Undergarment

[JacobsonC2]

i was just wondering what all you guys use under your drysuit for diving in WI, great lakes, quarrys, and ice diviing. i was looking at a Bare CT200 to wear with my TLS350. does anyone have this undergarment? how warm is it?

carrie

[FreediveWI]

DUI C4-Thinsulate is the warmest stuff I've ever used.

I've owned Weezle Wear, Viking gumbie suits, many different types of fleece jumpsuits and also owned 1/4" neoprene suits that need no undersuit, but I still wear Patagonia Expedition weight Capaliene under them. Still, nothing is as warm as my C4.

jon

[dfreeman]

I dive Bare T-100 undergarment and have no complaints. Did some cold diving last winter and this worked well. Best test is the Wolf River with current at 32 deg F, worked fine.

But I tend to handle the cold well.

Doug

[MikeS]

Doug,

Do you know if there is a great difference between the T-100 and the CT-200? I was under the impression that the t-100 was more for water in the 50 degree range.

Do you wear anything else with the T-100? More fleece? And you can ice dive with it?

Mike

[matt t.]

I wear 300 gram "Softwear" fleece, layered with polypropylene (sp?) long johns. I got the tip for the Softwear off of "Scubaboard". Reasonably priced and made to your measurements.

Matt

[dfreeman]

Mike,

Searched for warmth today wearing only the T-100 and Bare ATR-HD dry suit with dry gloves. Went for a nice ice dive and then was on the ice for over an hour tending line. Stayed nice and warm. Water temperature of 32-38 deg F (still thawing out the computer, will post conditions later on Local Dive theme) dry suit froze instantly out of the water with temperatures at 10 deg F with a lot of wind (I wonder, is ice diving recommended when the area is under a Wind Chill Hazard Warning? Yes, there is no wind under the ice.)

I was a solid block, made movement stiff. Had to wear the suit home, the zippers were frozen stiff and I was afraid to come out of the suit anyway. It looked cold out.

My T-100 did OK for me. If more protection is required, I would recommend adding a fleece and layering up. This is what I have heard Dick Long of DUI recommend many times.

I think that it is conservative but check out this chart:



Follow these guidelines and I will assure you that you will stay warm. Even on long dives.

Hope that everyone got out to dive today. The sun was out.

Doug

[FreediveWI]

When I teach ice diving for Pirate's Cove it's not uncommon to spend up to 6 hours a day in the water. This means that I must be warm enough to out last all of the students without becoming too cold myself.

To stay warm I wear the following on these types of dives:

- Patagonia Expedition weight Capaliene underwear
- DUI C4 Thinuslate jumpsuit
- DUI plus-5 fleece vest
- Dry gloves and hood
- Heated argon ;D

We have a shelter on the ice with a propane heater inside of it. This keeps all of the student regulators nice and warm right up until the moment they jump in for their dive. If one starts to get cold we just pop it back in the tent.

We also will keep the argon bottle inside the tent and run an umbilical hose off of it instead of having everyone wear their own pony bottle full of argon. This has the added advantage fo being able to pump WARM argon into your suit while under the ice. 8)

The argon hose is tied into the ice diving line, so there is no extra bulk for the divers. The end of the hose has a block on it which allows for seperate drysuit hoses to come off of it and supply all memebers of the team with their own hot gas.

Here's a shot of what it looks like.

[Omicron]

That Argon trick...now that is an interesting idea!!!!

I've never, ever heard of someone running a hose from the surface. Kind of a cool trick.

[dfreeman]

That is a full blown cold water diving rig if I have ever seen one. You will stay warm.

Doug

[MikeS]

How much weight do you need to drag down all that underwear? And I suppose the hoses are bouyant as well or just minimally so?