I purchased a Henderson Semi-Dry Gold Core back in the spring of 06', and it has been a pain in the butt from day one. I believe the suit was barely 2 months old when the seams started to unravel. The suit was sent back to Henderson, where it was fixed. About 2 months later, same thing, this time Henderson said that they would inspect it, but if it found that this was not a manufacturing problem, they would bill me, problem is, I had to pay for shipping again, so I brought it to a local seamstress where they fixed the problem.
Last year the seams around the wrists and ankles started to unravel, what the heck. It is then and there that I vowed never to purchase another Henderson product. This afternoon as I was putting on the wetsuit to dive, the seam behind the knee didn't unravel, it just seemed to break-free. So there I sat, this big gaping opening behind the knee. WTF?
I brought the suit home and it went straight to the dumpster. Never will I ever purchase another Henderson product.
Dave Torry
St. Cloud
I bought a Henderson farmer john back in 02' and had similar problems with the threading. The shop I bought it from went to bat for me and was able to "talk" Henderson into fixing it. Henderson tried everything they could to get out of it as well. The repair didn't really matter because it just started to fall apart again. I found the easiest way to stop it was to put aquaseal over the stiches and cover the wet glue with a strip of cloth to keep the aquaseal from rubbing on your skin.(dried aquaseal really sucks on the armpits!) I am pretty much done with Henderson too-
I forgot to add this, but earlier this year, when I was removing the hood ("built in"), that also ripped. It ripped about 3-4 inches. So I put lots of Aqua Seal both between the surfaces and after a day, along the seam of the rip, both inside and out. I did this over a week, making sure to get a good seal. Yeah right, that lasted about 10 dives.
I feel like boxing it up and sending it to the Henderson service department.
That was $600 well spent.
Wet suit! They still make those things? ;D
ArcFlash, for you just think of warm water diving like Cayman, Cozmel, Bonaire, Bahama's, and on the Pacific side Palau, Truk Lagoon, Fiji, Philippines. You know the kind of places you wouldn't wear your dry suit. ;D
I'm glad I saw this thread, I was thinking of trying out a semi-dry to see if it would keep the mud out a little better. I usually have mud up to my armpits after a few hours of shallow water work (non-diving). It sounds like it wouldn't stand up to my type of abuse for very long.
I own two dry suits and hardly use them between June and September.
I remember diving in Key Largo in February once. The poor dive master was shivering in his dry suit, while a couple of us were diving in jeans and T-shirts. I guess you get aclimatized.
a good custom taylored elios suit for <$400 and no mud will get to your pits.. usually my swimsuit is still dry after a day of diving. Not sure if they taylor scuba suits.. but I would think so.. have do a search for eliossub and check them out.
Is there any place that you would not want to be dry? Don't think so.
Is there any place that you would not want to be dry? Don't think so.
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Hey Dog, I can think of place or two,,,,,,,,,,
If you are looking for a replacement, I would suggest taking a look at Pinnacle wet suits. They are sturdy, warm and are made by a company that stands behind them 100%. They are moderatley priced as well.