Dry suits are a substantial financial investment and important piece of Scuba gear especially if you’re diving in cold waters. If not just because you paid a lot to own your own dry suit, it’s important to maintain and take care of it to prolong its life and to offer the best thermal protection when you dive. Unlike maintaining wetsuits, drysuits have a lot more technology and components that need attention when looking after it. The watertight zipper is probably the most important of the parts of a drysuit. Designed by NASA, the zipper is also the expensive part of a dry suit and responsible for keeping the water out and you dry.  The neck and wrist seals too serve this purpose and are made up of a latex rubber that needs care.  The air inlet and exhaust valves too need maintenance to keep them functioning well.

Here’s a few tips for maintaining your dry suit:-

• Before donning your drysuit, it’s important to lubricate the seals with *unscented talcum powder (*scented talc often contains chemicals that degrade rubber) and the zipper with pure paraffin wax.
• Soon after the dive the first thing you should do is cover the inlet valve with a protective cap. Most tears or pinholes come from rubbing against the sharp edges of this valve.
• Dust or brush of as much sand and dirt off the drysuit before packing it at the dive site.
• Give you dry suit a good rinse with lots and lots of water, washing off all the dirt, sand and salt from all parts. Pay special attention to the zipper. If the inside of the suit is still dry it need not be rinsed, if it did get wet then it’s best to wash it out too.
• Then give the valves a good blast with compressed air to dry them.
• Open the zipper and hang upside down by the feet to dry.
• After completely dry, close the zipper and lubricate the outer teeth with pure paraffin wax. If the zipper contains dirt or grit, clean it with a tooth brush and mild soap and water. Never close a dirty zipper.
• Dust unscented talcum powder on the wrist and neck seals again before storing.
• Store the suit rolled up or folded with zipper close. Make sure the zipper and valves are on the outside of the roll to prevent it from snagging. You can also hang up your dry suit on a hanger for storage.
• Store the suit in an airtight bag in a cool, dry location away from any heat sources.

See, it’s pretty straightforward and easy to put to practice. It’ll stretch the life of your drysuit a good couple of years keeping you warm and dry on many a dive.

* Pictured above: Bare 2007 Nex-Gen Dry Suit Mens Black, Pinnacle 2008 Freedom Drysuit Unisex available at LeisurePro.com

Winter’s here, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up diving and wait for the temperatures to rise. Dry-suit up and dive on! Drysuits are an amazing piece of Scuba diving gear. No more shivers, chattering teeth, skin turning blue and the loss of feeling in your hands and feet on less than tropical dives. Dry suits as the name suggests keep you dry when you’re wearing them except for maybe your head and hands. They enable divers to make more and longer dives than using a wetsuit in temperate waters and not to mention the the option to experience rarer dive sites in cold waters.

Drysuit Styles
All dry suits are full length and cover the entire body unlike wetsuits which come in options of shorties and full length wetsuits. However, drysuits are available in different materials. Neoprene drysuits are made of the same material as wet suits, except they exclude water. Shell dry suits are the more popular versions that consist of two pieces. They are loose fitting suits that provide ‘double protection’ with an insulating layer of air between the two materials. The outer part of a drysuit is a waterproof shell made from materials like neoprene, foam rubber, or a hybrid of both while the second layer is an undergarment, also made of several materials including bunting, open foam ThinsulateTM that provides insulation.

Important Features in a Dry Suit

Watertight zipper: Originally developed by NASA to hold air inside astronaut space suits, dry suits have a these special waterproof zippers to keep drysuits dry. Commonly fitted across the back of the shoulders, drysuit zippers can also be placed diagonally across the front of the torso, on the side, or straight down the middle of the front or back. They’re the most expensive part of a dry suit, but the most important to keep water out.

Wrist/neck seals: Dry suits seal at the wrist and neck to keep water out. Made of neoprene or latex rubber, these need to seals need to fit snugly without cutting of circulation, but keeping water from going in.

Air Exhaust valves: As air forms the key layer of protection between the two shells, dry suits feature valves to release air that balloons out the suit as air in the suit expands on ascent. Some modern dry suits have valves so you can add air as you descend or release it as you come up to accommodates the pressure change. Due to this feature divers need not use a buoyancy compensator (or BCD) and buoyancy control differs from wearing a regular wetsuit.

