Exposure protection for Truk

J

Jeff Pack

Fake Diver
For long deep dives in Truk, what is the general consensus for exposure protection?

We were talking with Leon at one of the scuba shows, and he actually suggested we bring 5mm wetsuits.
 
Jeff Pack said:
For long deep dives in Truk, what is the general consensus for exposure protection?

We were talking with Leon at one of the scuba shows, and he actually suggested we bring 5mm wetsuits.
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I haven't been in a long time. I think if you had a newer quality 3mm that was actually still a 3mm you would be fine.
 
Not sure what you mean by long deep, but when I was there the water was 30C from top to bottom (max depth 66m). So, as far as exposure was concerned, depth didn't matter. I was using a 2.5mm, and I was starting to feel a bit cold after 1h30 or so (average dive time was a shade over 2h). Not a lot, just less than entirely comfortable, but I'd take more.

Neutrally buoyant, not much point IMHO. With a RB, well, with a JJ anyway, you'll be quite negative, so a bit of buoyancy in the suit is no harm.
On that subject, I had the usual rubber fins, and they kept pulling me vertical, which p... was very annoying. Maybe something to consider.

Cheers,

Matthieu
 
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Even t 28/30C water, doing 2 long dives each day is going to see you get cooler and begin to feel cold. When I was last there, did 8 days straight diving, and using a 5/7mm suit (it was well used so more like 3/5mm) I was toasty warm, and dived without incident.

cheers

Andy
 
emmbee said:
Neutrally buoyant, not much point IMHO. With a RB, well, with a JJ anyway, you'll be quite negative, so a bit of buoyancy in the suit is no harm.
On that subject, I had the usual rubber fins, and they kept pulling me vertical, which p... was very annoying. Maybe something to consider.
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Maybe you should consider some lighter fins. I use Mares Quattros when I'm warm-water diving. That and an aluminium backplate has me just about perfectly weighted with my JJ.
 
Andy Del said:
Even t 28/30C water, doing 2 long dives each day is going to see you get cooler and begin to feel cold. When I was last there, did 8 days straight diving, and using a 5/7mm suit (it was well used so more like 3/5mm) I was toasty warm, and dived without incident.

cheers

Andy
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Andy Del said:
Even t 28/30C water, doing 2 long dives each day is going to see you get cooler and begin to feel cold. When I was last there, did 8 days straight diving, and using a 5/7mm suit (it was well used so more like 3/5mm) I was toasty warm, and dived without incident.

cheers

Andy
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thats what Leon was suggesting as well, We'll be doing one deep tech dive and one rec dive daily, 2.5 hours deep dive, probably close to that for a rec dive as well
 
emmbee said:
Not sure what you mean by long deep, but when I was there the water was 30C from top to bottom (max depth 66m). So, as far as exposure was concerned, depth didn't matter. I was using a 2.5mm, and I was starting to feel a bit cold after 1h30 or so (average dive time was a shade over 2h). Not a lot, just less than entirely comfortable, but I'd take more.

Neutrally buoyant, not much point IMHO. With a RB, well, with a JJ anyway, you'll be quite negative, so a bit of buoyancy in the suit is no harm.
On that subject, I had the usual rubber fins, and they kept pulling me vertical, which p... was very annoying. Maybe something to consider.

Cheers,

Matthieu
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I have trim pockets on my meg, so should be able to compensate for anything like that.
 
Can you post a photo of your trim pockets and where they are on your meg?

I have trouble with my feet getting heavy if I don't ad one or two lbs of lead to the top of my unit when I switch from diving dry to wet.

( I use jet fins when I dive dry and dive rites when I dive wet. I may move my canister around too. I butt mount it and I think that could be the issue.)
 
Only you will know what you need in warm water.
I've done lots at truk/bikini in an old 3mm and been too hot with a decent hood. take hood off for deco.
and then ive done long dives 5-6 hrs in belize with similar temps in boardshorts and been fine.
 
Doing 3hrs underwater in the morning and 2hrs in the afternoon for 12 days I found 2/3mm to be on the limit (and I have a fair amount of bioprene).

Rather than a thicker suit I added some layers for my 2nd and 3rd trips to Chuuk and was fine. Rash vest plus shortie worked well. Definitely take a hood and gloves, you don't want any bare skin in these wrecks / waters as cuts and abrasions do not heal.

Enjoy your visit, there sure are awesome wrecks.
 
I bought one of the really cheap ones from aldi . it was 2 mm and left it there , I was never cold 29 0c in the water at the surface and only 27 at the bottom at 64 m ....the dive guide was over the moon that i gave it to him .The only thing that I did not take that I wish I had was boot socks ---to stop the rubbing and the 4 open sores that I received----
 
Jeff Pack said:
I'm picking up a 4th element 5mm Xenos on sunday for truk. I suspect I'll be good with that, 2/3mm hood and gloves.
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Sometimes being a weightlifter is a real bitch for fitting any sort of gear, clothes, etc. Going by 4th element sizes, I should be a large. So tried on a large. It was that Chris Farley Movie where he puts on David Spaders suit and dances while singing "fat man, in a skinny suit".

That was me, I was spray painted into that thing. The lady at the shop said that was one unhappy zipper trying to get up over my shoulders (I have to wear a Fusion 4x just to get my shoulders in). So now to try an XL short, and see how that works out.
 
Unless you are very sensitive to the cold, you'll bake in a 5mm suit. I took one to Bikini in 2012 and had to ditch it for a borrowed 3mm suit as it was a nightmare.

We were doing up to 3 hour runtimes, twice per day and I never felt the cold. When I returned in 2014, I took a FE Thermocline which was perfect.
 
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