What is the difference between wetsuit and drysuit

Share on Facebook. Share on Twitter. Share on Linkedin. Share on Reddit. Latest surfing news How to improve your duck dive technique in 4 simple steps. What is a tropical storm? Top Stories Surfing What is a tropical storm? Cyclone, hurricane, or typhoon are all geographically specific names for strong tropical depressions. Choosing the correct name depends on where they form. Wetsuits are designed to fit close to the body. Drysuits have a loose fit to allow you to wear insulating layers underneath it.

As opposed to wetsuits that keep a layer of water between your skin and the suit, drysuits keep an insulating layer of air that you can control with the valves attached to the suit. You can add gas as you descend and release air during ascent. Because of their tight fit, wetsuits are more comfortable to wear and allow you to move quicker. Drysuits are baggier, although recent improvements to the design have made them more comfortable to wear.

Wetsuits are typically made from closed-cell foam neoprene, a synthetic rubber material known for its ability to insulate the body. The neoprene used for wetsuits contains small nitrogen bubbles that can reduce heat transfer from the body to the cold water at the exterior of the suit. Over the years, companies have begun experimenting with materials such as spandex, neogreene, ariaprene, and yulex, but neoprene remains the main material used for wetsuits. Drysuits can be made from vulcanized rubber, foam neoprene, crushed neoprene, or heavy-duty nylon.

They also come with a wrist seal, neck seal, and a waterproof zipper. The seals are typically made from latex rubber, foam neoprene, or silicone rubber. Most drysuits use a plastic waterproof zipper commonly placed across the back of the shoulders or diagonally across the torso.

Wetsuits compress with depth, resulting in some loss of inherent buoyancy. The loss of buoyancy also requires you to adjust the weights or the gas in your BCD. Not to mention that a wetsuit will always provide some additional buoyancy to the point that a person who just dived in wearing a dry thick wetsuit may have issues descending.

While each of these suits will keep you warm by providing you with insulation, dry suits tend to be more comfortable since you can add a layer of insulating clothing between your body and the suits. Furthermore, they keep your skin dry, as opposed to wetsuits. You will indeed need training to go scuba diving in general. This is because the wetsuit compresses the deeper you go due to the increased water pressure. The dry suit, on the other hand, uses compressed air between the suit and your body.

Since you control the amount of air in there, maintaining neutral buoyancy in this kind of suit can be a little tricky and takes some getting used to. There is a good chance that you will be diving in more than one water body with varying temperature conditions. How effective the wetsuit you buy is in these conditions will depend on how thick or thin it is essentially. Diving in warm waters often calls for thinner wetsuits, while diving in colder waters calls for thicker wetsuits, which means that you would need to buy a different wetsuit for every condition.

Dry suits, on the other hand, offer you no such problems. Since you can layer underneath the suit, you can use the same dry suit for diving in any kind of water conditions all year round. All you need to do to a wetsuit in terms of maintenance is rinse it off properly. A dry suit, on the other hand, will need seals replaced, socks and boots replaced, leaks patched up, and zippers replaced. Wetsuits that are skin-tight are ideal for cold water surf sports because they allow you to move around more than drysuits.

Drysuits , on the other hand, are completely waterproof, but not designed for warmth if used alone. Drysuits keep all water out completely like a shell and fit loosely like a big ski jacket. Drysuits have been primarily used for kayakers and divers, but now used for standup paddling and even wakesurfing.

New technology like SUPSkins have created drysuits with wetsuit sport-fitting functionality. In most cold water conditions a wetsuit is more favorable for performance in the water, while drysuits are more favorable out of the water. Because of restriction.