Kayak drysuit for diving the hull?

[SV__Grace]

Here in PNW I gotta trade my wet suit for a drysuit.

For inspecting the hull/prop, etc. a quick dip with a snorkel and mask (and light) is all that's needed. I have a hookah for spending more time down there to scrape, scrub, etc.

I can't find any information about using a kayak drysuit for diving. Is there any real difference between the kayak version and the scuba version other than the bouyancy valves that I don't think I need?

Would I regret getting a kayak drysuit to dive my hull?

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

Here in PNW I gotta trade my wet suit for a drysuit.

For inspecting the hull/prop, etc. a quick dip with a snorkel and mask (and light) is all that's needed. I have a hookah for spending more time down there to scrape, scrub, etc.

I can't find any information about using a kayak drysuit for diving. Is there any real difference between the kayak version and the scuba version other than the bouyancy valves that I don't think I need?

Would I regret getting a kayak drysuit to dive my hull?

Buoyancy is harder to control (air moves around). Doable, obviously.


Can tear on barnacles. Wet suit does not matter as much.


I have both. The dry suit is warmer but more fragile.


Better yet, haul the boat and use a good 2-year paint.

[Rumrace]

I’ve trained divers for dry suits. They are extremely dangerous in layman’s hands. I fellow instructor and myself rescued an certified diver off the bottom of the Olympic swimming pool. We left the class we were training to grab a side each. The arm valve blew water in after jamming. Was a top quality Whites Suit but valves had not be serviced for years A trilam dry suit is the ticket today for cold long compression dives. A Wet suit or old water like Scuba Pro and Bare have arctic wet suits with 7mm and 5mm on the torso 5 mm on arms and legs. I’ve gone ice diving and. body recover under the ice in one. Getting training for a dry suit please. Your local NAUI Scuba instructor can help. .

[Manateeman]

Same for Gumby suits. It’s easy to get a lot of water inside. With Gumby, you just freeze to death. The above advice is spot on the money.

[Cwens]

I have a dinghy dry suit (very similar to a kayak drysuit) that I wear for frostbiting. I've been swimming in it many times. I am also a scuba diver and am familiar with buoyancy control.



The dinghy drysuit traps a lot of air and is very buoyant. It's very hard to submerge yourself while wearing it. Once I wanted to retrieve a tool dropped off the pier, and I had my friend stand on the pier and hold a dinghy mast with the end stuck into the bottom next to the dropped tool, about 10 feet down. There was enough buoyancy in the suit that it was hard to pull myself hand over hand down the mast to grab the tool. It has no dump valve. If you do manage to dump the air (by stretching the collar, for example) you then have no way to put more air back in), so adding a weight belt would strike me as a bad idea.

[Rumrace]

It’s when a surface dry suit becomes flooded it’s a death trap. A Diving dry suit has two valves. You can get air trapped in legs and know how to get it back to your chest. It a part of decompression deep diving training and rarely has anything to do with scuba sport diving. The only reason they are warmer is because of the argon gas in them. You run out of argon while breathing helium and 17% ox you’ll freeze.
Please see a scuba instructor or rent a 5mm suit boots and hood. In December water in Lake Ontario I’ve dove the shipwreck Sligo. Just for kicks we’d be the last group to dive it. The Sligo deck is 38f pretty consistent. Warm as toast for 30 minutes. Hot back on the surface. There is no benefit to a dry suit for work around boats except chemicals. Whites has a special suit for that requires a Super Light helmet and collar. We wore them in front of Ontario place because of some ugly harbour bottom pollution. Destroyed neoprene gloves. Again when we went to rescue 2 scuttled city ferries. Scuba shop called all the commercial divers in.
Most of us scuba divers cringe when we hear about folks using hookah. As long as they don’t dive with them we are okay. We know the temptations there we have it.

