if I were ever in a rescue situation, I'd need dexterity quick, and it takes a while to untuck gloves. Not a big deal with boots.

So I like to tuck the boots under, but leave the gloves on the outside.

Jesse Walker
President, USU Scuba Club
USU SCUBA - The Utah State University Scuba Diving Club

Also, your hands are not always pointed toward your fins so the water doesn't flow as consistently in, unlike boots on the outside that are always "scooping" at the water flowing down the legs.

[DollFin]

I went on my first non-tropical dives last Saturday and I wore my boots under my suit for the simple fact that I would not have been able to zip them up all the way if the suit were tucked in. Didn't think about the other reasons, but they make perfect sense, so I'm glad I gussed right!