laura_allen•7d agoMost Upvoted

Hot take: I used to think dry suits were a gimmick for commercial work

Five years ago I started out doing dockside maintenance in New Bedford harbor, and I always wore a wetsuit because that's what the older guys used. I figured dry suits were just for sport divers or people who couldn't handle cold. Then last winter we had a 4 week job inspecting pilings in January, water temp around 38 degrees. My buddy loaned me his spare dry suit and I was done shivering after 20 minutes. It cut my surface interval almost in half because I wasn't numb anymore. Now I see how much longer I can stay focused underwater when I'm not fighting the cold. Has anyone else switched later in their career and noticed a big difference in how much work you can get done?

3 comments

3 Comments

milessmith7d agoMost Upvoted

I had a buddy who did commercial diving up in the Gulf of Maine for scallop surveys. He swore by his wetsuit for years, said dry suits felt like wearing a trash bag. Then he got a leak in his wetsuit one January and had to borrow a dry suit from the shop. He told me he went from shivering after 15 minutes to staying down for three hours straight. The biggest thing he noticed was he could actually feel his fingers enough to work the sampling gear without dropping stuff every five minutes. He never went back.

jade_johnson7d ago

My buddy who dives for urchins off the coast was EXACTLY the same way about wetsuits. He finally caved and got a dry suit after his toes went completely numb on a December dive and he couldn't feel the bottom for five minutes. Said it was the best decision he ever made, now he stays down twice as long and actually enjoys the work instead of just surviving it.

averymartin6d ago

It reminds me of that old saying about how we'll put up with a lot of discomfort just because we're used to it. I see it all the time with people I know who refuse to upgrade their winter boots or even just get a better pair of gloves, thinking they're fine until they finally try something decent and wonder why they waited so long. It's like we get stuck in a routine of suffering and don't realize how much energy we're losing just to stay warm. Once you fix that one thing that's been nagging you, the whole day changes and you wonder why you didn't do it years ago.