View Full Version : Advice on use of drysuit
Hi
This is my first post on the forums, so hope I've posted this in vaugely the right area.
I've been diving for a couple of years and have had a drysuit for about a year now. I've successfully completed my Sports Diver training in it, but still do not feel confident with it. Most times I've used it I've descended, put some air in to stop the squeeze, felt comfy and got on with the dive. However, I've usually always reached a point where I've shot up without much control, despite having the arm dump open and squeezing for all I'm worth. All done with varying degrees of success.
I really enjoy diving and would love to feel confident going on the club trip to Plymouth at Easter, but having gone to Stoney Cove yesterday for a bit of extra practice and had the same problem again I'm thinking I'll either give it a miss (but have spent a fortune on kit so seems silly not to use it), or I'll go in my semi dry and hope it's sunny.
Sorry to have rambled a bit, but any advice would be very welcome.
Many thanks,
Karen
Hi Karen,
Don't be too dismissive/hard on yourself...the more you dive in it the easier it will get and you will begin to sense when venting might be a good idea.
A couple of questions/thoughts:
What type of drysuit is it; membrane or neoprene?
When do the ascents tend to happen; any time during the dive..towards the end?
How good a fit is the suit?
How much lead do you take/need?
Do you use the suit or your BC for buoyancy adjustment?
It could be that you generally have too much lead on which means you need too much air to maintain neutral buoyancy if you use the suit for this.
It could be that you dont have enough lead on to compensate for the weight of the air lost during the dive.
If the suit is too big then there will be more space for air to 'hide'.
Most of all, practise will definitely help...don't give up!
Let us have some answers to the above and maybe we can suggest some more tips.:)
Regards,
David.
Dave (Simmo)
06-04-2006, 14:31
Hi Karen,
i'm not qualified to instruct you in the use of a dry suit. But i had a few small drama's when i started using one and you WILL get past them.
But dont, i say again DONT, whatever you do miss out on your trip, take both suits, talk to the staff/instructors when you get there explain your issues and your worries this is BSAC they will help you through and in a couple of months it will be acient history.
Do you think that you might need a LITTLE more weight to compenste for the increased buoyancy of your cylinder(s) at the end of a dive? Have you tried doing a 3 mtr stop with your cylinder(s) down to 30 bar?
One other thing that I found useful to begin with was coming up using my own DSMB - you can afford to be a bit negative and "reel yourself up" (depending on your DSMB) + you have an immediate point of reference as to the speed of your ascent.
I use a cuff dump so I have no idea about auto dumps ..... it seems a few people use them these days. :)
David Walker
06-04-2006, 14:52
When you went back for more practice was that with an instructor or just a friend? If possible, explain the problem to one of your instructors and go do a couple of dives with them - its far more easy to spot and diagnose problems when we're in the water with you than from descriptions on here.
A few possibilities though:
Does your dump valve work? ie can you see bubbles coming out of it when you raise your arm? If its a shoulder dump, then remember that the highest point is your shoulder, and raising your arm won't help - consider what you're doing with your arm when you're trying to dump air.
Are you underweighted? If this probably usually only happens at the end of the dive, then that's a possibility. Maybe try adding an extra kg, see if it makes a difference.
Are you dumping air early enough? With a drysuit you tend to have to dump air slowly and early, rather than waiting til you've started to ascend - they aren't really designed for bouyancy control, and so the dumps aren't able to get rid of air quickly.
Another thing to consider is your BC. Even if you think its got no air in, you might find that what little is in there is expanding as you start to come up, and so even though you're drysuit is almost empty of air you'll not be able to stop it.
Personally, until you're comfortable in a drysuit, it might be worth trying to keep a bit of air in your BC throughout the dive. The reason for this is that, if you do start to lose control on ascent, you can always easily and quickly dump air from your BC - something that isn't possible from a drysuit.
In the end though, its impossible to tell what is causing your particular problem without seeing you in the water, so its best to try all these suggestions with an instructor.
One final thing to consider - it may be that you're not relaxed in the water? If you are uncomfortable, you might start to hold your breath a bit, which exaggerates the problem.
