cutting off hood?

[seaflower]

hello fellow divers,

for the cold season, I ordered a 7mm apnea suit from Eliossub. It's not custom made, but seems to be fit tolerably well.
With a bit of lube, it should be easy to get into; however I had a problem with the jacket.

The suit kind of stuck to my head and wouldn't move an inch in any direction. I couldn't get my head through into the hood.
Even with help, we only managed to get it back down just before I suffocated and nearly dislocated my neck in the process

So now I consider cutting off the hood, so I can at least get the thing on somehow.
Any ideas whether that's feasible? I don't want to have major leakage.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

If you cut off the hood, you're going to be a lot colder. Separate hoods still leak a lot, but at least they tuck under the jacket. Your hood won't have any extra bib to tuck.

It sounds like Eliosub screwed up. Do they accept returns?

BTW, this is why I get my custom suits made locally. I can try it on in their shop, and hand it back to them for adjustments if it doesn't fit.

 

[seaflower]

Can't say they screwed up, it's a standard size, not custom tailored.

From my previous experience with standard size suits (all too wide and leaking), I should have known better,
but as this suit has extra room to spare for my figure, I wouldn't have expected to not be able to get in hood-wise lol.

(maybe my head is too big? )

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Maybe it is, but mine is too. For instance, when I was a Marine Lt. going through Officer's Basic School, I was the only guy in my class of 200 who didn't get to have his brains beaten out in pugil stick training because they didn't have a football helmet that fit me.

My head is one of the main reasons I went to custom suits many years ago (although my long torso and short legs were also factors). Any suit that fit my body was way too small for my head. But even custom isn't a guarantee.

I've been getting custom suits from the same company for about 17 years. They have my measurements on file. The last time I needed a new suit, I called them and told them to make one exactly like the previous one. They asked if I wanted them to ship it to me. It was tempting since its about 55 miles away through heavy traffic, but I said I'd come pick it up. So when I got there, I went in the bathroom and lubed up and got the suit on. But when I tried to get the hood off, I was afraid I'd die alone in the bathroom, so I went out to have them help me. They had a hell of a time getting the hood off, and told me they would add a panel and ship it to me at their expense.

When it arrived, I went into the garage to try it on. I got the hood on, but again was afraid I was going to suffocate trying to get it up over my face. I almost got a knife and cut my way out of it, but managed to get it off without dying.

So I called them up, and they gave me their UPS information to send it back at their expense. They started over with an entire new hood. Its still not as easy to get on and off as all my previous suit hoods were, but at least I'm not afraid for my life.

So what the hell was the problem? My body may be fatter, but I seriously doubt that my head is.

 

[seaflower]

eep!
that description sounds very close to what happened to me!

the funny thing is, my head is rather small.
But when I first unpacked the suit and saw this mega-narrow neck and hood part (incongruous compared to the spacey jacket and wide trousers I would fit twice in hip- and buttwise), I was like "hmmm...that looks horribly small, even for me".

I thought maybe my hair was the problem, it seemed to stick onto the open cell material and afterward the suit was like glued in place.
If I had been alone, I'd probably cut the stuff off me in panic once I ran out of air.
(I may be into apnea, but not this way lol!)

I'm not sure what to do now.
Especially as I'm scared to put it on again )

 

[Apneaddict]

A local wetsuit repair place might be able to add a panel in, similar to what Bill mentioned his place did.

You could also try to do something similar yourself with some extra material and wetsuit repair glue, instead of cutting it right off.

I have a narrow head, although wide shoulders... And I'm convinced that if I had a wide head that it would affect my hands-over-head streamlining position... As well as my DNF glide from a hydrodynamic standpoint.

Pinheads are anatomically advantageous from a freediving perspective. The fact that us pinheads don't suffocate getting out of our suits is just a nice bonus!

 

[seaflower]

hehe
yes, I think I'll have a panel added in the neck area, which is probably the source of the problem.

Thanks for all the support and happy diving!

 

[Fondueset]

Are you using lube? Without lube wearing a freediving suit that fits -provided it is open cell - is madness. Seriously - no lube, rapid destruction of suit.

 

[seaflower]

yes, the entire suit was lubed of course.