Mailing List Archive Mailing List Archive
At various times many people wrote: >a bunch of ill informed crap hardly relevent to cold water technical diving. I have been following this thread for days now watching for some sign that someone has even a remote idea what cold water technical diving is. It is sad that the best advice came from a diver that by his own admission is a "sport diver (no decompression)". For those of you that are not aware, most of my technical diving is in the Great Lakes with bottom temps around 38f. My bottom times range from 20 or 25 minutes to over 90 minutes. Deco times range from 0 to nearly 2 hours. And average run times for my Great Lakes dives are about 90 minutes with some longer and some shorter depending on the dive objective. The best way to stay warm with a flooded suit is not to dive cold water. Heaters, chemical or electric, are unreliable at best. It does not matter what you wear under a dry suit if it floods in cold water you are going to get cold!!! Good undergarments will help a lot but they will not prevent the stinging cold from running across every part of your body as the water seeps in from even a pin hole. I know I have been there. Several thin layers of Thinsulite or wool are MUCH better than one thicker layer. Polartec is also a choice. Again the thinner the better. Garments that use Mylar of Titanium thread or foil will still work by reflecting your body heat back even when wet. However, Mylar and Titanium will be of little use if they are not warn close to the skin. If they are the second of third layer they become nearly useless if the layers under them get wet. These are the only materials that will get the job done when wet. However, even the best layering and the best materials will not keep you warm. Again, YOU WILL GET COLD!!! It just becomes a matter of how cold. I have tried chemical heater packs in the past. The best ones are the liquid filled silicone bladders. However, they have a little quark about them. The colder they are the less heat they put out. Mind you they last longer when cold but who cares when you are BTU deprived. The other problem with them is they are hard to activate inside a suit. That problem becomes even greater when you and your hands are numb. Imagine, if you will, trying to find a dime under two layers of clothing when you can't fell the tips of you fingers. You need to find the dime then bend it or snap it to activate it. Good luck. What will happen is you will loose sight of what you need to do to get your deco done as quickly as possible. You start poking at the area you think the dime might be. All the while wasting valuable time. The other type of chemical heat pack is activated when it is exposed to air. These work well for hikers and others on dry land. But in a dry suit they are about as useless as tits on a bull. First they must be activated before you enter the water. They are stored in air tight packets that once inside a dry suit can not be opened by a diver in the water. I'll pay to watch you try though <g> So you open this thing stick it inside the dry suit then gear up. The whole time this thing is cooking away. Then as you enter the water the increased PPO2 puts this packet into over drive. Unless you use Argon for suit inflation. In which case the damn thing stops working altogether. Either way the minute these thing get wet they stop working. Don't bother with these either!!! As for electric britches... What Zambeckian moron came up with that idea. Oh I remember. That was the idea that spawned the phrase Zambeckian Moron. Nice work Greg. Folks I have been involved in electronics for 22 years and I can tell you from a great deal of first hand experience that electricity and water do NOT mix. Just when you need your electric pants the most they quit working. Worse yet they might start to heat something you don't want heated!!! So what do you do!!! As with most things in diving experience will be your best teacher. You will get wet a few times. Find YOUR limit with shorter dives first. Once you know how long you can be cold you will know how long your dives can be. Things that can help are to eat properly before a dive. It is incredible how much your body can take when properly nourished. I once lost over 7 pounds on a 20 minute ice dive. I haven't been in a wet suit since!!! Carbs are the best fuel for cold water diving. Pasta the night before and whole grain pancakes for breakfast are my first choice. Fats and sugars are a poor source of fuel and should be avoided. If you do get wet you will need plenty of the best fuel you can get to keep from succumbing to hypothermia. If you do get cold keep moving even if only slightly. That does not mean swim around as fast as you can. It means move your extremities SLOWLY. Your hands and feet are the first things that will lose the blood supply if not used. If your body starts to shunt blood from these areas they will not off gas and a nasty case of bends is the likely result. Neurological damage is possible, I have personally seen it happen. If you must hold on to something while on deco switch hands OFTEN!!! If you can use a "jon line" and free up your hands. Keep every part of your body you can in GENTLE but CONTINUOS motion. This will help to keep blood flowing to the extremities. If you start to feel sleepy you may wish to consider getting somewhere dry, QUICKLY!!! Sever hypothermia can cause loss of consciousness. So unless you have learned to breathe water, your bends may be easier to treat than a drowning. I feel that death puts a damper on the fun!!! Bill (aquadart) Bott -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
Navigate by Author:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Subject Search Index]
[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]
[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]