When to wear neoprene?
- Thread starter JAshley73
- Start date
Leclused
Active member
I always wear a neopreen short and thin t-shirt under my wetsuit.
It is al described in the other thread of last year. See the link in a few post earlier for full details
PeteHall
Moderator
I always wear neoprene pants/shorts under my wetsuit. If I'm diving for any length of time, I wear a neoprene vest under as well to prevent flushing on the zip, but for general caving I don't wear a vest or t-shirt underneath as I like to be able to open it up fully to keep cool when out of the water.
shotlighter
Active member
Budgie smugglers under and when I could get em for nowt, an old boiler suit over.
pwhole
Well-known member
Seems a bit of a waste of time, given whatever he did have on underneath would have come off too anyway if it was that tight. Some people can be weird.Last autumn, I offered to help someone out of his very tight wetsuit - but he refused since he had nothing on underneath.
JAshley73
Active member
My general caving attire is synthetic-fiber thigh-length underwear, cheaper heavy cotton work pants, and a cotton long-sleeve t-shirt, and almost knee-high wellies. The wool/wool-blend socks have been a let down - I'll be going back to my usual synthetic-blend socks. I do have a pair of "leggings," and will occasionally throw on a synthetic-fleece pullover. All this works well for dry(ish) caving.
For wattery trips though, I'd like something better. Honestly, I'm just a general wimp, and don't like getting cold. (Heat has never bothered me)
Having never worn neoprene, I'd consider the same synthetic-fiber thigh-length underwear, if it would keep things more comfortable against the skin. I do have some neoprene socks, that I actually haven't tried yet. I guess I could get some cheaper wellies and make drainage holes in them, or perhaps a somewhat durable "swimming" shoe.
If I'm being honest, I much prefer dry-er caving. However one of the caves we frequent has plenty of wet areas, so for those trips, it would be nice to have better options. The famous Scandanavian phrase, "There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes" comes to mind.
(Thank you all for the link to the other thread BTW. I'm probably half-way through it at the moment.)
For wattery trips though, I'd like something better. Honestly, I'm just a general wimp, and don't like getting cold. (Heat has never bothered me)
Having never worn neoprene, I'd consider the same synthetic-fiber thigh-length underwear, if it would keep things more comfortable against the skin. I do have some neoprene socks, that I actually haven't tried yet. I guess I could get some cheaper wellies and make drainage holes in them, or perhaps a somewhat durable "swimming" shoe.
If I'm being honest, I much prefer dry-er caving. However one of the caves we frequent has plenty of wet areas, so for those trips, it would be nice to have better options. The famous Scandanavian phrase, "There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes" comes to mind.
(Thank you all for the link to the other thread BTW. I'm probably half-way through it at the moment.)
pwhole
Well-known member
The problem I've found with wearing clothing under a wetsuit is that unless it's pretty tight itself, it can ruck up as you pull the suit on, and if your genital underwear ends up in the wrong place you could have a hell of a job getting it back into place. As the owner of male genitals, I can't honestly say that wearing underwear too made the experience any better for me, but I also got one of the Decathlon suits, and they are quite supple and stretchy in all the right areas. Let's face it, we've all got some sort of genitals, so there's equality in misery. I certainly don't look like George Clinton did on The Tube in 1982, which nearly gave my mum a heart attack. That's what she said it was, anyway:
kay
Well-known member
*I guess I could get some cheaper wellies and make drainage holes in them* There's no consensus on that. Some people prefer drainage holes for lightness, others prefer no drainage holes - why warm up umpteen bootfuls of water when you could warm up only one?
*cheaper heavy cotton work pants, and a cotton long-sleeve t-shirt* You probably know this, but cotton isn't ideal for caving in the wet - it absorbs water and stays really cold.
*cheaper heavy cotton work pants, and a cotton long-sleeve t-shirt* You probably know this, but cotton isn't ideal for caving in the wet - it absorbs water and stays really cold.
Leclused
Active member
After the clean-up of last weekend trip in an underground river in France I thought let's make a photo about my neoprene setup 
The following picture shows what I'm wearing under my oversuit
- prolimit predator wetsuit 3/5 mm
- prolimit shorts 1 mm
- tribord t-shirt
- socks
- neoprene socks
- kneepads
PS My boots are not shown
The following picture shows what I'm wearing under my oversuit
- prolimit predator wetsuit 3/5 mm
- prolimit shorts 1 mm
- tribord t-shirt
- socks
- neoprene socks
- kneepads
PS My boots are not shown
JAshley73
Active member
RE the cotton pants & t-shirt - Yeah, I'm totally aware that cotton is less than ideal when wet. I was just posting what my current caving attire is.**
RE the boots, I hadn't considered "heating up water." I wear tall wellies now, (to keep my feet dry of course) but I imagine wearing them full of water is no fun at all. My thought on the holes for wet-trips, was to simply let the water out of the boots for the drier sections - so you aren't walking/crawling/climbing with sloshy boots.
**For much of our caving here (minus the wet trips of course) that clothing is very well suited. I'm always amazed at you British/Eurpoean cavers' outfits, and talk of oversuit/undersuit, etc...
Yes, I concede, wet trips are different. But for our mostly-dry trips, heavy pants and a long-sleeve T-shirt are almost perfect. Plenty durable pants for the crawls/scoots, etc, but they will also "breathe" some - the sweat evaporating away during easier moments, and cooling us off a little during the more strenuous moments. And most imporant - CHEAP! 
pwhole
Well-known member
The downside of drilling holes in your wellies is that your feet get wet even in a puddle. Just tip the water out on wet trips - just as easy and non-destructive, and you don't have to take them off to do it. The last bit of water (and neoprene socks) should keep your feet warm.
Tim Pickering
Active member
My internal organs would cook inside all of that! I'm overheating just looking at it.After the clean-up of last weekend trip in an underground river in France I thought let's make a photo about my neoprene setup
The following picture shows what I'm wearing under my oversuit
- prolimit predator wetsuit 3/5 mm
- prolimit shorts 1 mm
- tribord t-shirt
- socks
- neoprene socks
- kneepads
View attachment 19799
PS My boots are not shown
PeteHall
Moderator
Just keep several pairs of wellies.
I have pairs without holes if I'm expecting to stay dry and pairs with holes if I'm expecting to get wet.
Tonight was a holey welly and neoprene night
domestos bend
Member
In the 80s it was common to wear full wetsuit for a lot of trips with only a small amount of water. The ultimate was meeting a chap wearing a wetsuit in (bone dry) Blacknor hole on Portland ….
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