[fstbttms]

Take this bit of advice from a hull diver with 28 years experience cleaning boat bottoms- You will regret using an exposure suit not specifically designed for diving, I guarantee it. You don't necessarily need to spend big bucks on a dry suit however. Consider an open cell spear suit, such as those available from Yazbeck or Mako. Super warm and comfortable and relatively inexpensive. I use them all year long and will never go back to diving traditional dry suits.

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

Take this bit of advice from a hull diver with 28 years experience cleaning boat bottoms- You will regret using an exposure suit not specifically designed for diving, I guarantee it. You don't necessarily need to spend big bucks on a dry suit however. Consider an open cell spear suit, such as those available from Yazbeck or Mako. Super warm and comfortable and relatively inexpensive. I use them all year long and will never go back to diving traditional dry suits.

Hey Matt, thanks for your input! Never heard of an "Open Cell Spear Suit" and the Yazbeck website touts-

"This Yazbeck SNYPER Wetsuit is a 100% dry, essential and life preserving wear, with added protection from the elements, like no other ever made by any other brand or factory, anywhere in the world. Guaranteed!"

So it's a wetsuit that keeps you "100% dry?" I'm confused. Can you explain a bit more about that?

Bonus question- On your website I notice you recommend PropSpeed which I used on my prop and shaft on my last haulout (12/2021). What's your experience with it a year or two after installation? Still able to "wipe off" growth and barnacles?

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

So it's a wetsuit that keeps you "100% dry?" I'm confused. Can you explain a bit more about that?

Open cell suits fit so snugly that water doesn't enter and move around like it does in traditional wetsuits. That said, water DOES get in. Very little, but it does. Never having used the Snyper, I cannot verify the claims made on the Yazbeck website.

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

What's your experience with it a year or two after installation? Still able to "wipe off" growth and barnacles?

Two years is a stretch. I find Propspeed performs well for a year, year and a half tops. Here in the Bay Area, it definitely doesn't last as long as properly applied, high quality copper-based anti fouling paint on the hull does.

[Sand crab]

I had a Kokotat kayak drysuit in the PNW but I only used it for above surface yakkin. It cost about $730 but was actually too hot for me so I sold it. Be aware that there are different grades of drysuits with the "cheapest" ones like mine are really just a full body Goretex raincoat. They are splash proof but not waterproof.

[Chotu]

Reading this thread, I’m wondering what suit I used to have. it rotted from bad storage.

it was called a dry suit.

there was a hood. It fit into a neck area. Zipped right up. Extremely tight fitting. When you went in the water no water got into the material. It was completely watertight. There were no valves. When you went underwater, often water went shooting down the neck and it was freezing for a second or two. But then it warmed up to your body temperature pretty quickly.

what kind of suit was that?

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Chotu

There were no valves.

It wasn't for diving, that's for sure.

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Reading this thread, I’m wondering what suit I used to have. it rotted from bad storage.

it was called a dry suit.

there was a hood. It fit into a neck area. Zipped right up. Extremely tight fitting. When you went in the water no water got into the material. It was completely watertight. There were no valves. When you went underwater, often water went shooting down the neck and it was freezing for a second or two. But then it warmed up to your body temperature pretty quickly.

what kind of suit was that?

I believe you describe what in windsurfing we call a semidrysuit.
A wetsuit with extra seals or velcro straps at feet, wrists and neck so that the little water which can get in does get warmed by the body but has a hard time circulating out again.

Btw. I recently saw small weight belts for legs and arms which can help balancing when diving a boat bottom by Hookah in a thick wetsuit.
You wear them together with your normal weight belt, which obviously needs a quick release.

[team karst]

I just got out of my drysuit a couple hours ago. Look, a drysuit danger is overblown in the context of cleaning boat bottoms using snorkeling gear. U will be using around 20 to 30lbs of lead just to submerge yourself in either a neoprene or trilam suit. If something stupid happens, drop the lead and you WILL surface. However, i would go with a semi-dry, 6mm or so and u will do ok to the mid ‘40’s or so of water temp. This is a working dive with sharp objects. Keeping seals good on the drysuit will be a challenge over years of use.