Re: Fwd: cold water subs (wet suit dives)

[Rick Lucertini <empiricus@sprint.ca>]

Ginger Robinson wrote:

> >Hello, My "second request" to the Psubs club members, experienced owners
> >and pilots.  I'd like to find old sunken canoes, hardwood logs, buggies and
> >antique farm equipment.  I'd like to know more about any member's two
> >person wet subs.  Sea Scooters don't count as a psub!
>
> >>Hello Psubs Divers (pilots), Do any members have experience in subs (2
> >person) that you can do wreck diving with wet suits?  Especialy northern
> >lakes (cold water dives)?  Thanks, Ginger

Hi, Ginger and All . . .

I've been wreck diving and under ice as well as a number of others on this list. A
problem you'll face is extreme hypothermia - you'll freeze your elbows off.

A wet sub dive will result in cold water being swirled around you while you're
motionless in the sub.  Without the exercise from physically moving, you'll be frozen
in a wet suit.  Even with a canopy and restricted water movement in the cockpit,
you'll still be motionless.  Moving water just compounds an already existing problem.
  Even a very fit military type will lose it under ice in a wet suit eventually.  It
doesn't take long.

Solutions?  Dive in a dry suit/dive in a dry ambient sub wearing warm street
clothes/dive in a hot water suit.

Naturally, each one of these solutions comes with its own set of +'s and -'s.  For
one: forget a hot water suit.  too complicated, expensive, etc.  That leaves two
other options; both viable with certain caveats.

Rick




--
Rick Lucertini
empiricus@sprint.ca
(Vancouver, Canada)
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