David
Hi
Genuinely amazed by speed and warmth of responses - many thanks.
To answer some of your queries...
It's a membrane suit, which fits reasonably well, but the legs are a bit long so I guess there's potential there for air to 'hide'.
The ascents tend to happen at any time - yesterday I was at 6m and had only been down for about 10 minutes and it happened - twice. Didn't feel confident enough to go for a second dive and go any deeper.
I've been taking about 30lb of weight on my belt.
I've tried using the suit for buoyancy, and the BCD, at various times, as a result of advice from other club members, but everyone says something different from 'I always just use my suit' to 'I just put a bit of air in the suit to stop the squeeze and then use my BCD'!
The use of the DSMB for ascent makes sense - maybe I should try that - but I do tend to feel nervous that I'll lose control and wonder if dealing with the reel at the same time will add to all of that.
HELP!
Many thanks again
Karen
Do you use any ankle weights?
If the legs are a little long.....and there is air in the suit...and you put yourself head-down (like maybe looking through the windows of the airplane cockpit at Stoney)...then all the air can rush to your feet. If they are weighted down a bit then it may help.
Do you think you need 30lbs of lead? If you took some off do you think you could still stay comfortable with less air generally in the suit?
Maybe take a couple or 4 pounds off (and put some of it on around your ankles if you havent already).
If you start mixing buoyancy control between the suit and the BC you have created two volumes that you need to manage...particularly on ascent. Keep things simple by only using one if you can.
If you can minimise the amount of air that you need in the suit then you will minimise any 'trouble' that it might cause you!
Keep with it.
regards,
David.
Hi
Genuinely amazed by speed and warmth of responses - many thanks.
To answer some of your queries...
It's a membrane suit, which fits reasonably well, but the legs are a bit long so I guess there's potential there for air to 'hide'.
The ascents tend to happen at any time - yesterday I was at 6m and had only been down for about 10 minutes and it happened - twice. Didn't feel confident enough to go for a second dive and go any deeper.
I've been taking about 30lb of weight on my belt.
I've tried using the suit for buoyancy, and the BCD, at various times, as a result of advice from other club members, but everyone says something different from 'I always just use my suit' to 'I just put a bit of air in the suit to stop the squeeze and then use my BCD'!
The use of the DSMB for ascent makes sense - maybe I should try that - but I do tend to feel nervous that I'll lose control and wonder if dealing with the reel at the same time will add to all of that.
HELP!
Many thanks again
Karen
30lbs = 13.6 kgs?
You are in the worst depth region for buoyancy (between 1 and 2 atmospheres) where up and down movements have the most impact on the volume of your buoyancy gas.
I have to say that 13 kgs (if my calcs are correct) seems very heavy for a membrane suit?
From the words you use I assume you are diving with a single cylinder? I'm 5'8" and weigh about 10 stone (THE proverbial weakling :)) and I needed about 8 kgs (18lbs) of lead on my belt. It may be (depending on your body type) that you need 30 lbs of lead but .........
The problem with overweighting is that every adjustment you make to your buoyancy has to be that much bigger and it is easy for a change to run away with you due to build up of momentum.
I would recommend (next time you are diving such shallow water) that you just stay at "the edge" and practice your buoyancy control.
Certainly at the beginning if a dive you won't come to any harm if you lose control at 6 mtrs and shoot up to the surface.
[EDIT]Oh, it might be worth checking to see if you have a slightly sticking inflator that is trickling gas into your suit or BCD/wing.
Chris Cherrington
06-04-2006, 15:56
It might be worth looking at one of the automatic dump valves. However, if I were you I would be inclined to look at taking a drysuit course. I know its money to spend and you should in theory get trained within the club, but if you want to get diving while the weather is good.....
I was lucky in that I bought my first drysuit secondhand from a shop who threw in a course. It wasn't perfect, but it was very helpful.
Meantime please be careful fast ascents are real bad news.
I hope you get it all sorted soon.
Best
Chris
Karen
The answers you have so far had have all been good.
I would say that 30lb seems excessive. The last time I assisted someone who was struggling with a drysuit I had a lot of trouble convincing them that they where wearing too much lead.
