Northwest Dive Club

I have a question! I'm a new diver! I just finished dive #15 and I'm just using my whites undergarment but I've been getting a bit chilly toward the end of my dives! I hear there are a few opinions! Which is better the Wheezle Extreme Plus or a personal diving heater? Any info would be greatly appreciated!
Happy Diving Everyone!!!

I adore my Weezle Extreme Plus. Are you wearing any layers under your current undergarment?

Just some workout pants and a tank top and long sleeve shirt on top.
Glad to hear you like the Weezle!

You might want to try some base layers before new undergarment. I wear either REI's expedition weight thermals or a fleece layer similar to this http://www.diverightinscuba.com/catalog ... -3187.html under my weezle. A workout/sports bra and booty shorts under that, no cotton to trap moisture. Definitely something that is moisture wicking - in the summer I sweat so much gearing up that the sweat turns to ice water if it stays near my skin, making me super cold. :(

A lot of people swear by polypro, capilene, silk, or smartwool base layers too. There are lots of options.

My Weezle Extreme is great for most of the year. I have an Extreme+ but I've only used it a couple times because it was too thick under my drysuit. Maybe I'll give it a go again since they do pack in over time.

throw the sweats away, get good wool, I wear a set called minus 33 under my weasel extreme. Usually stay warm unless I'm too much longer than an hour then I start getting cool.
Check with John Rawlings on this board for a good price

Which Whites undergarment are you using? The MK2 is completely inadequate for Puget Sound diving, in my personal opinion. The MK3 and Thermal Fusion are reasonable options. I use nylon-bonded fleece from KamGear as a base layer, and it works very well.

The suit heaters work, but the investment, by the time you have the bulkhead, the canister, the battery, and the vest, is in the neighborhood of $1000 to $1200. Better undergarments are a cheaper place to start.

Suit heaters are finicky. I have one and avoid using it unless its a really long dive in really cold (<46F) water.

I am quite pleased with the weezle extreme plus. Works great, warm as I can imagine, and lasts a lot longer than competing products which seem to lose loft rapidly after a year or 2.

Which whites undergarment? I had the mk2 and was ok not great. I upgraded to he thermal fusion and it's nice and cozy.

Order of things to add or upgrade by cost and convenience, IMHO All of which make a noticeable difference:

- Thick, warm socks or thinsulate type booties
- Technical base layer
I enjoy medium and extra warm REI and Patagonia poly type stuff
- Thicker, better fitting hood, newer, with smallest sensible face hole
- Dry gloves (my favorite!)
Warning: you can't really go back to wet hands unless you are in 67º+ water
- Superduper undergarment
I have more than one (old one, less effective) Santi BZ400, hear good things about weezle and 4th element too
- Dry hood (?)
- Argon
- Electric Heat
. vest
. undergarment
. all the above plus gloves
Like rjack said Re: electric heat: expensive, finicky wet connections, putting an additional hole in your drysuit, keeping inside wiring in good shape, dry, connector incompatibilities, flooded wires, soldering, etc.
- CCR
Obvious cost and complexity drawbacks but works very well!!

I typically do 60-120 minute dives avg: 70-80 minutes. With all the above except electric heat, I get a little chilly starting at 50-70 minutes especially on tri-mix decompression dives.

Great advice above.

A baselayer (REI medium or heavyweight underwear) coupled with whatever drysuit undergarment should get you from cold to spicy if not downright hot. Alone, they might even work better than the undergarment itself.

What neckseal do you use? A neoprene neckseal will also give you a nice boost in toastiness.

