MNScuba.com

Hi everyone (and Happy Thanksgiving) 

Since the wetsuit season in MN is so short, I've been doing some reading on drysuits and plan to pursue
this in the near future.  I'm looking for firsthand information on why you chose the drysuit you did (water temp, material, ease of use, brand), how long you have been diving in your current drysuit, and problems (if any...) you have had...and where is the best place to purchase one?  (season sales, online, etc.)  Any and all information will be appreciated.  You can PM me with any replies.   

Thanks! 
Michelle

Why you chose the drysuit you did (water temp, material, ease of use, brand), I chose mine for the durability of the material that would handle rough environments, still hold up well for years also better range of motion in the shoulders and the knees (the flashy pattern was a side bene)

How long you have been diving in your current drysuit, About 6 months with the new suit
Problems (if any...) you have had... None, except for the learning curve on installing zip seals in high seas or the dark


Where is the best place to purchase one?  (season sales, online, etc.) Wherever they have many different brands or styles to choose from and try on/out. It is not an inexpensive purchase and you want to make sure that it is exactly what you want. You also want to buy from a shop that makes you feel comfortable and values you as a customer

What material is your drysuit made of pitbull? 

Since the wetsuit season in MN is so short, I've been doing some reading on drysuits and plan to pursue
this in the near future.  Good luck with your purchase. A drysuit is a great addition to your dive locker.

I'm looking for firsthand information on why you chose the drysuit you did (water temp, material, ease of use, brand): I have a White's drysuit. It is a hybrid model, with the lower half made of crushed neoprene, with dry glove rings and socks / rock boots. I am very pleased with the suit. It is easy to donn / doff and comfortable while diving. I chose it based on the information from and recommendation of the LDS manager.

how long you have been diving in your current drysuit, and problems (if any...) you have had: I don't remember exactly when I bought it. I have had it for approximately 9 years. It has held up well. I have had to replace the wrist and neck seals and had to repair a few leaky seams over the last few years. The only complaint is I have had issues with the dry glove system. I have switched to a different type of dry glove and have had no problems since. I did order it custom made. It fits great, but because of my wide shoulders and reduced flexibility on some days, I need help getting my arms into it. Some days, when my flexibility is better, I can manage it myself. Once on, the custom fit is great. Less drag in the water and less space for excess air in the suit. It has a diagonal zipper (right rear shoulder to the navel area), which again depending on my flexibility, I can zip and unzip myself.

...and where is the best place to purchase one?  (season sales, online, etc.): A would recommend purchasing through a local dive shop. They can help with proper sizing and fit and answer questions. It is also nice to have them available in the event you have any problems with the suit or need warranty service. One other option is that the LDS can provide you with an orientation / training session with your purchase. An end of season sale is a great way to save some money on a drysuit that was probably in the rental / training inventory for only a year or two. You still need to make sure the suit fits you. They can have some professional alterations done, which still might be cheaper than buying a new suit.

It is a major purchase, no matter which path you take. I would make sure you get a suit that fits well and that you will be happy with for many years. I also wouldn't go bargain basement just to get into a drysuit. A quality suit with proper care will last for a long time. One other consideration that I would sugget is some sort of thigh pockets. I did not order mine with them and now wish I had them.

I have a DUI TLS350 that I have been diving for 6 months and I love it. Haven't had it long enough to talk about durability. DUI is having a dog days event in 2010 in Crosby. If your interested in a DUI that is the place to go. Check it out on there web site. Its a great oppertunity to try before you buy.

Congrats on your decision to extend your season into the "white hell" months. I took my dry suit certification class through Naui in March of 2008. The class was two nights of 3 hour classes and one day of pool time. I purchased my dry suit right after the certification. A person could get the same info from a dry suit workshop but then you don't get the nifty card (if you are a Macgyver type you could use your dry suit c-card to patch a hole in your dry suit but other than that... the card is useless). I purchased a DUI TLS se which is a tri-lam back zip shell suit. I wanted to get the conventional diagonal front zip DUI 350, but at the time I was running low on disposable cash so I compromised. I took all the measurements as described on the DUI website and sent them to a DUI dealer in Florida to have them make one that would fit me in my present size. I had no intentions of gaining weight, so I stepped out on a limb and told them that I wanted it to be "cave cut". By having a suit "cave cut" they trim the suits "extra" material and make the suit more streamlined. They warned me that this is a dicey operation as they would not guarantee the fit... It turned out great, and even after a couple holiday seasons it still fits good.
I wanted the tri-lam material because of its fast drying times as most of my diving is squeezed in when ever I get a half day to dive and I would use it fairly often. My first open water dive with the suit was a series of solo dives on the Madeira, Hesper, and some dives further North in Superior. This was my trial by fire and not recommended to do solo dives with new gear as complex as a drysuit.
I have a hundred dives on the suit with only a few problems. The first problem was on my first open water dive with it where I realized while using Weezlewear undergarments under it, that the exhaust valve will not dump air through the Weezlewear fast enough and I had some difficulty stopping my ascent at my safety stop on the Madeira. I remedied this by melting several holes in the undergarments with a hot pin in the area of the exhaust valve. The second problem was about a year and a half later when the neck seal ripped while taking my dry suit off at Huntington mine. This was immediately remedied by finishing the rest of the weekend using my 7mm wetsuit that I carried with just in case. The longer term fix was to send the suit to DUI for a month and have them replace the neck seal using the Zipseal system. I also had them add the following options: Zipseals at the wrists, CF200 knee and elbow pads, reflectors, and two thigh pockets. I firmly believe that the ripped neck seal was my fault as I did not store the dry suit properly. My wife was using an electronic (ionic?) air purifier that creates OZONE I think. Hanging a suit to dry near the furnace, electric motors, in the garage, or near one of these ozone creating items is a BAD thing. Ozone and UV rays are a dry suit killer. It degrades the natural rubber in the neck seals, wrist seals, and zipper very rapidly. Now I store the dry suit (after it is completely dry) in a very large zip-loc bag with a vacuum port on it to remove all the air around the suit during storage.
I use wet gloves and a wet hood and they have served me well. Dry gloves would be nice in the future and I will get them eventually. I have witnessed people using the latex dry hoods and if nothing else they add some comedy to the dive site. I don't know anyone who kept on using these after trying them.

No matter what brand of suit you get the most important thing is whether or not it fits. This is a big purchase and its not something that you want make a mistake on. The secondary trinkets that you add to the suit are nice but not the most important thing. Good luck and welcome to the world of diving all year.
John

One of the things that you should do also is to wash the latex neck and wrist seals with lite soap and water after use and dry well. Use talcum on them and store it.

Thank you all for the valuable information so far, I really appreciate it 

Yes John, being able to dive the "white hell" months will definitely extend my diving season, and good to know about the undergarments.

Doug, thanks for the heads up on DUI in Crosby.  Trying b4 buying is a definite plus!

Dog, I agree, the location of the zipper is an important factor.

Pitbull, you're right, having a variety to choose from helps ensure a good fit with the different options.

Grumpie, good advice.  Taking care of the neck and wrist seals can't be stressed enough!

If anyone has information they'd like to share, even if you haven't had your drysuit for long, I'd love to hear from you.

Michelle 

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

--a CF200x suit from DUI
99% Crushed neoprene  and 1% Mystical Sub-marine Fire