Cleaning a wetsuit? wetsuit shampoo?

[aboalreem]

baking soda a good way to go

 

[supernix]

Ok for me this worked. I went diving in the pool 5 days ago I was in a rush to pickup my wife and forgot later to put my stuff up to dry later it was very late at night. I went for my open water dive and OMG the smell was horrible.
So on some advise from the instructor and reading here I tried the baby shampoo and let me tell you it worked like a charm. Smell is gone and I am a happy camper.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

detergant is the kiss of death for neoprene
SWT

I call BS on that. Why should that be the case?

 

[Joe Cool]

This is the way I clean my wetsuit: Fill the tub with water less at 1/4 depth. Put in a small amount of shampoo (not too much, just a bit) (colorless unscented or scented shampoo works well), then soak the suits for 10 minutes each side agitating by hand once in a while. Hang the suit to dry. When you dry your wetsuit, make sure it is dry inside and outside. Stink happens when a wetsuit is stored damp. My wetsuits never stank and they are in great shape. I never store my wetsuits folded they are always hung in the closet using a proper hanger. To keep dust off the wetsuit, I drape a garbage bag over it.

Hope this tip is useful.

 

[entropy]

YES, I just finished the post dive vacation cleaning hours ago.

Simply green - two generous cap fulls in a garbage can, outdoor type, and fill with water and let soak an hour or two or many. Then drain and add clean water from the garden hose, let soak for an hour. Remember to run the hose in your purge valve, (I take ours off the bottom and run it for a few minutes, then get the water out and add air, mine for the drying process)
No sink, other then older neoprene. My spouse always pees in his suit and I sometimes do. Hope that helps.
My DM however uses Woolite for black clothes in the washing machine on gentle.. NOT in the dryer.

 

[OceansideOcean]

Simply green - two generous cap fulls in a garbage can, outdoor type, and fill with water and let soak an hour or two or many. SNIP!

I just bought my first wetsuit this weekend and I'm going to try Simple Green, also. I've been using it for everything for 30 years and it does good work on almost everything.

The best part is, you can drink the stuff! A motorcycle mechanic pointed this out to me years ago. It's very effective, yet it's made from very safe ingredients - I can't remember if it's organic or not. Read the label - it doesn't say not to ingest it and there's no What To Do If You Swallow It instructions.

So I'll second entropy, and I'll add in the Listerine rinse. I think I'll mix them together to see if it can be done in one step.

Why not use a dedicated product like STS? Because they slap a "scuba" label on it and the price goes through the roof. A dollar a packet is reasonable, but you need 3 packets for each application? :shocked2:

Besides, you can travel light and buy Simple Green and Listerine when you get to your faraway destination. I stopped bringing batteries for my lights for this reason.

I'll let you know how the Green/Listerine works for me.

m

 

[diver 85]

Throw it in the washing machine on gentle cycle---add a half cup of woolite-----has worked for over 20 years for me......

btw, just washed my skins, speedo, & 2 mm shorty that way this past Saturday nite(from diving Saturday)----smells like a clean powdered baby's butt right now & ready for the Fling this weekend........