I picked drysuit over wetsuit for Gulf rig jobs

Everybody told me wetsuit was faster for shallow stuff. I went Kirby Morgan 500 with a DUI drysuit instead. That 48 degree water off Louisiana in February? No way I'm doing that in neoprene. Had to take extra breaks for checks but never cut a dive short from cold. Anyone else run dry in warm-ish water?

3 comments

3 Comments

ivan_murphy802d ago

@ivan_murphy80 Agree with @susansingh on habit, but my core temp stayed steady in drysuit so it just worked. No regrets.

susansingh2d ago

Well now, I have to disagree with you there. I ran wetsuits in the Gulf for years and learned to manage the buoyancy shifts pretty quickly, it's just part of the job. Drysuit checks are a real time drain on a rig clock, and I'd rather deal with a little squeeze than lose bottom time to valve fiddling.

murphy.tessa2d ago

The cold factor is one thing but the real hidden issue with wetsuits down there is the pressure shifts. When you're working on a rig and you have to move between depths fast, that neoprene compression changes your buoyancy way more than drysuit gas. I've seen guys fighting their lift constantly in wetsuits, burning through gas just trying to stay level. Drysuits let you keep a consistent bubble, which for the kind of work we do on Gulf rigs is a bigger safety factor than most people talk about. Plus the insulation stays the same at depth, which wetsuits just don't do after 30 feet. So yeah, drysuit might feel slower on the surface but your actual time on the bottom is way more effective.