Old wet suit

[blueface]

My wet suit is about 2 years old and a friend told me that it could be water logged (full of water) therefore, it is a lot heavier. Is this possible or does the suit always hold the same amount of water? I ordered a new suit (2 mil) and I will get rid of the old (3 mil) suit.

It is a 2 pc open cell suit. Smooth on the inside. Any thoughts?

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[sross]

Hi Blueface,

Does the suit feel heavier? If you were to put it on a scale beside another new one would it weigh more? In my day I've had a few suits die of old age, but none of them ever took on water! These were suits coated with nylon both sides, though. I've only recently gotten smoothskin suits. We'll see how they hold up.

Here's how an old suit croaks: Over time any rubber, including neoprene, will oxidize and this causes the rubber to lose its elasticity (in geek speak, the crosslinks that hold unstretched rubber polymers in a jumbled tangle get broken, so it takes less energy to straighten 'em out, and they don't tend to spring back so readily).

What this means is that the fit of the suit gets worse & worse, and the suit starts to feel colder. Eventually it's a lost cause and you need to toss the suit.

It always took more than 2 years for my suits to go downhill, though. I would say the shortest lived of 'em took 5 years to die.

 

[blueface]

Thanks sross. I don't know if it would actualy weigh more but it feels like there is more water in it when I use it. It feels like I'm towing weight around in it. It's noticeable on my back. I feel water sloshing around between my skin and back. the suit may have stretched out.

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[Old Man Dave]

I believe neoprene diving suits are made of solid neoprene (synthetic rubber) with nitrogen bubbles infused within it. It is described as "closed cell" (unlike sponges which are open cell) and as such should never absorb water whatever its age or condition. Old suits used to become brittle with age but more modern neoprene seems to get thinner and less "elastic". Maybe this more modern neoprene crushes with age and in some way the bubbles are compressed. Seems very unlikely it would absorb water though.

Dave.