Drysuits and wetsuits on the cheap

[Chotu]

Can anyone suggest ways to get a drysuit and/or wetsuit cheap?

I'm not using the thing more than a few times a year.

I'd like to start cleaning my own hull.

I need protection from:

Cold water - need to keep everything warm
The sea life that comes off the hull
Ablative bottom paint that comes off the hull

So drysuit seems a lot better.

I used to have a "semi drysuit" but I have to watch the heart a bit still. That flush of cold water that leaked down the neck was bad. Too shocking.

The semi dry was ruined in storage

[fregata]

Do you plan to hold your breath or be on SCUBA?

I imagine it would be very challenging to ballast a drysuit to be able to swim underwater without the aid of some lead weights and an air hose connection. Diving specific drysuits are expensive. Don’t think I’d try to clean my bottom wearing my paddling drysuit.

A proper thick wetsuit might be more applicable. The biggest cold shock is to your face. A good suit shouldn’t flush.

[kayakerChuck]

I'm a long time SCUBA diver in the Great Lakes. I used a 7mm wetsuit for years, diving year-round.

A good hood, with a skirt that covers your neck and upper shoulders, will pretty much eliminate the cold rush on the neck.

Filling the suit with warm water first will totally eliminate the cold water rush, and will keep you MUCH warmer- you're not trying to warm up the "first batch" of cold water. A 1 quart thermos bottle is plenty.

[Chotu]

Oh!! Ok.

I didn’t realize a wetsuit would work. Preheating that first batch of water sounds like a great idea.

this isn’t for diving. This is for actually wading around and walking on the bottom near the boat as well as potentially some snorkeling underneath the boat.

I have a pair of hip waders that goes up really high. I was going to use those but I think when I bend down to do the keel area, I will get water inside them.

I'm planning to do these things mostly in 48" of water.

[fstbttms]

Open cell wetsuits are the warmest, most comfortable wetsuits you can buy and they are relatively inexpensive. Plus, zero cold water rush!

https://makospearguns.com/spearfishi...hing-wetsuits/

[team karst]

Originally Posted by kayakerChuck

I'm a long time SCUBA diver in the Great Lakes. I used a 7mm wetsuit for years, diving year-round.

A good hood, with a skirt that covers your neck and upper shoulders, will pretty much eliminate the cold rush on the neck.

Filling the suit with warm water first will totally eliminate the cold water rush, and will keep you MUCH warmer- you're not trying to warm up the "first batch" of cold water. A 1 quart thermos bottle is plenty.

agree; I'm a certified ice diver, and although I did those dives dry, the above technique should work for you. Dry suit seals will be problematic for you, as far as maintenance. And, maybe even barnacle cuts thru the suit if you aren't careful.

[George_SD]

Open cell suits are much more fragile due to the exposed neoprene.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by team karst

agree; I'm a certified ice diver, and although I did those dives dry, the above technique should work for you. Dry suit seals will be problematic for you, as far as maintenance. And, maybe even barnacle cuts thru the suit if you aren't careful.

Ok! All good advice!

Thanks for the responses so far.

[pbiJim]

https://www.diversdirect.com/p/evo-e...-scuba-wetsuit
These are the cheapest wetsuits that I would use for that purpose. I happen to not really like this company & their sales tactics, but they do have cheap suits. These suits are a little stiffer than the nice ones, but they do the job.

Mako Spearguns was previously listed as another source. I buy from that guy in Fredericksburg VA with a smile on my face. He has always given me good value & he stands behind his products. I would prefer to buy from him unless I have a good reason not to on a specific item.

I have yet to find a cheap dry suit. Dry suits require extra training & present buoyancy issues. When they get a hole from rubbing against a barnacle, bad things happen quickly. I would not use a dry suit for this application.

Working hard, scrubbing & scraping a bottom, you generate more heat than you do as a casual tourist scuba diver. That is why I listed a 5/3 suit rather than a 7mm Farmer John 2-piece.

With any wet suit other than a rash guard (Lycra skin), you will need weights.


