When going through your open water classes, you’ll learn there are two types of divers, those who admit to peeing in their wetsuits and those who say they don’t but secretly do. You’ll also learn that if you’re diving, never grab Grady’s hand… and if you didn’t learn that, here’s your warning. Poor Grady! You’ll also learn there are 3 types of suits for diving, wetsuits, semi-drysuits, and drysuits. Now, you can pee in your drysuit, but it is socially unacceptable. Just going to throw that out there. The beginning of this post brought to you by the letter P… lol.
Now that we have all of that established, let’s talk about drysuits. Fun work in to talking about drysuits, wasn’t it?
The Evertec LT Drysuit, Underwear, and Drysuit boots. You’ll notice there are three things listed here. There are three things required for drysuit diving. With a drysuit, you’ll always be dry (that is unless you wet yourself which we discussed above….), hence the name drysuit. The only part on your body that might be wet would be your face, hands, and possibly your head depending on the mask, gloves, and hood you dive with. Instead of a layer of water to help regulate your body temperature and more so keep you warm, a dry suit allows you to add or remove air to help regulate your body temperature. For this reason, you need to invest in underwear to go under your drysuit. Finally, there are special boots that are purchased for drysuit diving, they are, get this, different than wetsuit boots.
Now that we know the three components needed for drysuit diving, let’s break the three pieces down individually, shall we?
Evertec LT Drysuit.
- There is quite a bit of maintenance required for a drysuit.
- The zipper has to stay well lubed and clean.
- A drysuit is different to hang up than a wetsuit.
- You have to invert them to get the water out if you get any water in them.
- Drysuits come with trim-able seals.
- The trim-able seals allow for a better, more comfortable fit for the different divers who choose to dive in a drysuit.
The Evertec LT Drysuit is a lighter-weight version of the original Evertec drysuit. The Rip-stop fabric that the drysuit is constructed of is 25% lighter in weight than its predecessor. It is constructed with a telescopic torso, elastic crotch strap, and flex seals to allow for maximum comfort when diving.
Features:
- Heavy-duty diagonal Ti-Zip MasterSeal® dry zipper
- Neoprene socks with seamless heels
- Adjustable suspenders with swivel buckles
- A warm neck collar keeps heat in while protecting the latex neck seal
- Rugged Kevlar material for leg protection
- Two large cargo pockets are equipped with D-rings, high-security overflaps and Velcro closures for carrying tools or extra gear.
- The I-Safe strap on the left arm is perfect for securing a computer.
- Quality Si-Tech valves ensure efficient and trouble-free airflow control.
- Available in 6 Unisex sizes. Refer to sizing chart for details.
- Available Sizes: M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL.
Advantages of diving dry:
- Deeper in the Midwest requires it due to temperatures, especially in winter.
- Winter diving has clearer water
- Winter diving has less divers/less crowded diving areas.
- Another bonus is you don’t have to worry about boats on the lakes nearly as much while diving.
- This helps make for a thicker log book (and allows you to dive with Diver Dan all year round)
Now the Underwear:
The SCUBAPRO underwear is a warm fuzzy fleece. Grady suggests layering in the underwear because that allows to wick the water away should there be any, it also allows you keep from getting nearly as warm (thinner underwear and then layer warmer)
- If you purchase thick underwear you can’t very different water temperatures.
Finally, the boots:
Some drysuits come with boots attached. The reason we don’t use those particular type and go for the separate is it is easier to get sizes. It is personal preference though. With the molded on drysuit boots, you have to send the suit off to have them sizes changed for different sized feet. The drysuit boots require you to dive in different fins.
Features:
- Lace-up design for a snug, secure fit
- Heavy-duty ultra-grip sole
- Toe and heel reinforcement for better protection
- Hell cap features a fin strap keeper to eliminate slippage for aggressive kicking
- Water-drainage mesh storage bag
- 7 sizes: XS, S, M, ML, L, XL, 2XL
Things to consider:
More weight is required when drysuit diving because you are trying to get a thin layer of air down underwater as well as your person.
When diving a drysuit purchase a larger pair of fins as well as a heavier pair of fins. The Jet fins tend to be some of the better fins to drysuit dive with, especially because they are a heavier fin to help keep your legs down while diving (remember that layer of air).
Dry gloves are an option but require additional practice.
A full face mask would help keep your face dry/warmer.
There are specialty classes to help teach you how to dive in a drysuit and it is suggested to take said specialty class. Bonus, you take this class, it applies toward advanced diver, master diver, and beyond. Something to keep in mind!! (To Infinity and Beyond… name that movie)
So like always, make sure you call us or better yet, stop by and see us. We’re always willing to help you and share our knowledge with you!! Remember, read this post to know what we’re up to this year.
p.s. The movie is Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear said it. For bonus points… who was the voice of Buzz Lightyear? (answer: Tim Allen)