Most of those with drysuit bouyancy problems tend to add weight because they have uncontrolled ascents. This becomes self perpetuating, making things progressively worse.
As Finless states this means you have a larger volume of air to dump when ascending, & add when descending.
If you are wearing 5kg to much lead this means you have additional 5l of air in the suit that you must dump between 10m & the surface. This is an awful lot of air to get rid of through the dump valve.
Finless is also correct that the hardest area to control your bouyancy is in the shallow water (remember the volume will double between 10m & the surface) so small changes in depth have a significant effect on your bouyancy, especially if you have to much air in the suit to start with. (This is not a recommendation to go deeper!).
I would strongly recommend that you only use the suit for bouyancy once immersed. (As has already been stated, two volumes, suit & stab' are very confusing).
Ideally get a good instructor to help - preferably some one who teaches at Advanced Nitrox Level
Go back to the start.
Find some shallow water & an assistant (even a swimming pool).
Enter the water fully kitted without any weight. (ideally with only 30 bar in your cylinder)
Ensure the suit valve is fully open, then dump all the air from the stab' jacket.
(you should still be floating).
Add weight until you are floating eye level in the water (breath in come up, breath out submerge). This is about neutral. You will then need a couple of lb's more so that you sink.
In a meter of water or so do a fin pivot closing the drysuit dump valve progressively until you can do a successful fin pivot.
(You need to be able to close the drysuit valve partially) Ideally it should be closer to open (but NOT fully open) than closed.
Confirm that air is being released from the dump valve when you start to ascend. (It is possible that you undersuit is 'clogging' the dump valve, if so use an elastic bandage over the area of your arm directly below the dump valve).
If using an Auto dump (CVD) rather than a cuff dump
Remember to tilt your body so that the dump valve becomes the highest point, also bend the arm down (touch your left hand to your chest, lifting the elbow, this should make your left shoulder the highest point)- so that the air is not filling up your arm in preference to escaping from the dump valve.
Hope this helps, a good instructor & some practice should sort the problem out.
Gareth
Nick Kay
06-04-2006, 18:12
Hi Karen
I'm hoping to be at Stoney for a dusk dive in 2 weeks time. If you want to go in and do some buoyancy exercises, then I'm up for it
One of the problems regularly seen, is that when a diver has a problem with buoyancy and they decide they're under-weighted so they put on more weight and strangely, the problem gets worse...
(Or, a poor instructor / Dive Leader can't handle the trainee's buoyancy instructional needs and just gets them to add weigh because its the easiest answer)
Why? Well imagine you could be perfectly neutrally buoyant with no lead, you'd only need to add air to your suit to combat squeeze, so little air to expand/contract
Now, imagine you put on an additional 2Kgs - you'd need 2 litres of air to counter the additional weight. At 10m that'd be 4 litres, at 20m 6 litres, etc
So on the ascent, that air would expand and unless you dumped the air early enough you'd end up with an uncontrolled ascent and a belief you're under-weighted.
So, guess what - another 2Kg goes on and the cycle gets worse...
As the others have said, a test for neutral buoyancy is key here. Get that sorted and then its down to good instruction and as a result, good technique and as a result a confident & competent diver...
PM me if you want to go and have some :) in 2 weeks
Gary Sedgwick
06-04-2006, 19:38
Hi Karen,
You've had lots of good advice already! I think one suggestion you should follow above all others if you can - find an experienced (advanced) instructor, dedicate a day up at Stoney to solving the problem without anything else on the agenda, and just take it step by step until you've got it sorted. And you will - it's likely to be something silly that will make you curse after you've found what it is! I personally would also forget about DSMBs until you have - it's only giving you something else to worry about.
