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very thin suit

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.

immerlustig

BlueSkunk
Aug 17, 2002
597
90
118
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hi

i was wondering if there is anyonbe out there who has some experience with very thin suits. i'm considering ordering an elios suit of 1.5mm mainly to further reduce buoyancy change while still having a bit of thermal protection (no suit diving is not an issue, really). another question would be how delicate that suit will be if it's that thin. my idea is to have it with super stretch nylon inside to avoid those massive rips.

any ideas?

cheers,

roland
 
This is probably no use to you for your situation but I tried one of the first membrane drysuits when they became available 20+ years ago. They were a super thin nylon material and kept you warm by being water tight (dry suit :duh ) using thin rubber cuff, neck and ankle seals and what was revolutionary, the waterproof zip (from the USA space program). Suberb to dive in . More flexible than the thinnest neoprene and with a separate hood but no leakage due to the thin neck seal you could move your head in a way no other suit allows. Only major drawback was you could never get all the air out and below 8-10 metres you lost bouyancy even more than a neoprene wet suit. Best shallow suit I ever had. Unfortunately although the suit material was tough the seals were not. Modern membrane drysuits are much thicker and designed for scuba but I think some of the ones designed for sailing might work well. Lots of room for someone to experiment but probably not you in your location. I wonder if anyone out there is reading this and going Yes, Oh Yes? Just a thought.
Dave
 
Drysuits won't work for freediving- all ready tried it. I could get to about 25' in my Viking and 30' in my TLS suit before the squeeze became so painful that I had to stop.

I've seen divers push the depth on the fabric suits too far without inflating, about 20 years ago when they first came out, and they surfaced with a really nice "spider web" squeeze all over their body.

If your looking for a thin suit check out one of the RIffe 1.5mm. A buddy of mine just got one and it looks pretty tough.

Jon
 
Jon
Sure you're right about squeeze. However I must say down to 8-10 metres I never found it a problem, also the original suits were very thin and soft and I found that they didn't pinch in the way slightly heavier material did. I used all these types plus neoprene dry suits for scuba but always with inflation. Did give me an insight to all types though and I still think that there is some uses for super thin membrane suits especially for shallow diving.
Dave
 
thanx for the replies

i do actually intend to dive below 8-10m, so the dry suit is not an option.

on google i only found a 1mm riffe suit and it looks like it doesn't have a beavertail. looks nice, though.

i just write with the good people from elios and they gave me some good suggestions. their suit is tailormade and cheaper and since it's convenient for me to order something from italy i think i'll go for that.

cheers,

roland
 
The Riffe actually has a waist seal built into it which sucks onto the shirt that goes with it. Since it's so thin and felexibile it doens't really need much of a beaver tail.

If you go with the Elios make sure you get some type of lining on at least one of the sides. You may want to go with Super-elastic on the inside and smoothskin on the outside to give it some strength.

Jon
 
Roland,

I wore unirdna's 1 mil riffe last week and found it very easy to get in and out of. It really did not fit me very well and still was astonishingly warmer than my 3/2 surfer suit. The seals seem to work extremely well.

Connor
 
hi connor,

i ordered a suit already from elios. but thanks for the info. what i find interesting is the jacket without flap. if that still seals well, that would be wicked, i guess. i'll keep it in mind for the next one.

cheers,

roland
 
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