18 replies to this topic

[damselfish]

Saturday in San Carlos I went on a three tank dive. The water temp was 81 degrees/ air 80 degrees. I did three shallow dives off San Pedro Island (sooo cool, lots of seals that play with you underwater). Max depth 35 ft or so. We went down three times for an hour each with an hour surface interval each. I weigh 135 lbs and had on a 3mm full suit, no hood, no gloves. Each time I came up I took off my wet suit and put on a shirt and jacket and sat in the sun and was plenty warmed up by the next dive. I even had coffee. 20 minutes into the next dive I was getting cold but was diving with a buddy I just met on the boat and didn't want to turn around and I was leaving the next day so I didn't want to abort. Besides I'm terrible at navagation and didn't know where the boat was. (yes taking that class is a priority for me now - I have a alot to say about that but that should be a different thread about dive training- they let me slide too easy) Anyway, sooo I stayed for the hour and was shivering under water some but not too bad. When I came up I wasn't cold so I put on a tank top and shorts for the ride home. Drove home, took a shower came out and collapsed on the couch with uncontrollable shivering. My sister brought me blankets, hot tea, rubbed my legs and I stopped shivering finally after about an hour.
Sooo, besides a 7mm suit next time, what should I do? Not stay so long?
Don't say ... Hood, dry suit or don't dive in cold water... NOT going to happen.
I'm diving in San Carlos again next month and have a trip planned for Oahu in January with 70 degree water.

Thanks, ~ D

[finGrabber]

you could get a beanie instead of a hood...most of your body temp is lost thru your head

I've found that if I start my diving week using my beanie, then I'm much warmer at the end of the trip; I've found the same to be true regarding gloves. It seems that I stay warmer when I have my reef gloves than when I don't

[secretsea18]

Saturday in San Carlos I went on a three tank dive. The water temp was 81 degrees/ air 80 degrees. I did three shallow dives off San Pedro Island (sooo cool, lots of seals that play with you underwater). Max depth 35 ft or so. We went down three times for an hour each with an hour surface interval each. I weigh 135 lbs and had on a 3mm full suit, no hood, no gloves. Each time I came up I took off my wet suit and put on a shirt and jacket and sat in the sun and was plenty warmed up by the next dive. I even had coffee. 20 minutes into the next dive I was getting cold but was diving with a buddy I just met on the boat and didn't want to turn around and I was leaving the next day so I didn't want to abort. Besides I'm terrible at navagation and didn't know where the boat was. (yes taking that class is a priority for me now - I have a alot to say about that but that should be a different thread about dive training- they let me slide too easy) Anyway, sooo I stayed for the hour and was shivering under water some but not too bad. When I came up I wasn't cold so I put on a tank top and shorts for the ride home. Drove home, took a shower came out and collapsed on the couch with uncontrollable shivering. My sister brought me blankets, hot tea, rubbed my legs and I stopped shivering finally after about an hour.
Sooo, besides a 7mm suit next time, what should I do? Not stay so long?
Don't say ... Hood, dry suit or don't dive in cold water... NOT going to happen.
I'm diving in San Carlos again next month and have a trip planned for Oahu in January with 70 degree water.

Thanks, ~ D

I normally dive in a 5mm wetsuit for all water temps from 75-83 degrees + a beenie cap. Your scalp is one of the best places (or worst depending upon your opinion) for temperature exchange. This means putting hats on babies, wearing a hat in cold weather, putting ice on the head to treat a fever or wearing a hood/beanie when diving. As long as the water temperature is lower than your body temperature (average 95-97 skin temp) then you WILL lose heat to the water, regardless of your exposure suit. Thicker wetsuits and drysuits will make that temperature transfer slower. Wearing a good snuggly fitting wetsuit, consider wearing a 5mm with "skin-in" texture to reduce water flow inside your suit, a vest over top your fullsuit all will help to keep you warm. Wearing a skin inside a "skin-in" wetsuit is a way to make your wetsuit be less able to keep you warm as water can more easily flow inside. FWIW, I wear and love my Henderson gold core suit. Smooth inside makes the suit sort of "stick" to your skin preventing the water flowing inside, stretchy so it is snuggly fitting, and the inner part of the wetsuit prevents it from getting smelly.