As you've heard, the weight you're carrying could well be an issue - either too much (I think more likely) or too little (if so, you probably experience difficulty descending at the start of the dive). You said the dump is on your arm, and I guess it's automatic as you said you have it open. If it's like mine (situated in the centre of the upper arm), you do have to raise your arm (or just the elbow) slightly so the dump is higher than the shoulder to allow the air out. Most dumps also allow you to dump air by pressing them - this overrides the automatic mechanism and opens the dump regardless - it's worth checking if yours does too. Assuming that's the case, theory says there should be a pretty much guaranteed way of stopping an ascent (assuming you've got enough weight on, which as I said is likely, and also that you're not inverted!): raise the arm with the dump (enough so the dump is higher than your shoulder), smack the dump with the hand on the other arm, and breathe out. You shouldn't really need to be forcefully squeezing the air out! You should see a load of air coming out the dump, and breathing out will help reduce your buoyancy further. The key is staying calm and remembering to breathe out - one of the problems that divers have early on is that buoyancy problems can often cause worry and the inclination to suddenly breathe in, making things worse! The effect your lungs have on buoyancy can be substantial.
Have a go (buddied with an instructor reasonably shallow) dumping the bit of air you put in to stop the squeeze, and practice it over and over again until you know you've got it sorted. If that's all working fine, progress on to setting the dump fully open, but not pressing it to dump air - just raising the arm. If that doesn't work, and you have to press the dump to get air out, double-check it's fully open... if it is, get it looked at by someone qualified! Once that's working you should be pretty much there.
There could be other things going on as people have said - e.g. the feed to the drysuit constantly letting air trickle in - but even so you should be able to get the air out the dump. I would concentrate on that first!
Hope that helps. As other people have said, don't give yourself a hard time or worry about it too much! Find a decent (or 'descent'???) instructor, take it calmly and step by step, and you should get it sorted in no time.
Gary
Alan Ewart
06-04-2006, 20:36
Karen,
You've already had some great advice. I too think you may carry far too much lead. I'm 6'2, 15.5 stone and only carry 9-10KGs in a compressed neoprene suit.
Have you tried checking the bouyancy charactaristics of the suit?
wear your normal undersuitsssss and get all the air out of your suit and jump in the pool with no weight to see if you float or sink. Once you have done this try again with your normal kit with 30 bar in your cylinder.
This really does sound like an air trap problem.
The other thing of course is that maybe the fact this has happened a few times has knocked your confidence, leading to you overbreathing and blowing your bouyancy out of the water. Try establishing a breathing rhythm. Breathing in for a count of five and out for a count of eight works for me, it helps to improve your gas consumption as well.
Hope that helps.
Alan
Phil Laughton
06-04-2006, 22:34
Hi Karen,
Have you done the Dry Suit SDC?. You can find it in the technical publications section. This SDC is one that should be taught before a new diver is taken into open water. It is a FREE course so your instructor would have no excuse for not teaching it.
I use a membrane suit with a 100gm undersuit but I only require 14lb ballast for fresh water and 18lb for salt water. I also use my BC for buoyancy control but inject a small amount of air into my suit to take the squeeze of my chest.
I hope all the advise given here helps you to enjoy your diving better.
Phil
Chris Cherrington
07-04-2006, 00:08
.....I would strongly recommend that you only use the suit for bouyancy once immersed. (As has already been stated, two volumes, suit & stab' are very confusing).
.....
I would strongly disagree. The purpose of adding gas to the suit is to stop squeeze. It is not a BCD.
It is a method that works under certain circumstances and types of suits but it is poor advice as a blanket recommendation.
Chris
David Walker
07-04-2006, 01:27
I would strongly disagree. The purpose of adding gas to the suit is to stop squeeze. It is not a BCD.
It is a method that works under certain circumstances and types of suits but it is poor advice as a blanket recommendation.
Yeah - I'm with Chris on this one.
IF you're weighted correctly, and IF you only have a small cylinder and don't use much air from it, then it might work. BUT breathing a full 12l cylinder loses you about 2kg ish of weight, which would mean if you were using your drysuit you'd need to have 2l of extra air sloshing around in there at the start of the dive that you don't need, don't want, and can't quickly or easily get rid of if you start to ascend. Also i'd tend to expect it would work better in neoprene suits than membrane - neo are generally closer fitting, and so the air moving around in them won't cause problems to the same extent that it might in a baggier membrane suit. If you're weighted perfectly, for a single cylinder dive you'd have about 2l of air in your BC at the start of the dive, and it would be empty by the end - and your drysuit would always have the same volume inside it, always keeping you warm yet without air sloshing around.