Before you go to the complications and expense of a dry hood, the 12mm Otter Bay hoods are great. Many of us use one. They are strictly custom and Cricket will keep your measurements on file so you can reorder when it wears out (~250 dives or so and the thinner face seal parts get kinda worn out). When you get measured by a friend, try to have your reg in your mouth, it helps with the chin/jaw comfort later.

http://www.otterbaysuits.com/wetsuits.cfm

Like being wrapped in a mummy...

if the waterproof hood (the brand waterproof) 5/10 fits your noggin it is amazing. Middle of winter my head comes out steaming and it has a nice neck flap for tucking in that stays in as opposed to popping up into 'cone of shame' mode. I buy the in bulk (well, at least I always have a spare on the shelf I love them so much)

+1 on the Waterproof Laura mentions. Its the warmest and most comfortable hood i've ever worn. (combined with my Weezle Extreme Plus and Argon, I rarely use the heated vest anymore)

SilentWorld in Bellevue sells them.

http://www.waterproof.eu/en/products/ac ... /h1-5-10mm

The ARGON suggestion also makes a big difference.

Plus some decent dry gloves and thick socks and you'll be super toasty.

.

I've learned over the last two years of experimentation that thickness matters more than insulation (especially in my feet). It also helps keep the suit tight without leeway.

So if I change out my thermally-awesome-but-thin socks for thermally-mediocre-but-thick socks, the argon being held by thicker socks works wonders. The thickness also means that I can put more gas in my suit without it getting wobbly.

Also, +1 on all those underarmor recommendations. I use two very thin layers of high-performance thermals meant for himalayan climbing that don't retain moisture. Even in winter I'm freakin toasty for hours.

Me too, though noticed my hands feel colder in wet gloves ever since I started filling my suit with Argon.

Not sure if that's a placebo effect or real.

with my heated vest, my hands are usually freezing too.

its probably because you trick your body to not go into vasoconstriction and therefore your hands feel colder because it has more blood flow? not sure. but ive had that exact same experience, especially with a super warm core using heated vest.

ljjames wrote:if the waterproof hood (the brand waterproof) 5/10 fits your noggin it is amazing. Middle of winter my head comes out steaming and it has a nice neck flap for tucking in that stays in as opposed to popping up into 'cone of shame' mode. I buy the in bulk (well, at least I always have a spare on the shelf I love them so much)

Must two available at all times great product. Good design and very nicely made as well.

Two things... and i know folks have mentioned the first here but so it doesn't get lost in the shuffle.

1) the first thing before fancy gloves and hoods and suit heaters and argon - get warmer undergarments. you didn't mention how many minutes it is before you get chilled...

2) tight wrist seals can make hands cold just as fast as vasoconstriction.

Also, of note, where you place your equalization tube for dry gloves when worn with internal seals, can impact blood flow (look at anatomy of wrist, don't bring it out over an artery, the extra lump can in fact impede flow, same with being careful of the median nerve/aka carpal tunnel - a lump under the seal pressing right on that area can make hand numb and tingly very rapidly, especially if you are already pre-dispositioned.

I first noticed the tight wrist seal thing accidentally. a long time ago I'd generally use inner seals with my dry gloves only on 'bigger' dives and it always seemed like my hands would get much colder than with exact same inner liner/glove combo when worn without wrist seals, even with good equalization tube. YMMV.

Thinking of getting that Waterproof 10mm hood, but does the long bib just sit on the outside of your suit? I just have a bag suit with nowhere to tuck it? Dumb rookie question? Thanks.

thechadmiller wrote:Thinking of getting that Waterproof 10mm hood, but does the long bib just sit on the outside of your suit? I just have a bag suit with nowhere to tuck it? Dumb rookie question? Thanks.

The bib on mine kept folding up and annoying me. I trimmed an inch or so and it's been great.

Does the "Waterproof" brand hood keep the hair dry or somewhat dry......I have long hair and get cold more from sopping wet hair. I've a hair dryer I plug into my car and that helps a little but it can't dry out the hair entirely...

Not really... I mean the top of my noggin sometimes has a dry patch but for sure its still a 'wet hood'. The difference between it and pretty much every other hood i've worn though is that if its a cool enough evening you can actually see the steam coming off my head when i pull off my hood, and both inside of hood and head are warm to the touch.

I have a couple really good hats that i wear for the problem you are describing. Well, and I cut off pretty much all my hair so a quick towel dry and pop on the hat and ...good to go