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Need a new wetsuit

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

gman

New Member
Jul 21, 2006
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Well I tried to try on my old Harvey's wetsuit last night. It was a huge struggle :crutch. I do not think there is any way I am going to be able to get it on at the beach. I went online and looked up apnea suits and found lots to choose from. Can anyone recommend a freediving suit that will last for a number of years crawling on rocks, butt sliding over rocks and gneerally not being to nice to it? What do ab divers use nowadays? I am sure that the really comfortable, really soft, really streamlined suits made for competition would last about three dives on rocks....

Thanks again.
Gary
 
gman said:
Well I tried to try on my old Harvey's wetsuit last night. It was a huge struggle :crutch. I do not think there is any way I am going to be able to get it on at the beach. I went online and looked up apnea suits and found lots to choose from. Can anyone recommend a freediving suit that will last for a number of years crawling on rocks, butt sliding over rocks and gneerally not being to nice to it? What do ab divers use nowadays? I am sure that the really comfortable, really soft, really streamlined suits made for competition would last about three dives on rocks....

Thanks again.
Gary
Right, stay away from smooth neoprene for crawling on rocks: better a model covered with fabric. If you don't want to spend much money on taylor made or custom suits, I think an Omer Mimetic may be okay. It's protected on knees and albows, fabric covered and cool looking too.
http://www.omerdiving.com/product.aspx?product=197
 
for what its worth i am currently using:

(Summer) Immersion - 5mm sabre suit is very good, not too pricey and durable enough for rock crawling + bottom scratching ;) ...mine is now into its 3rd year!(although it is getting pretty threadbare and is up for retirement soon. :( )

(Winter) Immersion camo 7mm (open celll interior)- is also very durable and warm for those chilly winter dives....not as flexible and stretchy as my old picasso chicle suit :inlove , but that was partialy smooth skin.

Picasso suits are the bees knees in my opinion...but are a bit more expensive, i will probably go picasso or elios next.

My two sea cubits worth...


pelagicbeing
 
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Thanks all. I will look into both Omer and Immersion. My main concern is price. I can let you all know what I go with.
 
My biggest problem was also price, I decided to go with Spiros: http://www.diveskin.net I got a custom made 5mm suit with mimetic nylon exterior and slick (open cell) interior including knee pads. I just got back from Hawaii and bounced around on the lava rocks and coral with it, easy to put on when it is wet and it took a beating no problem.
 
Those look great! Do you have any complaints at all? Did you get the freediving suit or the spearfishing suit? What is the difference between nylon and slick interior?
 
fogish said:
My biggest problem was also price, I decided to go with Spiros: http://www.diveskin.net I got a custom made 5mm suit with mimetic nylon exterior and slick (open cell) interior including knee pads. I just got back from Hawaii and bounced around on the lava rocks and coral with it, easy to put on when it is wet and it took a beating no problem.
Ive got one of these suits, its got a split arse, the hood is comung off and the knees are well screwed! I think he uses crap glue to hold them together. Still if you dont mind fixing it once in a while they arent bad value but ask him for knee pads!
 
Oh man.... That puts a wrinkle in things. ANyone else have any experience with these or know anyone who does??
 
I use the custom made Seal freediving suit from DiveSkin (slickskin out / nylon inside) since about 6 months, and so far am quite happy with it. As for now no defects, but I use it mostly for static trainings in pool (twice a week) and only occasionally outdoors (about dozen times till now). Even if it should give up in a year or two, I think I'll buy another one from DiveSkin again.
 
trux,
What do you use outdoors? Does your diveskin suit give you the impression it may not hold up? Perhaps Pastor's suit is an anomoly.

Pastor, How old is your suit?
 
As I wrote, I used it about a dozen times outdoors, but usually I dive just in a short cheap (29€) 2mm suit - for exploration dives in my diving range (within -20m) taking 1-3 hours, it is mostly sufficient and letting more freedom than the long 2 piece 3mm DiveSkin suit. I use the full suite only at surface water temperatures below ~20°C, or for trainings (static or depths) where I get easier cold than at leisure freediving.

As I wrote, so far there are no signs of fatigue or defects, except of some minor scratches on the slick side that I caused myself (and can easily repair).
 
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Sorry for the misunderstanding. Based on your first reply I should have written "what do you normally use outdoors"? THank you for telling me in your next post. Thank you for being so patient with me and my questions. I know you said you had no problems so far, but I though you might have a feel for things that might cause problems in the future. Again you answered sufficiently in your next post. Thank you very much for your time and expertise.
 
My suit is into its second season now, I'll post some pictures later on when I can find my camera. The nylon exterior isnt that durable and is letting go at the seams that take the most pulling. To be fair about the knee's they have had some serious abuse on the rocks and the holes are not the suits fault but knee pads would have seen them OK but the arse of the suit is just bad design. There is a seam running right around the crotch that really gets streched badly evry time you bend over and the nylon exterior eventually gives and almost instantly the neoprene lets go, other suits dont have this seam. I am going to re-enforce mine with some tape on the inside to spread the load out. All this aside I am very dissapointed with the gluing quality, again I will post pictures later on today.
But heres the thing, this suit cost less than half the price of an Elios or Polosub etc and will last more than half as long. I will probably buy another unless I get a job that pays worth a damn then its an Elios for me ;)
 
Here's the promised pictures:

This one shows the hood glue join coming apart, you can see glue on both surfaces its not a neoprene failure

Picture046.jpg



This one shows the nylon giving way on a seam, thats a big hole in the shoulder before the end of the season :( will tape the inside soon to stop it getting worse

Picture047.jpg


This is one of the many holes in the crotch seam of the suit, I will glue these up and tape the inside

Picture048.jpg



Finally the knee of my suit, kneepads will help prevent this rofl

Picture049.jpg
 
Wow Pastor you really beat the crap out of your suit. Let me know what kind of glue you use for the seams, right now all I have is aquaseal to repair rips. I bought my suit expecting it to last for only one season in the first place (exact same suit), so that is why I went with diveskin, someday when I am filthy rich or sponsored I will try out one of the bigger names and see how long they last.

Mine has been doing fine so far, but I just started using it. I have some scratches on the outside from lava rock but if I avoid shore diving at spots with only lava rock to enter from my suit will probably not get scratched up like that. My biggest problem now is diving in reservoirs: I have to dodge all of the submerged trees and fishing line traps that fishermen lay for divers.

gman you need to look at how much you can afford to spend right now, what you will use the suit for and how often (that usually determines how long it will last as well as what type) I got nylon ext. and slick int. so that I could beat up the outside in our murky lakes, the slick skin is very fragile. I am still figuring out if I want to do hunting or just straight free diving, so I got a suit I could do both in fairly well and not hate myself for ruining it by running into a tree branch and tearing a huge gash in it. As for how often I use it well I was just going to use it whenever I could get up to a lake or reservoir until it didn't fit or fell apart, this is my starter suit and it will get me familiar with what I need to know without breaking the bank.
 
Great reply fogfish, thank you. I can afford to spend about what the diveskins cost. I would spend a little more if I were sure that whatever I bought would last ALOT longer. I have a full time job and a wife and kids and other activities and a one our drive to the nearest dive site anyway. So considering all that, I will probably not be diving enough to warrant a really good suit.
Pastor,
Did you send these pictures to Spiro or tell him what was going on with the seems?? If so, what did he say about it?

Thanks again for all the help.
 
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