HI Richard,

I'm another long-time lurker.  I have two otter membrane drysuits.  They're
pretty good, but they have some disadvantages over the DUIs.

For example, there is a seam running down the outside of each leg, which
means that it is more difficult to stitch a pocket to the sides.

At the time I bought them, I was looking into Hogarthian gear configuration,
so I did not really mind them being on the front of my legs.

The suits have held up for a couple of years, without any leaks, but I could
be a statistically anomaly.

I think the website is http://www.drysuits.co.uk/

My older suit is the "Hammerhead" tri-lam, and my more recent suit (2 years
old) is the "Britannic Technical".

And no, I did not buy it because it said technical...  I was looking for an
affordable front-entry suit at the time.  And at the dive show in London, it
cost me half the price of the DUI CF200X.

BTW, DUI has a patent on the telescoping torso, so you won't find this on
the Otters.  Hence it can be harder to get into and out of, than a DUI.

Just my $0.02c

Rgds
mark


On 13/7/01 2:08, "Richards, Simon" <richardss@nm*.co*> wrote:

> 
> Hi.  I've been reading this site for a while, and I have found some very
> useful advice here (someone said "A wise man does not learn from his
> mistakes", and this must be true for technical diving as you often don't
> survive your mistakes).
> 
> For background, I have about 4 years open water experience and am a keen
> (and OK) photographer.  This year I started cave diving (intro to cave in
> Mexico, in a wetsuit), which was an eye-opener.  I am sorting out my gear in
> a local quarry for a return trip to Mexico and hopefully full cave, and then
> I hope to try Florida (do the whole course again in a drysuit?).  My kit is
> basically configured DIR style, but this is because it seems to make sense
> to me and I can't see any obvious fatal flaws, not because of "religion"
> (but I do rather like the idea that I have the WKPP team testing "my" gear
> configuration "for me" at 300 feet at no risk or cost to myself - thanks
> guys!).
> 
> I would appreciate views on two questions:
> 
> (1)  I have a DUI CF200 drysuit, and I think I was originally taught not to
> use the wings underwater for buoyancy control, just the suit.  I have seen
> the occasional reference here to using the wings underwater, but I have done
> a search and couldn't see any definitive advice.  A couple of times (but not
> always) I have felt that I couldn't get enough buoyancy on the drysuit
> alone, and have got through a lot of air inflating the suit and then having
> it blow out of the neck seal (I've never had any water come in).  Was this
> the wrong body position, overweighting, neck seal cut too loose, or just bad
> diving?  Should I have put some air into my wings?  Basically, I think I'm
> asking "how do I dive (properly, in the real world with big buoyancy changes
> during a dive as air is used) in a drysuit?"
> 
> (2)  My buddy wants a drysuit and her funds are limited.  She is looking at
> something called an "Otter", which is a laminate I believe.  I think George
> Irvine has recommended DUI TLS on this site, but she cannot afford one.
> Does anyone have any good or bad experiences with Otters?
> 
> You can see that we are a long way off doing any serious dives yet, but we
> would like to get there slowly over the next year or two and to buy the
> right equipment now.
> 
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> Simon Richards
> 
> 
> --
> Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'.
> Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
> 

--
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]