Kit suggestions for skinny girl

[ianfirmin]

Hiya All,
Can anyone suggest a suitable kit configuration for a new diver. A very skinny but quite tall girl. Extremely confident in the water but not strong and very prone to feeling the cold. I was thinking along the lines of a skinny 10 (is there such a thing?) and a travel wing or similar with a membrane drysuit.

Comments appreciated....

ATB
Ian

[Scubee]

Originally Posted by ianfirmin

Hiya All,
Can anyone suggest a suitable kit configuration for a new diver. A very skinny but quite tall girl. Extremely confident in the water but not strong and very prone to feeling the cold. I was thinking along the lines of a skinny 10 (is there such a thing?) and a travel wing or similar with a membrane drysuit.

Comments appreciated....

ATB
Ian

A friend of mine is tall and thin, but i wouldn't describe her as not strong though! She spent years diving with a weezle & a northern diver suit and getting cold. She switched to xerotherm arctics and became, well, not quite toasty, but not quite so blue. She did use an ordinary BCD, but I cna't remember which one. Her height meant a 12 was perfectly appropriate.

(and now she is diving on twin 12's)

[Hazel W]

if you feel the cold then go for a neoprene suit ...although this has to be balanced off against carrying more lead


H

[Fiona]

Personally I would rather have a membrane suit than carrying loads of lead. I would recommend some 4th Element Arctics, over a base layer. Maybe she could consider dry gloves.

I think your suggestion of a BP and wing is a good choice, they fit everyone.

[Mark Chase]

Back plate and wing are a must. My wife (size6) could never get on with a normal BCD even XXS. She is much more happy now. She also couldn't get on with weight belts so the back plate took some of the weight and distributed it. For the Red sea I put the lead on the tank cam band for her 5mm semi she uses in 20c water.

In the UK id go for a 6mm back plate and consider either trim weights on the plate or a harness. Ling uses a Neoprene suit but she hates the latex seeks so i will get them replaced with Neo ones which if nothing else are much warmer.

She uses a 200g Thinsulate under the 6mm suit and only dives in the summer months in the UK 13c+.


ATB

Mark

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by Fiona

Personally I would rather have a membrane suit than carrying loads of lead. I would recommend some 4th Element Arctics, over a base layer. Maybe she could consider dry gloves.

I think your suggestion of a BP and wing is a good choice, they fit everyone.

The "loads of lead" with neo suits thing is a bit of a myth harking back to the 7 and 8mm ND suits of old. I dive an O3 neo suit and when I switched from a Otterskin Membrane & using 4kg, I had to readjust my weighting. After much trial and error in Horseas inland salt water site I ended up with 4kg of lead.

In the summer months on the Neo suit I run an arctic top and forth element leggings and my lead drops to 2kg. I (personally) couldn't do that on a membrane suit. I used to run a multiple layers in the winter and just a 200g in the summer on my membrane.

Its the under suit is the thing that makes the BIG difference. When I went for a 400G DUI under suit i had to add 3KG to sink it.


I have just bought a membrane suit for travel abroad. I dived it in Wraysbury on Saturday with my 200G base layer. The water was 13c and i should be good for 2-3hours in that temp. However, after a couple of 30min dives i was cold. It reely brought home to me how good neo suits are for keeping you warm.

I am enormously grateful to Rob Evans for the tip all those years ago on the moll


ATB

Mark Chase

[aqua0]

You could always try lots of kebabs and mince pies

It seemed to work damn well for me

[ianfirmin]

Thanks for that. I thought of a neoprene suit but changed my mind to a membrane jobby. They seem to be more versatile in adding or reducing insulation. I'm glad you concur with a small wing. The only real question left is the tank. I'm inclined to start her off with a steel 7l in the pool and stuff. But a steel 12 might be a bit heavy. I hate the dumpy 10's, they seem so unbalanced. Can you get thin 10's?

[Fiona]

Originally Posted by ianfirmin

But a steel 12 might be a bit heavy.

I hope you aren't patronising the young lady

I am sure a 12 will be fine - she is probably stronger than you think

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by ianfirmin

Thanks for that. I thought of a neoprene suit but changed my mind to a membrane jobby. They seem to be more versatile in adding or reducing insulation. I'm glad you concur with a small wing. The only real question left is the tank. I'm inclined to start her off with a steel 7l in the pool and stuff. But a steel 12 might be a bit heavy. I hate the dumpy 10's, they seem so unbalanced. Can you get thin 10's?

Ling uses either an ali 12 in the warm blue stuff or twin 7s in the UK

If she can manage it, any one can.

ATB

Mark