Posted by tleemay on July 31, 2001 at 17:15:50:
In Reply to: q about the use of gators... posted by kelphead on July 31, 2001 at 16:56:01:
Good quality polypro or Thinsulate socks create
just enough air space to keep your feet warm,
especially in neoprene boots.
Any more air (or gas) than that and you could be
at risk for the air in the feet bouyancy thing.
The key is to keep no more air in your feet,
or suit overall, than necessary to remove the
squeeze effect. It's the underwear on your body
that keeps you primarily warm. The over inflation
of the suit just complicates matters unless you
are perhaps on your long last deco stop and have
access to additional clip weight. Even then, over
filling the suit can be serious if not done
correctly. If you are able to overfill a suit and
still maintain neutral bouyancy at any depth, then
you are perhaps overweighted to begin with and that
hampers your overall weighting scheme and balance.
The other key is to get a suit that's cut so
cleanly to your body, that there is minimal air
space to begin with. My Mobby's Twin Shell Pro
was a good example of this as is DUI's new TLS350
Signature Cave Cut suit. With just enough gas in
the suit to remove the squeeze, there isn't
enough air space in my legs or feet for all
that gas to go to that would cause a problem if
I inverted. In fact, I have been ankles up with
my head in bug holes in the Twin Shell Pro
without any notice of a bouyancy shift to my feet.