For 70 degree water, I'd wear my 5mm fullsuit, plus beanie/hood, plus vest, plus gloves, etc... and make sure I got warmed up between dives... I hate to be cold, too!

Good luck Robin

Edited by secretsea18, 20 October 2008 - 10:19 AM.

[JimG]

As I am sure you recall from your OW class, water has the ability to carry heat away from your body at a rate that is 22-24 times greater than air of the same temperature. Heat loss is a function not only of water temperature, but also of exposure time. Your body's core temperature will start to drop over the course of a longer dive, even in relatively temperate waters such as those that you were diving in. And unfortunately, a one hour surface interval is typically not long enough to get it back up to its original level before you start your next dive. So you are fighting a losing battle to start with, at least where body heat is concerned.

One important thing to understand about your body's ability to regulate it's own internal temperature is that it is tied to your circulation. Once your core temperature starts to drop, it is very difficult for you to raise it using any sort of direct heat source, such as sitting in the sun or by a fire - although it may feel good to do that, it really does not help that much. The primary way to deal with mild cases of hypothermia is to get into some warm, dry clothing, and then add additional layers to insulate yourself from the surroundings. This allows the body to retain what heat it still has, while working to generate more. The more layers you add, the more heat you will retain.

You want to concentrate on areas of greatest heat loss, which are typically the head, the armpits, lower abdomen and the hands and feet. The reason why these are so important is because there are a greater concentration of blood vessels there, that are relatively close to the surface of the skin. This allows for greater heat loss due to convection (the "wind chill" effect). Remaining dry is also important, as it reduces the effects of evaporative cooling.

The head is a key area - about 40% of your body heat is lost through your head. finGrabber's suggestion of wearing a beanie or lightweight hood is an excellent one, particularly if you are doing multiple dives in a single day.

And as secretsea18 suggests, it's also important to insure that your wetsuit fits you well. It needs to trap and retain as much water against your skin as possible. If the wetsuit is too loose (particularly around the armpits and abdomen) then you will lose a lot more heat during the dive due to water moving around inside the suit (i.e. convection).

-JimG

[VADiver]

Whats wrong with a hood or drysuit? A 7mm is bulky and has bouyancy issues.

[Cold_H2O]

a Beanie.. and light weight reef gloves will do wonders to keep you warm.

[damselfish]

Well I get terribly clostrophobic even in th 3mm and usually wear a 3 mil henderson hyperstretch which doesn't keep me warm at all so I wore my regular one this time. I hate the feeling of being choked and can't wear a hood even though I know about the heat loss through your head. I've never worn a 7mm and I'm sure it will freak me out.
I'll just do shorter dives with longer survace intervals but sometimes they push you in.
Maybe I should work on making my own insulation, hmmm donuts sound good right now lol!

[Cold_H2O]

Give a beanie a try.. it more like a bike helmet than a hood..
You wear it like a hat and there is a thin strap that goes under your chin. (Think wool cap.. with underchin strap).

I have seen some really cute ones.. Dive with a gal who has a tiarra, another has rabbit ears, another devil horns..
One of my guy buddies has a Shrek beanie..

You might find that you can keep warm and not feel clostrophobic. I am sure someone could lend you one to try.
Better than limiting your bottom time.

I like to drink something warm between dives... When you dive in 40 degree water.. even in a drysuit.. sometimes you get a little cold.
another PNW cold water trick is to flush your wetsuit with warm water while on the surface bring a jug of warm water with you.
I have seen divers bring a cooler full of warm water and they soak the wetsuit between dives.

Edited by gis_gal, 20 October 2008 - 04:18 PM.

