Exposure Protection

[mermaid]

Hi Everyone,

Looking for suggestions...please consider the following...

Current gear: 7 ml wetsuit, gloves, hood, booties, under armour, (not much "personal insulation").  I'd rather not have to wait to go diving until the water warms up (in June).  Considering a 3 ml vest.  Short of a drysuit, would this be enough?  What else is recommended?  Additional weight recommendations would also be very helpful. 

If ANYONE has an suggestions, feel free to respond.  THANKS!!  mermaid

[grumpie]

Bring along a large thermo of hot water to pour in your suit that will help. Bring two if your going to make two dives.

[jeffberry]

Stay above the Thermocline!

[mattd]

Really the thing I can think of warmer than what you list short of a drysuit would be a farmer jane type suit.  This would put 14mm of neoprene on your core.  Preheat it with warm water and that's about the best you can do for now.

[DetectorGuy]

There are two schools of thought on the warm water in the wetsuit that I heard, and I don't know for sure which way to go on that one. This is just what I heard so don't crucify my writing this:

1) If you pour water in the wet suit to warm the core, then the blood vessels expand and let the warmer blood from the core to flow faster to the extremities. The conduction of the colder water on the extremities cools this blood and then cools the core faster than if you had not poured warm water in the suit.

2) If you bring warm water in a cooler (minus the beer) and stand in this cooler between dives, keep your gloves and hood in it between dives too, your extremities will be warmer and your core won't be tricked into thinking it is warm. Therefore the blood vessels stay constricted and blood flow is reduced to these extremities and keeping the core warmer.

The mammilian reflex kicks in with the cooler water and it is pretty interesting how this works. Here is what Wikipedia says about it:

It kinda makes sense that you layer up with as much neoprene as you can safely weight down and go enjoy the increased viz in the spring.
...Besides it is mostly mind over matter...  If you don't mind, it don't matter.

[mattd]

I've read that theory, but I'm not sure I buy into it.  Wetsuits work because they try to trap the water by your skin so that you aren't losing as much heat - ie the water that your body lost heat to warm up stays put instead cold water being there.  The thicker the neoprene, the longer that water will stay warm.  Or, at least that's what I thought.

In that case, priming it with warm (not hot) water should just save you from having to lose the heat to warm it up.  The water in the suit ends up about the same whether it came from body heat or the cooler.

Of course, this all falls apart when you pee in the suit.........

[mermaid]

Don't mean to bypass the IMPORTANT information from everyone, which I do GREATLY appreciate, but Matt, how often do you pee in YOUR suit?  ;D

[Adam6521]

There is 2 types of wetsuit divers,
Ones that pee in their suits, and
Ones who lie and say they dont pee in their suits!

[Indigo Blues]

When I first dove at Isle Royal they all told me to drink a lot of water so that later when I started getting cold I could pee in my wetsuit. I had never heard of doing that before then and had never done it before then but I tried it on my second dive and it did feel better in more than one way.

Urine is sterile when it comes out - it's the thought that grosses most people out. Just rinse your suit out with fresh water and no harm no foul.

Like Adam said there are two type who pee in their wetsuits

[DetectorGuy]

Yeah, I am on the fence on that one too. A few things that I know work for sure is to minimize water transfer inside the suit. Tighter the better. Internal smoothskin seals at the wrist and ankles to minimize the introduction of the water your swimming in. Attached hood is a plus to make one less point of entry for cold water. Smoothskin seal at the face for that attached hood. Extra thickness of neoprene at the spine and kidney areas.

If you already have a 7 MM suit and it doesn't have these things, you could add a hooded vest either inside or outside of your existing suit. Inside would be better but if your existing suit is too tight, outside would work. A tight fitting hood to prevent heat loss from your head is better than a loose one. I don't know the exact numbers but a major point of heat loss is your head. Good 5 finger gloves like the 7MM Henderson Titanium Hyperstretch keep my phalanges toasty in the coldest ice water ($27.00 at Leisure Pro). If you are buying the gloves try to stay away from the gauntlet style or you will not be able to use them with a dry suit later. Also I would recommend to stay away from the "crab claw" 3 fingered glove unless you are up for a challenge.