Dry Suit Fitting Advice Please

[gemnjam]

Hiya,

I bought myself a (neoprene) dry suit last year but didn't get a chance to use it but with the prospect of warmer times ahead now have just got it out of storage. However, I am a bit concerned about the fit of the item. I bought it secondhand & did try it on first but I think I did a bit of a girly thing and looked at how it fitted my chest, tum, bum, thighs etc but didn't look at too much else.

Trying it on the other day I noticed it bunched a bit (not a huge amount just a bit) at the knees and was wondering if this was going to be a problem. I think it is made for the "standard" woman height as most of the suits I looked at seemed to be (about 5'5 to 5'7) whereas I am just 5'3 - is this likely to me a problem do you think?

Any advice welcome as the only other option I can see for finding out is to do as my partner says & "wear it to the pool and if everyone laughs at you, you'll know its wrong" but I can't honestly say I fancy that much!

(Just to clarify and make sure I'm not doing the people at my club down, it would be the good humoured kind of "oh yeah I did that once" laughing rather than the pointing & mocking type)

[NickBCotswold]

hiya....

only way to find out for sure if the dry suit is ok for you is to try it at the pool and ignore any scoffing from other club members! Thing is, if they say anything about the knees at all, just say "yeah, well thats why i'm trying it in the pool numbn*ts!!!!" - as we say in Norfolk "that'll learn'um!"

My dry suit is slightly too long in the legs and when stood up straight theres a fold across each knee - i find it doesnt really affect my bouyancy - i dont wear or need any ankle weights, but this is one solution for you if you require- and actually, allows more flexability when moving around/finning/walking etc.

see how it goes in the pool, try doing finverted loaty feet, neutral horizontal bouyancy exercises etc, cant do too much damage there!

HTH

NickB

[ChristianG]

I'll assume you can do the full squat, right down to being able to "sit" on your ankles, with the suit fully on, nothing open? That's the first thing that you need to be able to do in any dry suit and if you can't do that, forget it and sell it on.

After that, it's a pool job for you but rejoice in the fact that "a bit bigger" is far less worrying than "a bit smaller".

Having said that, a significantly bigger suit can be unmanageable, but only you can answer that question and for that you probably need an experienced diver in the water with you, that's where forums can rarely help.

[Woz]

If the legs are too long, you rin the risk of your feet popping out of the boots, your fins coming off and an inverse buoyant ascent.

Have seen it happen and it's not pretty :)

[tlourp]

Hi

Might seem like a a strange question but when you tried on the drysuit recently did you also try on an undersuit. I find with my suit what undersuit I wear make alot of difference to the overall fit of the suit.

I would also re-iterate the others point of trying the suit in a pool. Might sound crazy but when in the pool try a mini inversion to see if air does pool in the suspect areas. You will then know if there is a high likelihood of inversion problems, best to know in the safety of a pool then out in the open water. :)

[Janos]

If the legs are too long, you rin the risk of your feet popping out of the boots, your fins coming off and an inverse buoyant ascent.

Have seen it happen and it's not pretty :)

A pair of 'spurs' (aka fin retainers) is helpful to stop this.

Janos

[tilski]

Hello

I braved the elements today and decided to test my new second hand Oceanic dry suit. All went well except that when I raised my arms above my head my crouch was somewhat crushed. Not good.

Reading this thread has prompted me to ask if there's anyone out there doing dry suit alterations. I know you can get larger or smaller boots fitted but can you get the length altered or the crouch widened?

[Janos]

Hello

I braved the elements today and decided to test my new second hand Oceanic dry suit. All went well except that when I raised my arms above my head my crouch was somewhat crushed. Not good.

Reading this thread has prompted me to ask if there's anyone out there doing dry suit alterations. I know you can get larger or smaller boots fitted but can you get the length altered or the crouch widened?

The manufacturer of the suit might be able to do it. Or theres a feller called drysuit repair dave www.drysuitrepair.co.uk who I've used in the past for work (but not big alterations like you're suggesting) and who is not a million miles from you.

Janos

[tilski]

Thanks.

Have emailed him.