I also don't generally go for the idea that if you don't actively use your BC you can forget about it. Even if you aren't using it throughout a dive, it WILL have some air left in it, and that air WILL expand and contract as you go up and down. As a result, unless you are practiced and used to using the BC, then that air can cause problems.
At least if you're using the BC through the dive you know the air is there, and know you need to get rid of it on ascents etc. If you aren't using it, you forget about it, and what seems like a little bit of air can become a problem.
Take this example: When you jump in you don't quite get rid of all your air, but the extra weight of the cylinder means you can get down anyway. Once down the air has contracted and doesn't cause you problems throughout the dive. When you start to ascend, that air expands again, but this time you don't have the weight in your cylinder to counteract it. Despite dumping as much as possible from your drysuit, you can't stop the ascent. And because you haven't been using it, you don't think to try your BC. Result is a fast ascent - a bad thing! Far better in my opinion to get used to using both - you'll need to use both if you start adding things like a pony or twins later, even using a 12 or 15l for a long dive will be pushing the boundaries on what you can achieve using a drysuit alone for bouyancy.
Still, the most compelling reason for not using just the drysuit, especially when you're new to drysuits, is that the BC gives you a backup. If you find yourself ascending a bit too quickly, and you can't dump from the drysuit, its very very easy to get rid of a bit of air from the BC, halt your ascent, and sort out the problem - you just cannot do that if you're not using the BC four bouyancy.
David
Hi Karen
I think it is almost certain that you are overweighted - in 10 years I have yet to meet a diver that really needed 30lb of lead...but a few that thought they did. In 6m of water you don't have to ascend very far before the excess gas you are carrying in the suit, to offsett the overweighting, expands and overwhelms the dump valve.
Overweighting is a very common problem. It is fixed pretty easily although it might take a few dives. Learning to descend is the key to getting your weighting correct. Gary provided some great tips. I would add that you should take care to keep your fins still while trying to descend. A lot of people struggle because they do not realise that they are treading water with their fins. Every time they move their legs the fins push them back to the surface and they end up piling on lead to counteract the bad technique. When you descend, breathe out as hard as you can and don't move a muscle until you are a few feet under. Don't worry if you roll or start to descend on your bum, you can sort it out once you are under.
I would recommend that you try to ignore the argument about whether it is best to use drysuit only, BCD only or a combination of both. It does'nt matter how you control your buoyancy, just as long as you do control it. Experiment with different techniques and find the one which is most comfortable for you. All this stuff about drysuits not being designed for buoyancy control and the dumps being slow is pants IMVHO. Your lungs are capable of adjusting buoyancy by around 4Kg and they work a lot faster than any drysuit or BCD. Good buoyancy technique comes from good breathing technique (unless you buy a rebreather).
I would agree with Gareth that while you get to grips with the suit you may find it easier to use the BCD for surface buoyancy only and concentrate on the suit. I would also suggest practising some ultra-slow ascents, stopping briefly every meter and emptying any gas that may have been trapped in the BCD. Despite David's wonderfully scientific explanation, many divers find that a 12Ltr cylinder, correct weighting and little more gas than is needed to remove squeeze from the suit leaves them as close to neutral as they will get. You can experiment with your technique once you are confident that you are controlling buoyancy.
Hopefully a good buoyancy check will see you removing a bit of lead from your weightbelt and it will all become a bit easier. You should continue to do the occassional buoyancy check as weighting requirements are likely to fall as your confidence increases and your technique relaxes. You should also repeat buoyancy checks whenever you change equipment that significantly affects buoyancy (undersuits, cylinders etc). A bit of attention to your breathing technique will also help make your diving more comfortable - a yoga book will tell you what you are aiming for in this respect.
...and remember buoyancy control can ALWAYS be better. Don't ever stop trying to improve it.
David / Chris
I wondered if my statement 'only use the drysuit for bouyancy' would get a comment.
There definaely two schools of thought on this.
I can see the argument, just take off the suit squeeze, & control the bouyancy on the BC - but it seems to complicate things in my mind - two expanding air volumes rather than one.
