Posted by kelphead on October 02, 1999 at 00:15:10:
In Reply to: Wet suit thickness & other posted by Enis on September 28, 1999 at 23:14:00:
yes, a 3/2 is not enough for cal diving. you will
indeed need a minimum of 6mm (= 1/4 inch). i dive
w/a 2 piece farmer jane/jacket style which gives
me a whopping 14mm in the torso area (ie, knees to
neck).
as far as brand name, i really can't help you b/c
the wetsuit i first bought and am still using is
by, what seems to be, a no-name brand called 'pacific
extreme' (purchased from a local sport chain store
but i don't think they even carry it anymore). i
do read good comments about 'henderson' and 'body
glove' and then there's always the custom wetsuit
option which is a popular idea here in california.
then there is indeed the drysuit option already mentioned
by one of the other posters, but in all honesty, that
seems to be more popular in northern calif rather
than in southern california since water temps in
norcal can be a good 20degrees cooler than in socal
waters.
just to give you an idea, typical socal temps
run btwn 55F-65F (w/the occasional 70F/75F), whereas
in norcal, typical water temps are in the 40F range.
as far as using a 6.5mm or 7mm in warm water, it
just depends on how prone you are to getting cold.
i've read that one diver did indeed use her 7mm jacket
b/c she couldn't afford to buy a tropical suit and
she did fine in it the entire week of her warm water
dive trip. i, too, have thought about doing the same,
especially since a 2mm suit did not keep me from
getting cold at all on any of the dives in key largo
this past june.
if you can't afford both a cold water suit AND