Seasoft Drysuit

[Medic1777]

Does anyone have any experience with any of the Seasoft Drysuits? I would like to hear about the durability, warmth, easy of entry, wrist vents (I am used to having vents on my bicep), COMFORT, and any issues you don't like about the suit.

Thank you,

Marc Findlay

[oly5050user]

we currently have 3 of them in our rental inventory..Easy to put on,good fit..innovative zipper..Bruce at seasoft can place the exhaust valve elswhereif you wish..everyone who has used one or purchased one likes it..

[Medic1777]

we currently have 3 of them in our rental inventory..Easy to put on,good fit..innovative zipper..Bruce at seasoft can place the exhaust valve elswhereif you wish..everyone who has used one or purchased one likes it..

Thank you for your input. If you have them in your rental inventory they must be durable. Durability is VERY important to me since the suit is an investment.

Marc Findlay

[H2O 70]

I know of one LDS that had to ship their entire inventory back of Seasoft Drysuits as well as a few customer ones because they were coming unglued. Based upon that I'd question the durability statement. They are comfortable and easy to put on!

[oly5050user]

I know of one LDS that had to ship their entire inventory back of Seasoft Drysuits as well as a few customer ones because they were coming unglued. Based upon that I'd question the durability statement. They are comfortable and easy to put on!

good to know..we havenot had any issues with the product and will look out for that possibly happening..Did seasoft stand by their product and take care of it?

[H2O 70]

good to know..we havenot had any issues with the product and will look out for that possibly happening..Did seasoft stand by their product and take care of it?

I believe Bruce took care of the shop personally.

[oly5050user]

I believe Bruce took care of the shop personally.

Having met Bruce personally I would expect no less.

[Bruce Justinen]

I wanted to personally respond to this thread. As all manufacturers do, we rely on our suppliers to deliver the components and parts that we use to manufacturer our products. In the case of our drysuits, our glue manufacturer last September/October changed the formula for our drysuits. This glue is very expensive and normally extremely reliable and it works. It did work EXCEPT for the zipper panels. The backing of our zippers is a different component than the neoprene and this new glue (which we were not aware was new) was not binding correctly to the zipper backing.

We became aware of the problem after approximately 75 suits were made. We have fixed or tested all of the suits and we have returned them to the stores and/or customers.

We are embarrassed, horrified and sad that the reputation that we have worked so hard to build over the last 26 years has been damaged. We always, ALWAYS stand behind our customers and we will continue to do so. If anyone EVER has an issue with one of our products, you can email me at bruce@seasoftscuba.com and you will get a reply.

In the meantime, we are back to building fantastic drysuits that are the best value in diving today. Our customers love our suits and I want to remind some of you, we make 6 different suits. For those of you who had problems, we are so very sorry. For those of you who chose not to buy our suits because of this problem, well, I don't blame you for being cautious, I too, have been burned on scuba gear. Thank you to all of our dealers and customers who support us, we truly are grateful and we will continue to work hard.

[offthewall1]

We became aware of the problem after approximately 75 suits were made. We have fixed or tested all of the suits and we have returned them to the stores and/or customers.

In the meantime, we are back to building fantastic drysuits that are the best value in diving today.

I feel inclined to tell this story to protect the public.

We are one of the shops that purchased Seasoft Drysuits. In fact, we purchased a total of 7 from Bruce. One XV-4 for myself, 3 TX-3's for rental, a suit for my wife and two suits for customers.

The rentals were dove 3 to 4 times in water varying from 38F - 48F degrees before coming unglued. Two of the three rentals failed and then my XV-4 failed. When I say failed, I mean failed - as the entire zipper panels came unglued. To me, the scary part was they were fine for 3 to 4 dives... then suddenly, without warning, they came apart in catastrophic style.

We notified Seasoft and were advised they were just becoming aware of the problem and that we could send our suits back for repair at their expense. We packed up all 7 suits, gathering the ones back from our customers and sent them back.