I started with a membrane suit & now use compressed neoprene, I have always used the suit for bouyancy control. I have - on occassion - put air in the BC as well, this has always been a sign I have too much weight (normally because I've switched from single cylinder to twin 12's & stages without changing the weight belt).
Granted, periodically during the dive & prior to the ascent, check the BC is empty.
If people use both I used to accept it, Now I'm very anti' after a buddy of mine ended up in the pot. (He tried to arrest an uncontrolled ascent when the diver he was with lost control of his bouynacy - two expanding air volumes - he finally let go of the guy at 10m - the guy left the water when he hit the surface!)
I think we will have to beg to differ.
David - for reference
temperatures between 0-10deg C
7l 1.6kg (loss of weight start 232b to finish 50b) 2.1kg (loss of weight start 232b too empty)
10l 2.3kg (loss of weight start 232b to finish 50b) 2.9kg (loss of weight start 232b too empty)
12l 2.8kg (loss of weight start 232b to finish 50b) 3.5kg (loss of weight start 232b too empty)
Gareth
I would add that you should take care to keep your fins still while trying to descend. A lot of people struggle because they do not realise that they are treading water with their fins. Every time they move their legs the fins push them back to the surface and they end up piling on lead to counteract the bad technique. When you descend, breathe out as hard as you can and don't move a muscle until you are a few feet under. Don't worry if you roll or start to descend on your bum, you can sort it out once you are under.
Good advice that, I have seen loads of people fall into the trap of carrying to much weight by finning when they are trying to decend and not breathing out properly. For years we learn that when in the water out of our depth we need to tread water to stay put and if we do go underwater to breath in and hold it. Both of these are the complete opposite of what we want to do in scuba kit and it takes time to unlearn what we have been doing for years.
I would add that a good techinique to practise, at leatt to start with, is to cross your ankles when you want to descend, this makes it difficult to fin and therefore you can not do it subconciously. This takes away one problem so you can concentrate more on the other things going on.
HTH
Pete
Chris Cherrington
07-04-2006, 11:14
...
I think we will have to beg to differ.
Between experienced divers like ourselves that difference is OK. However, given the problems of the OP and the fact that its the DS giving a problem I think they are much better using a stab, which is presumably what they were taught to dive with. I don't have an particularly big issue with your point of view, just the context in which it appears.
Chris
Chris Cherrington
07-04-2006, 11:49
Hi Karen. By pure coincidence there's something here:
http://www.divernet.com/technique/0306drysuit.shtml
That you might find useful.
Chris
Hi
This is my first post on the forums, so hope I've posted this in vaugely the right area ...............................
Many thanks,
Karen
Wow Karen, you got stacks of advice from loads of people? I wonder if it is because Spring is in the air and you are a lady ............ or maybe we are all just really helpful people! :):):)
If you are unsure on how to test the answers given to resolve your problem then I would definitely add my voice to the "spend a day with an instructor/experienced diver and get it sorted" camp.
The problem you are suffering is so fundamental to diving that you will never relax and progress until it is resolved.
You will be surprised at how easy it is to resolve + what a difference it makes to your divng - good luck.
Hi everyone
Thanks so much for all your replies and advice. I'll be printing the whole lot out and mulling it over this weekend, then going to the club armed with some questions next week.
I did try to reply again yesterday, but had to re-register 3 times (yes, I am blond, but not totally stupid!) so could only get back to you all today. I'm genuinely taken aback by everyone's generosity and willingness to help, and despite the discussions, I feel enthused to get back in and give it a go. Just wish Stoney wasn't a 2 and a half hour drive away!
I think the key things I'll be thinking about are lead weight (I'm 5'7" and just over 10 stone - and I don't tell many men that!) and buoyancy at shallower levels, which is just what I was trying to get to grips with the other day, but not with an instructor.
I'll definitely be back with an update for you soon. And once again, many thanks.
Karen
I think the key things I'll be thinking about are lead weight (I'm 5'7" and just over 10 stone
And carrying 30 lb!!!!! Who ever told you that you needed that much weight, go and kick them now from me (and probably quiet a few others). I think you have just confirmed a few peoples opinion about you carrying too much lead.
