master scuba diver

question about scubadiving/dry suit rental?

my husband is an experienced master scuba diver that hasn’t been able to go out in years due to work, family and finances. For Fathers day I would love to suprise him with a scuba trip to the San Juan islands in washington state(we live in Wa). The only problem is that he doesn’t own a dry suit. hes 6’6 215lbs. We can’t afford a custome dry suit right now. So I’m wondering,seriously. Can he go diving in those cold waters with just his regular wet suit without dieing of hypothermia? he commented awhile back that he’d be ok if he went during the summer. is there any place in washington state we could find a drysuit rental for someone his size? hes never been able to go diving in the puget sound. i already plan on getting him a gift certificate from our local dive shop so that he can get a new mask and needed supplies. i have no experience with scuba diving so i’m looking for serious answers from experienced divers here.

He’ll be fine with a 2 piece 7mm wet suit with hood and gloves. I’m a Great Lakes diver that’s only once seen water over 70 F. I’ve never had an issue being cold with a 2pc 7 mm even when ice diving. Chances are, the coldest he’ll come across in that area is 45F a far cry from the 38F you see regularly in ice dives. I own both types of suit and just choose wet or dry depending on how far it is to go to a warm spot after the dive and if I’m diving ice or near ice conditions. If the water is warmer than 50F, I’ll always dive wet as the dry suit is unbearably hot and you can get soaked from just perspiration alone. Out of water in a wet suit with a wind chill on a frozen lake gets pretty cold if you have far to walk to get to warmth. A dry suit is like having a parka on.
Finding a shop that has a dry suit for rent will be difficult. They’re usually custom made for the individual. Proper fit is essential for both buoyancy control and keeping warm.The only reason a shop would have one on hand that would actually fit your hubby well is if they had one made for a customer that wasn’t picked up. Rare.
In any event, using a dry suit actually requires training and a certification so if he doesn’t have that, he’s better off and safer in a wet suit. Screw up in a dry suit and your feet are pointing to the surface , shooting up on a runaway train unless you have learned the skills to arrest it. A bad thing to do from depth.
If he doesn’t own a 7mm, he’ll easily be able to rent one that fits at a dive shop at the destination. Rentals usually run about 50 bucks Canadian for a weekend.
Edit: Vincent is a little wrong in his answer. Dry suits ARE for keeping you warmer, to the point that if you’re doing extended bottom times in ice water you even carry a separate pony bottle of argon gas for inflation because it has better insulation properties than compressed air off your tank. The added bonus is that yes, your clothes do stay dry, but you’re not wearing street clothes underneath anyway, but thermal underwear.

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