6 Benefits of Dry Suit SCUBA Diving You Didn't Know

One of the most important pieces of diving isn’t equipment, but rather the different experiences a diver encounters. Dry suit diving is a great tool for new or a seasoned divers to expand those experiences. When undergoing dry suit diving, it opens up more possibilities for diving deeper, longer, and year-round. Here are 6 benefits of dry suit diving compared to wetsuit diving.

What are dry suits?

Dry suits are suits divers wear that trap an air space between the diver and the suit. There are dry suits that are neoprene and are considered to be semi-dry suits.

Dry suits come in many different shapes, sizes, and materials. The most common type is a Tri-laminate construction: this will be the style we will be discussing as it is the most common type of dry suit used and the most durable

1. Warmth

The whole idea of a dry suit is to stay warm! Water is a horrible insulator compared to air. When we add undergarments mixed with air to combat the increasing pressure when we descend, we’ll stay nice and warm.

Being an instructor in cold local lakes, I can handle the cold more than most and I still prefer the warm comfort of my dry suit. For example, when diving the Mermet Springs Quarry in Illinois, the bottom temperature is a whopping 45-47F. I can handle about 5-10 minutes at that depth in a 5mm suit before my body is numb.

At that same depth and temperature, I can wear my dry suit with thin undergarments and still have plenty of feeling. When using dry suits, there are an endless number of options when building your perfect undergarment combination for a dive. Want to layer up two thins, go for it!

2. Improved trim

In the SDI Drysuit course, one of the skills divers must perfect when using a dry suit is managing the bubble. I have heard from countless divers that the bubble is one of the main reasons they choose to dive dry.

Personally, I keep a little air inside the foot pocket of my dry suit to help keep my trim in that perfect diver position we learn about in the Open Water course and Advanced Buoyancy course. Having this bubble in a suit helps new and seasoned divers understand about how a bubble tries to escape to the surface, therefore helping the student understand the functions of their BCD even more.

3. Altering Undergarments / Use in Varying Conditions

This is one of the best reasons to use a dry suit! The warmth of the suit depends on what you layer underneath. For semi warm water 78F-55F, my Scubapro light K2 undergarments are the bomb for an average length dive of 1 hour. The longer the dive, the more undergarments a diver will want.

All undergarments are not built the same – thicker does not mean warmer. A high quality undergarment will have superior wicking material allowing a thinner design with more dexterity.

When getting out of the water and doffing thermal protection, wetsuits tend to make divers freezing cold with the contact of a little wind and water. In a dry suit, you’ll barely notice the wind.

4. Protection Against Hazards

The water we choose to dive in is always a mystery before we plunge in. We don’t know what oils, chemicals, etc are in the body of water we happen to be diving in. Tri-laminate dry suits separate a divers skin from the outside environment. When paired with a full face mask and dry gloves, a diver is 100% separate from the water.

Tri-laminate dry suits are the only type of suits used in Public Safety Diving for this reason.

5. Redundant Buoyancy Device

Let’s say we’re hanging out at 60ft in beaver lake using a steel tank and our BCD gets a hole in it from a sharp object. That BCD now might not provide sufficient lift for neutral buoyancy. This concept is introduced in the Intro to Tech course from TDI. However, in a pinch, I always teach my dry suit divers proper procedures when using a dry suit for lift.

When using a drysuit for the first time, the squeeze of the suit is a very odd feeling. When normally diving, we only put enough air in the suit to counter the squeeze.

6. Year Round Diving

The best diving I have ever had in our local lakes was February – April. During this time the surface temperature is in the 50F zone and 100ft being in the low 40s. Yes, it’s cold in a wetsuit, however in a dry suit it is fantastic! The visibility has been upwards of 50ft down at the bluffs during this time.

Check out this video of diving in April at Beaver Lake in Arkansas!