Adrian Kelland
07-04-2006, 14:24
I did try to reply again yesterday, but had to re-register 3 times (yes, I am blond, but not totally stupid!) so could only get back to you all today.
Karen
Hi Karen,
What to you mean by re-registering?
Do you mean logging on and staying logged on?
Adrian
Karen,
To check your weighting properly there is no substitute for getting into the sea (assuming you will be doing sea diving) with your normal kit including torch etc and your cylinder down to 30 bar and then doing the buoyancy check. Don't forget to take someone to pass you lead! :)
I prefer the "I am with empty cylinders, comfortable in my drysuit (not squeezed) and am holding the 3 mtr stop" method.
Adrian
I came back to the forum a couple of hours after I'd first posted, but couldn't reply because I had been logged out (I think). As I'd only just registered I couldn't remember what my sign in name was (was it my email address, or just the short name etc etc) so ended up trying too many times and being barred.
Have re-registered and have a new password now (and know what my sign in name is!), but if you can tell me how to stay logged in, that would be great.
Many thanks
Karen
Adrian Kelland
07-04-2006, 16:42
Adrian
I came back to the forum a couple of hours after I'd first posted, but couldn't reply because I had been logged out (I think). As I'd only just registered I couldn't remember what my sign in name was (was it my email address, or just the short name etc etc) so ended up trying too many times and being barred.
Have re-registered and have a new password now (and know what my sign in name is!), but if you can tell me how to stay logged in, that would be great.
Many thanks
Karen
Karen,
You should be able to use the 'remember me' tick box. You might also have to add the forum to your trusted sites. This might be the case on some work based machines using Internet Explorer.
What was your other user name?
Adrian
Nick Kay
07-04-2006, 17:38
Karen,
You should be able to use the 'remember me' tick box. You might also have to add the forum to your trusted sites. This might be the case on some work based machines using Internet Explorer.
Equally, your PC might be set to clear the ie cache at log on/off and/or cache retention/history might be set to 0 days...
Gary Sedgwick
07-04-2006, 18:30
Karen, I worry you're in danger of information overload with this thread! However:
I would recommend that you try to ignore the argument about whether it is best to use drysuit only, BCD only or a combination of both. It does'nt matter how you control your buoyancy, just as long as you do control it.
Absolutely right, but for that to happen, you need to be comfortable dumping air from your drysuit - controlling your buoyancy with your BC isn't going to help if you can't dump the air in your suit that's causing you to ascend. I think given what you've said, you should concentrate on that for now and take the BC out of the equation. Along with DSMBs and anything else! One thing at a time...
I personally only use my BC at the surface (and I think that applies to just about everyone in my club!), and use my suit for buoyancy during the dive. I prefer that as I only have one buoyancy control to worry about on the dive: the suit, and I've always found I can control buoyancy fine with it. In fact, I'd say it's easier than a BC if you've got an auto-dump set correctly! But that's not to say it's the best method for everyone; the important thing is controlling your buoyancy, and that does mean being able to dump air from your suit if you need to.
Gary
Is there anything you lot can't advise on?!
Happily, I'm posting this reply without having to log in again, so guess I've sussed the 'remember me' thing.
Thanks guys
Karen
Is there anything you lot can't advise on?!
Probably not :D
Now whether we can give good advice on any subject, that is a different matter
AndyDavis
19-04-2006, 17:45
If you are only using the drysuit inflate to reduce 'squeeze' and not provide bouyancy, then you should not have much problems dumping air from it. If you ARE having problems dumping air from a drysuit, you should consider the following:
1. Is your undersuit obscuring the outlet valve? Some forms of undersuit 'loft' underneath the valve and my block the exit of air.
2. Are you using an auto-dump or cuff-dump? If auto-dump, is it fully opened for the ascent?
3. Is the dump valve held high enough? Air will rise, so the valve must be suficiently high to get the air out.
4. Is the dump working correctly? Can you see air exiting from it when you try and vent?
5. Are you dumping air early enough? A drysuit adds another means of bouyancy, but this has to be dumped alongside you BCD (if using that for bouyancy on the dive). Keeping 'on-top' of your air removal is essential before expansion leads to a run-away.
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