Approximately three weeks later we received the suits back from Seasoft with a guarantee that this would not happen again. I advised Bruce that if it happened again, I could not in good conscious dive his suits or ask my customers to do so. He stood in my store and told me that if it happened again, he would refund my money for the suits.

This past week, diving my suit for the second time since it had been back, the zipper panel again failed catastrophically - coming completely apart on me while on a dive. My suit flooded with 48F degree water within seconds. Luckily I was only in about 10 feet of water at the time and was able to safely make it out.

Upon returning to the store, I examined the only other rental that had been in the water since the suits came back from repair - and it to was peeling apart at the zipper panel.

I called Bruce at 10:30am EST and left a message for him advising that I had had enough and demanded a full and immediate refund for all 7 suits. I also advised that I needed to hear from him immediately or I would initiate a complaint with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. I waited until 1:30 in the afternoon and after not hearing back from Bruce, I called Seasoft again. The girl who answered the phone advised me she had given Bruce the information and he was aware of the problem. I further advised her that I needed to hear from Bruce within the hour -and she advised me he was on an airplane. I was livid that he couldn't have taken 2 minutes to call me before getting on that plane - given he had a couple of hours after being notifed of the problem before he boarded.

By 8:30pm EST I still had not heard from Bruce, so I filed an online complaint with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Sometime very late in the evening Bruce sent me an email... the details of this email and other subsequent emails is not all that important at this moment.

I have been told that I will be receiving a complete refund for all seven suits. I will let you all know if and when that happens. I expect nothing less from Bruce at this point, as this is what he agreed to if the suits failed us a second time.

With all of this said, I'm on a shaky fence here. To be honest, I have dove three other brands of drysuits in my days... and none of those were as comfortable as the Seasoft suits. I believe Bruce when he says he has customers who love them. I loved them right up until they failed so horribly - not once - but twice.

Being a dive industry professional, my greatest fear is that someone could be seriously injured or killed by one of these suits in cold, deep water. Keep in mind, we're not talking about a slow leak - we're talking about a catastrophic failure where the zipper panel comes completely apart in a matter of seconds. I believe anything short of a total safety recall is putting lives in danger. Again, it is a problem because the suit may work fine once, twice or even three or four times before suddenly coming apart.

For those that saw the Gilligans Island episode where they discover the amazing glue and patch the minnow back together... only to discover water dissolves the glue... well thats exactly what this reminds me of.

I obviously don't believe this impacts every suit Seasoft has made over the past 5 years... but it certainly affects - in my mind - all suits made within the past year. If you own or know someone who owns a Seasoft suit, please advise them of these concerns. If your suit has been back for repair once - I wouldn't trust it just yet. Dive it shallow multiple times before considering deep cold water.

I am hopeful Bruce fulfills his promise to me and my customers of a full and swift refund. I am still a Seasoft dealer - and Seasoft makes many other terrific products that I am proud to sell. Where there is good - I'll state it... and where there are problems, I'll state them.

These are the current facts in this situation... so do with this info as you see fit.

[Bruce Justinen]

Again, I want to respond to the above post and Ken is right, we got the suits back and not knowing what was wrong, we used the same zipper panel to re-glue his 7 suits.

Now, I have not seen the suits yet, but here is what we know.

We have been using this zipper, the Ti Zip from Germany for about 5 years now and we have had zero problems with them. (There is no problem with our brass zipper suits.) They are actually fantastic for a dry suit. However, last July - November on a very limited amount of suits the glue was defective in some way or in the way it cured on these limited suits (we have not changed suppliers or glue formula) and the zipper did not completely bond to the zipper panel.

The first suits we received back, which was Off the Wall Scuba's above, we re-glued the suits thinking that this was all that was needed. We discovered pretty early on that the new glue was not bonding to the old glue left on the zipper panel or the zipper itself. So we started replacing all the zipper panels completely with new ones. Since that time we have not had any problems at all.

We have sent a new suit at our expense to Off the Wall Scuba for them to use and test to assure them that this problem has been eliminated and the old glue disposed of.

