Northwest Dive Club

Hello everybody,
new to PNW diving, looking forward to getting in the water here soon. I have many questions lined up but I'll start by asking what the adequate undergarment should be. I only dove warmer waters (62F and above) and my Pinnacle Black Ice (4mm crushed neoprene) with a tshirt was enough. I use a 7mm dry hood and 5mm wet gloves. Any suggestions?
Thank you!

Contact John Rawlings on this Board, He is a dealer for the WEEZLE undergarment. there is no other one to buy, NO OTHER ONE TO BUY. don't waste your money on trying other brands BUY A WEEZLE. Plus John is super cool for the he is. Keeps you warm, dries so fast if your suit floods, wicks like nothing else, super light.

One piece of advice, buy it a bit big if you are betweed sizes. Oh did i mention they are THE BEST, THE WARMEST, and John is the NICEST EVER

BJ

I'll second BJ's recommendation of Weezle (and of John as the source)!

The hood and gloves should be fine... until you decide you want to go dry there as well. Then it's a whole 'nuther can of worms. Welcome to the PNW and NWDC. Come out and dive with us a bit and see the different combinations available and in use.

There are options. Not that wheezle's aren't the cats meow and for sure John is tops but hey some guys get by with sweats or long johns though I would not recommend either. If your around the south end checkout Tacoma Scuba. They have a pretty good selection and good prices.

The black ice by pinnacle is a drysuit.....

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The Black Ice is a fairly thick dry suit and has a wool lining. You may not need the absolute thickest undergarment there is out there. Weezle makes several weights of undergarment. In addition, there is the 4th Element undergarment, which is like a multi-layered sweatshirt -- that's what my husband uses, and it has the advantage of being in two pieces and being safely and repeatedly washable. (I don't like it, because it isn't warm enough, but I don't have a thick compressed neo dry suit.)

The Weezles are light and soft and snuggly, though . . .

I'm currently using the Fourth Element Arctic set and found that it keeps me just as warm as the Weezle Extreme I had been using previously. They are both great products, and as long as they fit you properly, will keep you warm and happy, especially under a 4mil layer of neoprene.

Thanks everybody, much appreciated.

How do you like the Black Ice suit? It sounds like the wool lining is a definite help in keeping you warm, but does it get ikcy after a while? (Technical term, I know.)

And most people I know use dry gloves, but I've stayed with my 5mm wet gloves. I've seen too many failures with dry gloves to deal with the hassle, and my hands stay pretty toasty with the ones I have.

Dry gloves failing??????

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cardiver wrote:Dry gloves failing??????

You wouldn't know anything about them leaking, would you Ron????

ktb wrote:

cardiver wrote:Dry gloves failing??????

You wouldn't know anything about them leaking, would you Ron????

I hope not to after my new Si Tech rings arrive......

When I buy a new undergarment, it will be a weezle, I've only heard good things about them and I've tried several on and they do seem like the very best.

I hated my USIA undergarment. Ever since, I've managed layering Patagonia fleece and it's worked well enough. The advantages to doing layers is that you can add and subtract depending on the time of year and fluctuations in weight and it's less restrictive.
g

I have a 3.5 mm crushed neoprene Waterproof Draco drysuit. I find with standard military issue polypropylene thermals and a USIA single layer fleece I'm good to go down to 48 degrees. The military issue polypropylene wicks the sweet away from my body and the USIA fleece adds the need insulation layer. Did I mention they were real cheap?

Set of military polypro's $32, used USIA fleece $25, enjoyment of the underwater knowing I've saved a bunch of money - priceless.

jeffgerritsen wrote:I have a 3.5 mm crushed neoprene Waterproof Draco drysuit.

where did you get your Draco from... if I may ask

Simply scuba carries them. They are in the UK and they have great prices/ customer service.

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For those contemplating a Weezle -


**Amazing undergarments.

**If you run cold or will use it primarily in the Winter get the Extreme PLUS, not just the Extreme.

The Extreme is fine, and works great for lots of folks through the Winter. However... at the end of 70 minutes underwater in the Winter even the extreme starts to get a bit chilly. I'd hate to drop 3 to 4 scuba units for an undergarment and them be COLD... even a little bit.

Heck, buy one of each!

I dive a 5 mil compressed neoprene drysuit with a 100 weight polartec fleece jumpsuit. I am very infrequently cold... my hands are the first thing to get cold after 45 mins of diving, and i have a fleece vest i can put over for extra warmth. The 100 weight fleece is VERY thin.

The weezle and fourth element undergarments as mentioned are very warm, but likely too warm for a neoprene suit. They are more frequently used by someone in a laminate suit, tri-lam or other.

+1 on the weezle extreme plus. I did an 80 min dive last week at the Muk in it and stayed warm until the last ~5 mins.