[secretsea18]

Well I get terribly clostrophobic even in th 3mm and usually wear a 3 mil henderson hyperstretch which doesn't keep me warm at all so I wore my regular one this time. I hate the feeling of being choked and can't wear a hood even though I know about the heat loss through your head. I've never worn a 7mm and I'm sure it will freak me out.
I'll just do shorter dives with longer survace intervals but sometimes they push you in.
Maybe I should work on making my own insulation, hmmm donuts sound good right now lol!

Consider trying on a 5mm gold core Henderson... they are great, and I hate to wear wetsuits too, but I hate being cold even more.


I totally feel for you, regarding the "hood" sense of strangling you around the neck... I really hate to wear a hood, BUT, I love to wear my beanie. I might look like a dork, but I wear it on every dive, even when I dived in India and the water was 84-85 and I was sweating in my 3mm wetsuit (some folks were even diving in just a T shirt). In addition to keeping your head covered and thus decreasing your heat loss, it also keeps the hair under control and you will not get hair tangles! Henderson makes a good beanie. The ones Gis gal mentions are very cute, too, and not confining around the neck...

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

Although your "own insulation" might be fun to put on (donuts - yum!) , it gives you different buoyancy problems! And at my age, it's tough to get it back off

The thing is, everybody has a different tolerance for different water temps - I can do 81 degrees in a dive skin all day - but you need to try a few different things that have been suggested to find out what is exactly right for you. Don't dive less! Borrow a few things and keep trying to find that perfect solution.

I'm with you on the 7mm thing -- I feel like the Michelin Man in one of those things, and my mobility is cut down to "Frankenstein movements". Big reason I don't like to do local dives is the 7mm suit required. Watching me get into one of those things? Priceless!

[scubaski]

I'm in the beenie group. Yes I look like a dork. Check with your local surf shop. Some surfing rash guards have a fuzzy fleece inside which may add to your warmth while diving. Shivering a couple hours after a dive you need to add external heat to your core. Try wrapping yourself in a electric blanket. Ss

[scubagoddess]

Belinda, I have the same problem getting cold on multiple dives. I finally broke down and bought a beanie....my "Tiara". In any case, it helps a lot in keeping me warm and the chin strap is not really bothersome. I occasionally wear gloves as well if there is not a restriction wearing them in a certain area and they help tremendously. Like you, I don't like the feel of anything on my head or binding around my neck or even the feel of gloves so I usually try the first dive without either and add more the next dive if I felt chilled the first time. I carry the gloves in my BC pocket if I think I might need them.

I found a very comfortable 7mm WaterProof brand suit that does not seem to restrict my movement much at all, even the first time I went diving in it. Check with your LDS, they might have suits that you could borrow or rent for a dive or two to try them out before buying.

[diverdeb]

You also might try forcing yourself to dive for a while with a hood. I hated them also at first, but I hate being cold more. Like anything, the more you wear it, the more comfortable you will become with it. I don't even think twice about wearing a hood anymore. You just have to get used to it.

[damselfish]

Maybe I will. I think they look pretty dorky but I'll be a warm dork. lol.
Thanks guys, you're all good buddies! ~ D

[WreckWench]

Belinda the beanie works for me and I'm claustrophic too. I will even wear a stretchy 7mm vs a hood. And of course you know what a cold wuss I am...I usually dive dry but lately I've been diving wet waiting for my new custom dry suit. So in the meantime I've tried a number of suits and would suggest you try a stretchy 5mm and a beanie. You should be able to survive most anything with that and then follow Jim's suggestions about wearing a WARM coat and layering up so you actually get warm and CREATE HEAT!!!

I also just found a very cool wetsuit manufacturer on our last trip and they do custom stretchy 5mils perfectly fit to YOU with all sorts of extras for less than a 3mil here. Just need to see if they are sold in the US or not. I had one done in royal blue and purple and even had the SD logo put on it.

I will be diving it over Halloween so you can check it out then. k