Tips for Buying a Drysuit

• Unlike a wetsuit, a drysuit should be a little loose fitting on the body so you can wear clothing in it comfortably or undergarments for extra insulation, but not too loose so the air bubble inside plays havoc with your trim and buoyancy. The wrist and neck seals however, have to be snug and tight enough to keep water out without cutting off blood flow.
• Choose your undergarment when choosing your dry suit. That way you can try them both on.
• Look for drysuits with thigh pockets. These are a good thing and provide the best place to store those needed small things that you want with you on your dive. Much easier to reach than the pockets of your BC.
• Some suits feature suspenders which make it much easier to don and wear since they help keep the waist up where it needs to be rather than “baggy-ing” downwards.
• Lastly, make sure the exhaust valve of the suit is in the proper place which is usually between the shoulder and elbow, pointing straight up when you hold your arm level with your shoulder. If it’s not in the right spot, then the air won’t escape adequately as it expands, which could prove dangerous during ascents.

*Products Featured above: Pinnacle 2008 Freedom Drysuit Unisex, Bare CD4 Men’s Pro Drysuit, Bare Nex-Gen Pro Dry Suit Mens Black. All available at LeisurePro.com

A common question from divers and non divers alike is what’s the difference between a wetsuit and drysuit and how can you tell one from the other. The most obvious answer comes from the name itself- a drysuit keeps you dry and a wetsuit doesn’t.  Then the question arises, why use a wetsuit instead of a drysuit? Here’s a closer look into exposure suits or exposure protection as they are called in Scuba Diving.

The Need to Wear an Exposure Suit
When diving in waters cooler than your body temperature, it brings down your temperature. In even the warmest, tropical waters, you tend to need a bit of thermal protection to keep warm on long dives. Hence, the need to wear an exposure suit like a wetsuit or dry suit. Another plus of wearing a wet or drysuit is that it provides your skin protection from the harsh sun, which divers seem not to notice when they are underwater but still affects our skin.

Wetsuits
The most popular form of thermal protection for divers is the wetsuit. Made from neoprene, a synthetic rubber foam filled with thousands of tiny gas bubbles, wetsuits work on the principle that your body is the best source of heat.

Wetsuits fit snugly, close to the body. Once you enter the water the material allows a thin layer of water through the suit filling the space between your body and the inner layer of material. This layer of water warms up because of your body temperature and it helps to keep you warm throughout your dive. A loose fitting wetsuit will let water flow in and out of the gap between the wetsuit and your body has to waste energy heating the “new” water making it pointless to wear.

Wetsuits come in various thicknesses providing more protection and insulation for colder waters and lighter insulation in warmer waters. Some scuba divers can dive in tropical water wearing only a lycra body suit, commonly known as a dive skin, while others need a 2mm wet suit. Some scuba divers can dive in cold water wearing only a 6mm wet suit, while others need the protection of a dry suit. If you are scuba diving in water below 55F (12.7C), a dry suit is the warmest type of thermal insulation available.

Drysuits
Drysuits as the name describes keep you completely dry. A dry suit can be made out of foam neoprene, crushed neoprene, vulcanized rubber or heavy-duty nylon. They use a combination of wrist seals, a neck seal and a waterproof zipper to keep you dry. Drysuits fit more loosely than wetsuits and allow you to wear clothes or other insulating layers underneath.

Drysuits allow you to add air in between the layers of material from your tank which provides insulation which is also why maintaining neutral buoyancy in a dry suit requires different skills than maintaining buoyancy in a wetsuit. Drysuit diving usually takes some getting used to and there are special courses to teach it.

Drysuits have inflator valves, which allow you to add air into the dry suit, and an exhaust valve, to release air from the dry suit. Commonly found on the outside of the left bicep and the exhaust valve automatically releases air as you ascend. The inflator valve is similar to the power inflator on a buoyancy compensator vest and is often situated on in the middle of your chest on the suit.

Exposure Suit Recommendations

76°F – 86°F     1/16″ (1.6mm) neoprene or lycra dive skin/wetsuit
69°F – 84°F     1/8″ (3mm) neoprene wetsuit
64°F – 77°F    3/16″ (5mm) neoprene wetsuit
49°F – 75°F    1/4″ (6.5mm) neoprene wetsuit
33°F – 66°F    3/8″ (9.5mm) neoprene, drysuit

Temperature and  Suit Thickness based on average manufacturer recommendations

Pictured above: Henderson H2 Titanium Women’s 3mm wetsuit, Bare CD4 Men’s Pro Drysuit available at www.leisurepro.com