Heated Vest Questions

[w ripley]

. . . so I ask why need a vest om FL ?????????

Once I get into a deco longer than 45 minutes or so in a FL cave, I start to feel the chill. Longer than that and it gets pretty cold. I envy those of you who don't need a hood, and can walk around outdoors in the dead of winter with sandals and no socks.

I've been on a number of very long decos where I'm warm with my heated vest, extra hood & gloves that I put on when starting a long deco, and watching my buddy (or buddies) shaking like leaves on a tree in on a windy day. You can't help but feel their pain. I've trimmed off deco time more than once because I just couldn't take the cold any longer, before I got my vest.

So don't laugh until you've done a 2+ hour deco in 72-degree water without one.

Oh yeah, they are great on cold ocean dives, as well.

[SLIM]

Done a 3 hour deco in 50* water with no vest. I am gettin ready to look at a vest with what I am doing now an since th OCDA have already got it figured out I will use them for the knowledge. I forget that water temps and what I call cold and down in FL call cold are differant.

[w ripley]

Done a 3 hour deco in 50* water with no vest. I am gettin ready to look at a vest with what I am doing now an since th OCDA have already got it figured out I will use them for the knowledge. I forget that water temps and what I call cold and down in FL call cold are differant.

If you did that, and can still talk about it, you don't need a vest, IMO. You obviously walk naked in snow and are one of my new idols. I can only dream.

[Boondock]

Hi folks, I am considering getting a drysuit heater vest. My only reservation is whether it will increase the likelihood of skin bends. I know some people recommend shutting off the vest during the bottom phase and turning it on only during deco. Has anybody had skin bends while using a heater vest? Thanks, Peter

[tbone1004]

really interesting podcast came out a few days ago on Pod Diver Radio that was an interview with one of the MD's at Duke Hyperbarics on thermal protection and decompression stress. I'd listen to that and make your own opinions

[LiteHedded]

Hi folks, I am considering getting a drysuit heater vest. My only reservation is whether it will increase the likelihood of skin bends. I know some people recommend shutting off the vest during the bottom phase and turning it on only during deco. Has anybody had skin bends while using a heater vest? Thanks, Peter

not me
flip it on during deco when you get cold. warm is better than cold on deco IMO

[patpicos]

On my local dives in the great lakes, the vest is fully on for the full dive and deco and sometimes on surface.

For cave dives, can't speak much since I haven't had to use it yet...by would expect using it in dives longer than 3hours with my bare 200g undies.

[FLDVR]

I find that I never use more than the low setting so no worries about skin bends, but then again I really have to crank up the hot water at Ginnie
to get any indications of skin bends.

As far as using it in sub artic conditions--below 70F I really don't know.

[Steve Clark]

The Santi gear is good. Our team has been wearing both the Santi heated vest and the full Santi heated suit at the same time for long duration cold water dives in France for the last 3 or 4 years. 8-10hours in 10degC (50F) water. Just using one system at a time, with the other for redundancy. The 3-4 hour deco location is 3000ft into the cave and heating failure is potentially dangerous for a safe exit.

Santi do a double E/O suit inflate connector so you can connect both systems redundantly to external battery packs. They also do heated dry gloves and socks too. You can Y these into either of the circuits.

For power we've been using a 70Ah 12V Lion pack mounted on the belt in an old Halcyon Pro14(?) can, with a smaller 20Ah can for lighting. Both inter-changeable with e/o's. We also have a big stage-sized neutral NiMH pack with two switches and long e/o's that we leave with the deco bottles to cover for any other problems.

Like any new product, there were some problems initially with the Santi vest. There were some failures in the cable where it bent at a tight radius. Santi are working hard on these products and there are noticeable improvements on the newer vests with improved stress relief and more robust cable.

Other good idea is to ensure you use a washable base-layer underneath the electric stuff. Avoiding sweating into the vest reduces the need to wash it. You probably can wash it, but it can't be good for it.

The cheaper option is just to buy a very good undersuit combination. I use a merino base layer, a 200g Santi non-heated vest and a BZ400 undersuit under membrane suit with dry gloves for all my dives (up to 4 hours) in 50F water.

Steve

[scubainchicago]

The person who develops redundancy in staying dry and increases the reliability of staying warm, will be a hero. Major suit leaks are at the top of the list for concern in planning lengthy dives, especially in colder water with significant deco obligation. Having proper undergarments is about all one can do, besides having a habitat to crawl up in toward the end of the deco.

How have the Marshall connectors been working for you? I have 6 mo. old E/O connectors that have already seen the hammer. If you have a good source at a fair price, I would love to give them a try.