Drysuit Insulation

Having just spent a small fortune on a new drysuit, I'm finding it difficult to come to terms with the cost of the obvious undergarment options (Thinsulate/Primaloft jumpsuits). Am curious to know if any local divers have creative suggestions for reasonably priced (preferably multi-tasking) alternatives.

Having been a skier for a long period, I remember thinsulate, silk and other jump suits I would purchase for undergarment warmth. I don't know if their would be a difference. It is creative and most likely on sale now.

Les

Layering.

There is only one major advantage to the single-piece jumpsuit. Before all the air has been compressed out of the suit you run the risk of shifting seperate upper and lower garments. This can happen in such a way that you leave a bit of yourself less well insulated or (way worse) bare skin directly exposed to the shell material of the suit.

But as long as you just pay attention up until that point... long underwears, sweatclothes, some sort of fleece or wool garments to wick moisture off your skin is nice, and whatever else you might want to pile on is way more versatile and comfortable than the unitard things the dive companies overprice.

Enjoy the new suit; the price is always a little painful, but the warmth is always worth it. Hope you use it as a good excuse to get some dives in around here.

Having just spent a small fortune on a new drysuit, I'm finding it difficult to come to terms with the cost of the obvious undergarment options (Thinsulate/Primaloft jumpsuits). Am curious to know if any local divers have creative suggestions for reasonably priced (preferably multi-tasking) alternatives.

Well most of my diving has been in the North East & I have gone thru all of the ways to try to save a few bucks on dry suites & underwear. There are two things that make you dive more comfortable & allows you to take full advantage of you time in the water. one is containment of waste (we can go into that another time) & the other is maintaining your core temperature. being comfortable is worth the money, your underwear will last for many years. The good ones do not ware out. Hope to see you on the water, capt hank

Tons of Andy's Undies and all kinds of undergarments on eBay, relatively inexpensive.
You should know the different qualities of Thinsulate vs Polartec. Just Google it, there are
lots of ScubaBoard threads. The insulating qualities of Thinsulate, even when wet, provides a safety margin in case of severe drysuit flooding. I like the jumpsuits. Like the thumb loops, stirrups, and zips. Hate 'bunching up'. I think they promote an even flow and distribution of the gas bubble, and make trim and buoyancy adjustments easier. But in a pinch I've dived in blue jeans, long johns, and a wool turtleneck sweater. Cotton is the worst. Damp, cold, and clingy. Wool is much preferred next to the skin or in your layers. Personally, best thing I've found as a base layer is polypropylene underwear. Thin, warm, stretchy, inexpensive, good thermal when wet, used by military and SAR teams.
Diving Concepts makes some of the best big buck stretch 400 gram weight thinsulate jumpers. High loft undies are a PITA in my opinion. Requires lots of air in the suit, with all the downsides of that, and perform poorly when wet.

Pretty easy to research this subject over the internet. Also much info contained in Barsky's book on diving dry. Much depends on the frequency, temperature, and duration of the dives you are considering. Also the kind of drysuit materiel you've chosen.

Let us know how you make out. Hope to see you out at Dutch Springs.

Stay dry... Avra

Just purchased a set of fourth element XEROTHERM top pants and booties. Hope I made the right choice set me back 360.00 going to use them with os system nautilus dry suit, any feed back Aver, hope to be ready for the dive on the pipe line at the aquarium they spoke about.

Weezle undergarments, though pricy, are also and excellent choice. They come in 200 / 400 and 600 gm weights and they keep you dry even if (ha, more like when) the suit leaks. Extremely compressible too.

That said, ski undergarments are probably a good deal right now, it being the end of season.

Thanks everyone for the input. I'll be piecing something together for Dutch Springs next Saturday.