If you are a seasoned diver, you would know that every gear counts towards making your diving experience a rich and fulfilling one. From the head to toe, every diving gear has its own functionality that depends on several factors like body type and diving conditions. As these factors vary from person to person and location to location, choosing the right diving gear is therefore extremely crucial.
Why do we need a diving wetsuit?
The human body loses heat 25 times faster underwater than in air. And the deeper one gets when scuba diving, the colder the waters becomes. Without sufficient warmth, scuba divers may develop hypothermia and this can potentially lead to death.
The diving wetsuit is what keeps the diver warm and protects them from potentially harmful objects. What it does is that it allows a small amount of water to be heated up and circulated around the diving wetsuit using one’s body heat. This keeps the diver warm throughout the entire dive.
What are the different kinds of diving wetsuits?
Like many other gears, diving wetsuits come in many different shapes and sizes, each built differently to serve a different purpose. They come in different cuts depending on factors such as the temperature of the waters one will be diving in as well as body size.
Spring Suits
Otherwise known as Shorty Diving Wetsuits, Spring Suits end just above the elbows and knees. This type of diving wetsuit is usually made of a thin layer of neoprene that ensures a wide range of movement of the arms and legs. However, it only offers a small amount of insulation and should only be used for warm water dives.
Farmer John/Jane
These type of diving wetsuits – as the name farmer suggests, comes in two separate pieces. The first piece includes full legs connected to a sleeveless top while the other piece is a jacket. This composition increases the amount of insulation, making it a great option for cold-water diving. The double-layer setup also ensures great mobility in the shoulder area.
Full-Body
Considered the most common option, Full-Body Diving Wetsuits cover the diver entirely to the neck, wrists and ankles. This provides a great amount of insulation as it allows a small amount of water in, which then gets heated up by the diver’s skin. The fuller coverage also ensures more protection against sharp and harmful objects or critters.
Semi Drysuit
Semi Drysuits have little to no water circulation within. It covers the divers entirely to the neck, wrists and ankles. However, a watertight back closer keeps water out of the suit. These suits help to retain heat during dives but they require additional support to put on. These are great options for cold water diving as they help the diver to stay waterproof and warm.
Drysuit
As its name suggests, Drysuits keep divers dry and insulation mostly comes from what divers wear underneath the suit or the material of the suit. These types of suits are preferred by divers who are more experienced with cold water dives or rebreather dives. However, these suits require lots of maintenance and tend to be more expensive. They also come in two different designs:
Membrane or Trilaminate Drysuits
These types of drysuits are composed of three layers of laminated material that keep the diver dry. It does not provide any form of insulation. Divers will therefore need to keep warm through their undergarments. These suits are fast to dry, easy to clean and can handle diving in a variety of temperatures.
Neoprene Drysuits
Neoprene offers more warmth but at the cost of more weight. It is a type of rubber polymer that provides the necessary insulation and resistance for scuba divers to stay warm in colder waters. These types of drysuits are thicker and more compressed. This makes it thinner than a wetsuit, waterproof and reduces buoyancy changes during dives. As the suit keeps one warm, divers can rely on fewer undergarments. However, they are tougher to put on despite being more fitted and streamlined.
Features to Consider For Your Diving Suit
After deciding on the type of scuba diving wetsuit, there are several features to consider as well.
Fit
When it comes to fit, your diving wetsuit should neither fit too tight nor loose. In the case where your diving wetsuit is too tight, movement and breathing may be restricted. If it is too loose, cold water will seep in and cause the body to lose heat quickly.
A diving wetsuit should feel tighter on land than in water. The fit should be snug without being too tight and restricting. If it fits perfectly but the sleeves are too long, they can always be folded.
Gender
Wetsuits are usually built for specific gender body types as the panelling and thickness will vary between a male and female build. Unisex versions are available but they may not fit as perfectly as gender-specific ones.
Thickness
The thickness of the suit affects the amount of warmth retained when submerged.
Cold Water: Less than 10-18℃ (50-65℉); 7+mm thick neoprene.
Temperate: 16-24℃ (60-76℉); 5.5mm thick neoprene.
Warm: Greater than 25℃ (77℉); 3mm thick neoprene, or a shorty.
The thinner the diving wetsuit, the more flexibility one gets with less buoyancy. But this comes at the expense of warmth needed for colder waters.
Many diving suits come with a thinner construction on the arms, legs and shoulders so as to increase flexibility around those areas. Whereas for the chest and back areas, the construction is thicker to keep the diver’s core warm without affecting the range of movement.
Type of Neoprene
Neoprene is filled with nitrogen air bubbles that help trap water between the suit and the body to provide insulation as the water heats up from the body heat.
Neoprene comes in two main different types:
Closed-Cell Neoprene
This type of neoprene is common amongst wetsuits. It is a much stiffer and more durable type of neoprene as it features a closed-cell construction that insulates the diver effectively. This type of diving wetsuit is best used during short dives as it is less flexible and over time, may cause abrasions.
Open-Cell Neoprene
This type of neoprene features a porous interior that allows the diving wetsuit to fit tighter. It may require lube to put on but makes it less abrasion prone and more insulating. These suits may not last as long as the closed-cell options.
Seams
Diving wetsuits come with various types of seam construction. Different types of seams will also affect the suitability of the wetsuit for different diving conditions.
Overlock Stitch
Overlock stitches sit inside the diving wetsuit and are the least effective at keeping water out. This type of stitching may cause chafing and is often used in suits that are reserved for warm water diving.
Flatlock Stitch
Flatlock stitches sit on the outside of the diving wetsuit where separate pieces of material and stitched together by railroad-style threads. The interior seam is flat, making it comfortable against the skin. Water will still seep through and as such is often used in diving wetsuits for warm water diving.
Blind Stitch
Blind stitches sit on the inside. But the separate pieces of material are often glued together first before being stitched. This ensures that water does not seep through as much as possible. When it comes to Blind Stitching, there are two different types. The first is Double Blind-Stitching which adds a layer of stitching on the outside as well. The other is Blind-Stitching with Fluid Seal (or seam taping) which means that the stitches are reinforced with tape. This ensures that water does not seep through, making this most suitable for cold water diving.
Conclusion
With this in mind, it is highly recommended that one considers all of the aforementioned details before buying a diving wetsuit. As there are many factors that affect the type of diving wetsuit one should get, it is always important to research and study the conditions of your dive before purchasing one.
