Trimix in a wetsuit?

[the dude]

mike, if your suit is about to go, i highly recommend getting one custom made from wet wear, in florida. they are pricey, but they are quality and last forever. i used mine for nearly ten years as an instructor on dives from lake champlain to the keys and never had any issues. build in a trip to south east florida during your cave vacation, get measured up, and then do some nice wreck dives with the new trimix cert.

[Mr Grey]

I use wetsuits allot for trimix diving, in Canada, USA, and Europe in the summer time and during the winter months switch to a dry suit. It depends on the individual and the water temperature.

[MORGAN]

Thanks! I'll definitely check out wet wear. As for wreck diving, every wreck dive would just be a missed opportunity to do a cave dive!

[diveconjeff]

+2 on the Wet Wear. I have two of them. One for the caves (rubatex). And one for the salt that barely get used anymore though.

http://www.wetwear.com

The rubatex suit has been a pleasure to dive with. The fit is so good , I often find I am dry around my core at the end of a dive.

[Rich]

Hey Morgan. I dive the deeps either wet or dry depending on the time of year. If you dive dry in summer, the deco sucks 'cause the basins are warm as heck, just make sure you have some form of back up buoyancy if diving wet and good luck with class...
P.S. a 7/5 is fine...

[Superlyte27]

You will compress the wetsuit into uselessness fairly quickly if you are diving at real trimix depths.

I'm pretty sure Rick Crawford does all his dives in a wetsuit, IIRC.
I have done them in a wetsuit. I'd rather be cold than have to pee for 3 hours. Ultimately, if you don't get cold, and you have some redundant lift, I don't see an issue with it.

[Skybluewater]

Wetsuits are great... simple and easy and I like the feeling of actually being in the water "wet."

River diving from a canoe in sidemount is much easier in a wetsuit.

I been diving wet for hundreds of cave dives on trimix CCR etc. After about three hours wet and beyond I start to feel a little chilled but it's no worse than being on a snowy mountain snowboarding all day...

After saying all that, I recently have been able to finally afford a good drysuit and it is awesome! I'm amazed at how warm and toasty I feel in a drysuit.

Buoyancy control in CCR is significantly easier with a dry suit.

[DGraham]

I dove for years in California in my custom made 10mil wetsuit. Made by Deep Thought Wetsuits in Oxnard, CA. Did all of my OC Tri Mix diving with it and never got cold. Or had any issues. Always dove a large double bladder wing and never experienced anything

Doing my Normoxic training on my Evo with the little wing was no problem. But once I started my Hypoxic training I started noticing a lift issue. During a bailout scenario at 200' I noticed not enough lift in the wing and had to kick up a little ways. On my final dive at 250' on one of our deeper oil rigs here, I dropped down and hit the button and heard the OPV let go. Managed to stop at 275'. Thumbed the dive and kicked up, once I got to about 175' I regained lift and no other issues.

I bought my first dry suit on my way home.

I just ordered a new suit from Deep Thought for cave diving. I'm not really sure how you guys dive dry in 73F water temps. And if necessary I can crawl out of a cave

[sskasser]

... And if necessary I can crawl out of a cave

I take it you haven't dived Eagle's Nest?

[Superlyte27]

Yah, it'd be pretty hard to climb out of EN. I wonder if I could do it. I'd imagine I'd have to go around the ballroom somewhere and find a hand hold, then rock climb all the way back to the entrance.

Hmmm, would be interesting to try.