Drysuit ?'s

[Kirk]

I’ve owned four drysuits, of which I still have three of them. 

The first one I purchased was a Dive Rite 905, I got it from Scuba Dive and Travel in Minneapolis (no longer in business).  I was a relatively new diver, and I got it mainly to extend the dive season into the colder months.  It is a trilaminate suit.  This suit comes with Wellington style boots, which are pretty nice.  It comes standard with two pockets, thus the only modification I needed to make was an addition of a Kevlar crotch pad (essential, in my opinion, if diving a backplate with crotch strap). It was reasonably priced at the time (thus the reason you see so many of them around the area…. Rich sold a bunch of them at a good price to keep people coming into the shop throughout the year), but in my opinion, the current price of the suit is rather high for what you get.  The sizing on this suit is limited, thus in order to get enough length, I had to order a suit that was roomy enough to fit a second person in there.  It did not hold up well to regular diving and eventually leaked like a sieve.  It spent a lot of time at the repair shops in Brainerd and Gainesville.  I also had to replace the zipper on that one, which is a pretty expensive repair.     

My second suit was also a Dive Rite 905.  I wouldn’t have purchased another of these suits, but it was given to me by the owner of Dive Rite after he saw the condition of my first Dive Rite suit (talk about being at the right place at the right time).  Dive Rite took my other suit, and hopefully disposed of it.  Soon after I got the replacement suit, it too had to be sent in for repairs due to a leaky crotch (again why a crotch pad is so essential).

Knowing that the days were numbered for my first suit, yet prior to receiving the gift of the second suit, I had already placed an order for my next suit.  My third suit was a DUI CF200 crushed neoprene suit.  This was actually one of DUI’s overstock suits.  It was custom made for someone else, thus I got it for a really good price from a shop in San Diego that specializes in part in the selling of DUI’s overstocks and blems (they essentially shave about 20% off DUI’s already reduced prices on these suits).  Fits me great (almost like a wetsuit), though it has started to leak a bit.  I should really send it in for a leak test, I also need to replace the wrist seals.  After I purchased it, I added a pair of pockets and a Kevlar crotch pad.  When it stopped working well, I swapped the Apeks exhaust valve for one from Si-Tech.  This suit came with the Rock Boot system, but I have replaced the rock boots with modified Chuck Taylor All-Stars, which in my opinion, work better.  The only downside I see to the crushed neoprene suits compared to the trilaminates, is that they take a long time to dry, and are really heavy when damp. 

My fourth, and newest suit is a DUI TLS SE (trilaminate) with the expedition package (a hood, a pair of pockets, a crotch pad, and overlays on the knees and legs).  I got the select version, thus I had an extended choice of sizes (I’m tall and thin) and got to choose the color of the suit and type of boots.  I got the turbo soles this time, though at first didn’t like them, until I added over the feet a pair of Trident fin grippers (a product designed for a nonexistent problem, but actually works well for this application).  I got the suit from Seatasea Watersports in Cedar Rapids, which had pretty good pricing (about 20% off retail, plus no tax if ordered from here).  I’ve only had the suit for a few months, but like it thus far. 

You can’t underestimate the value of warm undergarments.  When I first started diving I used regular long underwear and fleece, but soon realized that I need much better insulation.  For undergarments, I currently own both the Weezle Extreme Plus and the DUI Thinsulate Ultra 400.  I’ve owned the Weezle for a long time, and have had some problems with the material getting caught in the exhaust valve (wrapping the upper arm of the undergarment with duct tape fixes this).  I got a really good deal recently on the DUI undergarment, and was planning to make this my primary, but for now I still prefer the Weezle for it isn’t so floaty and can easily be washed.  I had to make a 6 pound channel weight to offset the increased buoyancy of the DUI undergarment and will have to wear a base layer to keep it from getting too ripe, thus potentially making it even more floaty.  - Kirk