For bottom cleaning you will want gloves with good solid protection on the back side of the hands. ...because of barnacles.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by George_SD

Open cell suits are much more fragile due to the exposed neoprene.

Yeah, that's why professional hull cleaners love them so much

[pbiJim]

Used wet suits usually sell on Craigslist for 20 cents on the dollar in my area.

[Bellinghamster]

I second (third? fifth?) against drysuits - I've done a lot of watersports in dry, semi dry and wet suits (scuba, snorkeling, windsurfing, waterskiing). Drysuit keeps you warm by keeping your fluffy insulation layer underneath it dry. This makes bouyancy tricky since the trapped air in the insulation layer can and does move to the highest point, moving your center of buoyancy all over the place. Just picture trying to get right-side-up again when your legs and feet of your suit are inflated like a balloon! Ankle weights help, but can make it hard to surface-dive. Drysuits are awesome for primarily surface activities, and for scuba diving where your attitude is fairly constant - so nice to peel it off when you're done and be warm and dry, but would be a hassle while hull cleaning with all the movement required.
A neoprene drysuit is a little different than a shell drysuit in that you get some insulation from the outer layer (you can wear additional insulation underneath for colder weather or longer immersion), but they still fit looser than a wetsuit and have the same mobile air bubble issue. . , but they are expensive and have all the same issues with seal longevity. About half my dives with a neoprene drysuit ended with a fair bit of water in the suit, sometimes a gallon or two sloshing around - the tendons in my wrists when flexed form channels for water to shoot past the seals. Dry gloves that seal to the suit fixed that but are an added hassle to get on/off.

Wet or semi-dry suit and a kettle-full of warm water down the neck to "prime" it before jumping in, and another to flush and warm when you get out is what I've settled on.

[Bellinghamster]

One other thing - if you're using weights they need to be easy to dump in case something goes wrong. Primary weight should be on a dive belt with easy to release buckle (note: typical ankle weights are not!). Air in any type of suit (including the air bubbles in the neoprene foam of a wetsuit) compress with depth, which reduces buoyancy as you go deeper (by half every 33ft). If you need 30lbs of weight at the surface to be able to counter your suits buoyancy you'll have 15lbs "extra" weight at 33ft trying to sink you. This can be challenging to overcome if you, say, lose a fin. With SCUBA systems you add air to your buoyancy compensator and/or suit as you descend, and let it out as you come up to compensate but you can't do this while breath-hold diving or snorkeling.
I typically adjust my weights on the light side so I have to surface dive to get underwater, shooting for neutral buoyancy at 5-10ft. This makes me positively buoyant on the surface, adding some safety in case I need to rest or recover.

[George_SD]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

Yeah, that's why professional hull cleaners love them so much

They are used by everyone, not just "professionals". They have their uses and benefits, but the neoprene without the cloth liner attached to it is more fragile. Fabric (inner liner layer) acts as a protective layer and makes it easier to put on, but does not stick to the skin and does not insulate as well.

[pbiJim]

Originally Posted by Bellinghamster

.... Air in any type of suit (including the air bubbles in the neoprene foam of a wetsuit) compress with depth, which reduces buoyancy as you go deeper (by half every 33ft)...

The first 33 ft cuts the air pocket buoyancy by 50%. To get another 50% reduction, you need another 66ft for a total of 99.

We start at 1 bar of air pressure at the surface. Pressure increases 1 more bar for each 33 feet of salt water or 34 feet of fresh water depth. 33ft is 2 bar. 66ft is 3 bar. 99ft is 4 bar. Gas reduces volume in direct proportion to pressure, assuming constant temperature. 2 bar gives you half the volume of 1 bar. 4 bar gives you 1/4 the volume of 1 bar or half the volume of 2 bar.

The blubber under your skin is also buoyant, but it does not compress like air does, so that buoyancy remains fairly constant as you descend.

If you need 8 pounds to be neutral with no suit & no BC, but you need 18 pounds with the suit &/or BC on, then the 10 pounds is the portion of the buoyancy that will decrease with depth.


The deeper you get, the less your buoyancy changes per foot of depth change.