Changes in wetsuit size

I usually do tropical diving but I live near a quarry in Pa. (Dutch Springs) and I bought myself a 7/5 mm jumpsuit for diving there.

I realize that at depth the neoprene compresses and then expands when you surface. I wanted to know what happens to the suit after it's been used for numerous dives.

Does the material actually permanently shrink somewhat because of all the compression or does it loosen up like shoes do when they become "worn in"?

Thanks,

Sy

I think it's a bit of everything. A suit will stretch permanently to some extent with regular use. This is most apprent in custom suits that are not pre-bent. After some use they will begin to mold to the divers contours better than the usual tailoring.

When material crushes over time it gets thinner. This makes the suit bigger inside and ssmaller outside. The amount that a suit permamenently thins is slight. Loss of bubble integrity will over time cause it to be much less effective a depth. All in all it dosen't add up to much in terms of fit.

Stiffening with age is probably far more significant and could be percieved as shrinkage.

Often the truth lies in the bathroom scale.

Pete

The issue I most notice is that my suit (7mm) stays most flexible if you use it often. If it stays dry a long time, it gets stiffer, and feels as if it shrunk because it is harder to pull on. (After winter break I even gave my suit a dip in tub before first spring dive, and that helped to soften it up a bit.) I have not noticed any shrinkage per se, and I moved to drysuit before collecting enough possible compression loss data.

All Neoprean wetsuits lose effectiveness over time. Every time a wetsuit is worn and compresses in the water some of the aircells inside the material are crushed. Eventually the heat loss is noticeable and a new suit is required. Yes, suits do shrink when dried. Manytimes it is necessary to wet the suit to ease into it once again. I find that at about 250 dives my wet suit is trash and it is time to get another one. I'd never buy a used wetsuit as you can not tell without using it if it still retains enough aircells to be effective. I never throw away my old wetsuits as I use them for patches on knees, elbows, and the arms can make a nice shoulder strap on my BP harness.