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You need a much looser suit than a diver would wear. Otherwise you will be miserable.
Never, ever pee in a wetsuit, even if you are immersed in water. The urine will replace the thin film of water between suit and skin, and cause irritation or even extreme pain in some situations. And when you get out of the cave, the normal reek of a hot, sweaty wetsuit will be increased to truly breathtaking levels.
Avoid one-piece or hard-to-remove wetsuits. You need to be able to attend to bodily functions without assistance. Thin surfer suits may work, but you may need assistance pulling down the back zipper. One male caver installed a Velcro-closed "pee port" in the front of his surfer suit.
ek wrote:You need a more *supple*, and thus probably thinner (for the same temperature of water) suit. A wetsuit fits correctly when it is not too lose to allow water to slosh around inside, and not too tight to constrict circulation. Conceivably if you are going to be caving in the wetsuit for a significant time *before* getting into any water, you'd want one that is looser. (I would still opt to go for one that is thinner, and pack it in a pack.)
On an off topic note...I would not recomend drinking water from a cave except when needed in a rescue situation. or rather...If you forget your water on the surface, please borrow off a fellow caver and do not drink from the cave, this water carries all sorts of bacteria from the fields above along with all the normal bacteria streams are known to carry.ek wrote:and a water container for situations when you have lost your water bottle and need to gather water from the cave.
adleedy wrote:I was unaware that most wetsuits are rated for temp. by anything other than thickness.
adleedy wrote:On an off topic note...I would not recomend drinking water from a cave except when needed in a rescue situation. or rather...If you forget your water on the surface, please borrow off a fellow caver and do not drink from the cave, this water carries all sorts of bacteria from the fields above along with all the normal bacteria streams are known to carry.
ek wrote:Well if you wear some layer over your wetsuit, not only does that protect the wetsuit, but also would eliminate the snagging problem.
Though I have trouble imagining that a zipper would snag significantly. Where are all the cave diving incidents arising from snagged wetsuit zippers?
Finally, you will be happy to know that, once thickened, your vocal cords will not thin back out. Even if everything "down there" gets snagged off , you will get to tell us the story of it with your usual pitch.
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