Most of the dive shops here in No. VA make you get a DRY SUIT CERTIFICATION
before they will rent or sell you a dry suit.   We had a friend run into
this problem.

Allyson


-----Original Message-----
From: gott [mailto:wgrogan@dc*.ne*]
Sent: Monday, June 18, 2001 9:11 PM
To: g.wentland
Cc: techdiver@aquanaut.com
Subject: Re: [Re: Re: [Dumb vs. Smart Re: Wet vs Dry in SoCal]]


This is all true, but if you're working with a good shop, renting a dry suit
shouldn't be too expensive, often, not any more than a good wet suit.
Also, several shops I know of will do a 'rent to own' deal, this way you
rent
until you've paid for it.  In the meantime, the store rents out your suit
when
you're not using it, making up for their losses in capitation.
Wendell

"g.wentland" wrote:

> Hi All:
>     I have a little time so I thought that I would throw my 2 cents in.
> Having learned how to dive in the Great Lakes and having experienced ice
> diving in a wetsuit first hand, I can say that the drysuit is the way to
go.
> There are a couple problems associated with teaching brand new divers in a
> drysuit.
>     1. It increases the task loading on the student. New students have a
> hard time controlling buoyancy without magnifying the problem with a
> drysuit. The simpler you keep the training of brand new students the less
> likely an accident will occur. I have seen a few inexperienced drysuit
> divers go up a downline feet first. This is bad enough if you know how to
> dive, and it is not an uncommon problem for the inexperienced drysuit
diver.
>     2. Cost! For a brand new diver the cost of buying new equipment is
> considered pretty steep. The instructor is asked by a young man or woman
> with limited means, "How much will the equipment cost?", and they are told
> about $1200-$1500 to start, and they shudder. They scrimp and save and
> finally come up with the bucks to get started. If they were told that a
> drysuit is a requirement to dive in the Great Lakes and it costs an
> additional $1200 dollars it would slim down the ranks of northern divers
> considerably.
>     When I started diving in Green Bay my instructor wore a drysuit, and I
> wore a wetsuit. I could not justify the expense of a drysuit until I
started
> doing some commercial diving which paid for it. I did a lot of diving in
the
> Great Lakes with a 7mm Farmer John. I was told that a drysuit would
provide
> more comfort, but I did not feel the need to buy one because I was not all
> that uncomfortable in my wetsuit. Yes, I got cold from time to time, but
all
> that meant was that it was time to come up.
>     In my mind, unless you have more than a few bucks in the bank (and a
> very supportive spouse), diving in a wetsuit is a right of passage, and a
> drysuit is a luxury that one hopes to be able to get someday.
> Have a Great Day,
> bye,
> George
>
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