35m drysuit full of air and who the hell are you?!

[Finless]

Originally Posted by re-form42

have experienced similar problems on a couple of dives but have always managed to resolve the buoyancy before it became a problem. I think ankle weights have always helped. Has anyone ever thought of putting a cuff dump style valve on the ankle for such emergencies? is this possible?

It has been discussed on YD before.

In my experience (fairly limited I suppose) I would not consider it worth the trouble:-

Firstly it is easy to revert to an upright position (from an upleft or upwrong position? ) doing the 'forward roll' + usually, I imagine, in an inverted position you are kicking like mad to stay down already so you are already 'in forward roll motion' without even thinking about it.

Unless you are suffering a free flow you won't ascend at all unless you are not neutrally buoyant or, perhaps, in very shallow water.

If you have a free flow on your suit/wing inflator then you won't stop yourself once you are upward bound without pulling a neck seal. A dump valve wont dump fast enough - at least not on the one time it happened to me.

I would guess that if you wanted an ankle dump it would have to be an auto dump style valve where you could close it down during the dive and then open it in an emergency when you are upside down and in the worst possible position to reach it.

In conclusion, look at what happened to the monster metal warrior in Jason and the Argonauts (old film) when his ankle dump valve was opened!

[String]

Originally Posted by nickb

It still works the same if you have the auto-dump screwed halfway in; you'll just need a little less gas in your wing. Just make sure the auto-dump's not shut tight else you'll have to vent manually.

Im still dubious about this. Just got my new drysuit with shoulder dump and even diving with it fully open i have to roll to persuade it to dump and occasionally bend my elbow and contort a bit - it seems far from automatic. The same on my old ND suit (that i put a cuff dump in due to the problem).

I still feel i far more more control with a cuff dump and can dump when i please with minimal effort whereas i dont trust the auto.

Maybe i've just been unlucky with 2 totally different suits.

[nickb]

Originally Posted by String

Im still dubious about this. Just got my new drysuit with shoulder dump and even diving with it fully open i have to roll to persuade it to dump and occasionally bend my elbow and contort a bit - it seems far from automatic. The same on my old ND suit (that i put a cuff dump in due to the problem).

I still feel i far more more control with a cuff dump and can dump when i please with minimal effort whereas i dont trust the auto.

Maybe i've just been unlucky with 2 totally different suits.

Sounds like it could be more a problem with what you're wearing under the suit.

[String]

Possibly - its a weezle (and yes i have tried the duct tape over arm trick).

Never had an issue with it blocking a cuff dump though.

[scuba g]

Originally Posted by String

Possibly - its a weezle (and yes i have tried the duct tape over arm trick).

Never had an issue with it blocking a cuff dump though.

Nick the misses tights, cut a strip, roll it over the area on your arm where the cuff would be, as bulky undersuits do tend to cause it. as for a dump in the ankle area, as said in the post, not a good idea, it would be a possible area for a leak and if you where finning horizontal, air could excape, best practice is to get your trim correct and practice dumping your suit in around 6m of water, into the fetal position, left arm reach up (arm with dump valve) and fin to get vertical and the gas will get out.

[ScubaGremlin]

Originally Posted by re-form42

have experienced similar problems on a couple of dives but have always managed to resolve the buoyancy before it became a problem. I think ankle weights have always helped. Has anyone ever thought of putting a cuff dump style valve on the ankle for such emergencies? is this possible?

Hmmm... wouldn't you need a dump on each ankle? And then you have twice as much to do reaching your ankles while inverted... fun times ahead!! I'd rather stick to one valve to fiddle with while trying to get the right way up.