Good Dry Suit?

[XX621]

Am considering buying one of these:

Wetsuit Outlet Crewsaver Tallowa Drysuit Convenience zip + underfleece New 08 (http://www.wetsuitoutlet.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=28_97_99&products_id=1743)

All I want is something which will keep me alive for enough time to get rescued in the Channel / Irish Sea, and not be too uncomfortable to wear in a cramped cockpit. Would this product be up to the job?

Expert comments very welcome!

Thanks:ok:

[jammydonut]

The back entry zip might be a problem with getting the suit on/off. You also need to check for comfort of knee bending. You dont really need a thick outer suit to keep you warm, you need good neck and wrist seals to keep you dry and a size big enough for a warm undersuit

[cats_five]

Crewsaver are a top name in the marine world and I would expect to be warm for the day if I wore a drysuit like that for dinghy racing, so long as I was wearing the right stuff under it. The suit itself keeps you dry so the insulating layers you wear under it can keep you warm.

Will it be comfortable in the cockpit? Probably, but don't buy one that's too small. The cockpit in a 12' dinghy makes the cockpit in the average GA plane look exceedingly spacious, plus you are not running around it all the time.

However, if you end up in the Irish Sea in (say) February in poor conditions the water will be rough and cold, and finding you will be a challenge - you can stay with the plane as long as it floats (and I would say you should do - with it, not in it), but once it sinks you are an invisible pinprick. An inflatable lifejacket (Crewsaver again) might be a wise addition, plus maybe a hood to reduce the amount of spray you inhale. Think about how to make yourself easier to find - a personal beacon and maybe a lifejacket light might be prudent purchases.

[jxc]

After reading the last post I think Ryanair is a very good option probably alot cheaper as well

And there I was thinking of doing it myself to Dublin with my rubber ring maybge now i will wear the life jacket

[mad_jock]

you really need front zip.

Membrane suits are always going to be ****e due to there leak lack of insulation. Quite a few will disagree with that but as some one who has had to deal with a zip burst at 20 meters with 30 mins of deco to do I was in the pub not the hospital for 48 hours with a compressed neo.

Better than nothing though. Personally i would recomend the otter range.

Never flown with a dry bag on though so will defer to those that have.

[Pilot DAR]

I recommend the Mustang Ice Commander, or the Flight Commander shown here:Flight Commander II :: Mustang Survival (http://www.mustangsurvival.com/products/product.php?id=576)

I own an Ice Commander, and fly with it from time to time, and frequently wear a Mustang Ocean Class floater suit when I fly. If you are looking for an Ice Commander for sale, I can link you to freinds in Germany, who should be finished the theirs by now. You may PM me if you wish.

Pilot DAR

[scottish_ppl]

I'd recommend Multifabs Civil Aviation - Products - MultiFabs - Survival One (http://www.multifabs-survival.co.uk/multifabs/products/civil-aviation/index.html)

They make a range of comfortable suits, including ones worn by North Sea helicopter pilots and pasengers.

[Mike Cross]

Whatever you do is going to be a compromise. Wrapping yourself up well enough to give best endurance in the water will leave you sweltering and unable to safely operate the aircraft. I've seen someone suffering from heatstroke and it's not funny. When diving you put on the suit and get in the cold water, you don't put it on and sit in the sun under plexiglass for an hour or so.

One thing I'd really like to see is a spray hood on lifejackets. Floating is no good if you drown through ingesting spray.

[gasax]

The multifabs suit is not bad for comfort, the seals are pretty tight - but that is the way they have to be.

Contary to early advice do not get a front zip - the majority then have some sort of compromise at the neck seal. That means either the neck seal is uncomfortable at a minimum or worst it leaks - which pretty much invalidates the whole reason for wearing the suit!

This Shark Survival Home Page - 93204 Suit (http://www.sharkgroup.co.uk/survival_93204.html) is the most comfortable suit I have worn recently.

[XX621]

Am reading and following the links - thanks very much indeed to all posters so far.
:ok:

[tdbristol]

As one of the other posters said, it is always a compromise having a suit which will keep you warm enough but be comfortable enough to wear.
I went for the Crewsaver Hyperdry from Wetsuit Outlet.
It has a front zip - which I think you DO want as you can undo it yourself in the cockpit after you have passed over water.
I tried it out in January, sitting in a freezing pond (~2deg C) for 45 mins, with the included fleece lining. Kept me warm enough except for my feet which got fairly cold. I wore 5mm divers wetsuit gloves and 7mm hood as well.
It is tight around the neck and wrists and keeps the water out.
It is not 'approved' for offshore use but it is at least wearable in the cockpit, does not affect using the aircraft controls and does not restrict movement (e.g. emergency egress).
I would say that wearing it would keep me alive in really cold water for some time; plus prevent the cold shock that would otherwise incapacitate (and wearing it would therefore give me a reasonable chance of getting in a life-raft).
It also traps some air and therefore provides some buoyancy on its own.
(And I have practised getting in a life-raft while wearing it, and it is OK.)

I have worn it on a 5 hour flight from Denmark to the UK in winter time (fully done up - a bit warm but OK); also on a flight from Exeter over the water due south to France - as it was hot I then unzipped it when over land again.

[Whiskey Kilo Wanderer]

What ever dry suit you eventually use, please remember to expel as much air as possible from it before entering the aircraft. Any air in the suit will trap you in a submerged aircraft just as efficiently as an inflated lifejacket. You can do this by squatting down and squeezing in with your arms while holding the neck seal open. It doesn’t get all the air out, but it helps.

I’ve seen a couple of ‘entertaining’ incidents when using immersion suits as cheap diving dry suits. The first involved someone diving headfirst in to a swimming pool and subsequently floating head-down with two air filled sausage legs. The other was finding the meaning of the term suit squeeze at twenty foot down while using an ex mil. helicopter crew suit as a cheap dry suit. Thankfully the booties were thin enough to be able to fin back to the surface, because the rest of my body was locked rigid!

Safe Flying,
Richard W.

[gasax]

Both the multifab and shark suits have air venting valves so they are less likely to invert you - but it is still a possibility.

Offshore helicopter passengers have the benefit of a level of training which gives them awareness of the hasards and instruction in how to use the equipment.

I would recommend anyone who is buying this sort of equipment to at least read through the material if not pay for the somewhat expensive course.

I appreciate it is easy to get too hot in these things - I know I fly more than enough in them! But anything which makes the water more likely to get in invalidates the whole point of the suit. Much as I dislike many of the Channel airports they are the obvious donning, undonning places.

[neilcharlton]

have a look on ebay .loads of ex raf drys on there

[LH2]

Personally I would go for one of these (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Immersion_Suite.JPG). :)

Re. overheating, the usual thing to do is to keep it unzipped (same as your three layers of clothing underneath). Granted, if you go down fast (or while asleep) you might end up in quite an unpleasant situation, but there is a balance to be had between dying of cold shock/hypothermia in an emergency and dying of heat stroke in the normal course of events :E