As far as we know, approximately 35 suits have been effected and we have them back, or in the case of Off the Wall Scuba, we are waiting for the return of the suits.

We are embarrassed and want you to know we take this seriously and have spend hundreds of hours examining all the things that could have gone wrong.

You can only imagine what it is like to make hundreds of suits with no problems and then have these few zipper panels, for no apparent reason, go bad.

If only one has any questions or you want your suit checked, email me directly at bruce@seasoftscuba.com

I want to publicly apologize to Ken Barrick of Off the Wall Scuba for our mess concerning his drysuits, we just did not have enough information at the time and were "positive" that we had fixed the problem. When the two retail customers who had purchased these suits from Ken were asked if they wanted to return them, they declined and decided to keep their suits. We are giving them a lifetime warranty on the zipper panel and the glue. I want to thank them for their trust in us also.

[coldwaterlloyd]

I have used Seasoft gloves and hoods for years . I love the product and their innovative designs . I would not hesitate to buy one of your suits Bruce . Trouble is my current suit has a lot of dives left in er.
I do not know of many company's that have not had a quality control glitch at one point or another . If this is limited to 75 suits it is manageable . I recommend contacting anyone that had a problem while diving and make sure they know the whole story .
I recommend Seasoft products .

[Valaika]

Indian Valley Scuba has the complete Seasoft line of drysuits and undergarments on our Dueling Drysuits Demo Tour, so anyone is welcome to come out and test dive them and evaluate the quality, fit and function for themselves. The tour will be running forty-five days this year across the Northeast. And the best part? The demo is FREE!

Complete Dueling Drysuits tour details, dates and schedule can be found by clicking here (http://www.indianvalleyscuba.com/Dueling%20Drysuits%20Demo%202010%20(2).pdf)!

[mdb]

Bruce produces a very high quality drysuit. The Seasoft drysuits are very well designed with quality features.

Seasoft is located in the Pacific NW. Bruce and his crew have a lot of experience in cold water diving.

Good for Dave and the IVS folks for adding SeaSoft to the Dueling Drysuits Demo.

[offthewall1]

My last post was on April 4th... and it is now May 10th... so here is an update.

Bruce has sent back a large portion of the money owed to us - but not all of it. As of the writing of this email, we are still awaiting the final payment.

Bruce has not yet received any of the suits back from us - as per the agreement, we would not ship them back until we had received a complete refund... and two pre-paid UPS shipping labels (call tags) so we could ship them at Seasofts expense.

I emailed Bruce about a week ago to find out when the final payment and call tags will be received and I have received nothing in response.

It is true that our customers have decided to keep their personal suits and that Bruce has extended them a lifetime warranty on them as he previously posted.

I have in fact as of the writing of this email received a test suit from Oceaner (labeled Seasoft) for me to dive and put through extreme testing. I have not yet had a chance to dive it... but will follow up once I do.

I want to thank Bruce for his apology and hope to continue doing business with him once this entire situation is settled.

It is my hope that this glue situation will be figured out and the suits given more attention by consumers. They are the most comfortable dry suit on the market.

[Valaika]

Here's an update from the Indian Valley Scuba Dueling Drysuit Demo Tour - the Seasoft suits we are showing and diving look great and have received rave reviews from our test divers. I believe whatever issues may have been encountered in the past are behind everyone now, and we encourage divers to come and test dive the suits with us!

[MasterDiver1]

Again, I want to respond to the above post and Ken is right, we got the suits back and not knowing what was wrong, we used the same zipper panel to re-glue his 7 suits.

Now, I have not seen the suits yet, but here is what we know.

We have been using this zipper, the Ti Zip from Germany for about 5 years now and we have had zero problems with them. (There is no problem with our brass zipper suits.) They are actually fantastic for a dry suit. However, last July - November on a very limited amount of suits the glue was defective in some way or in the way it cured on these limited suits (we have not changed suppliers or glue formula) and the zipper did not completely bond to the zipper panel.

The first suits we received back, which was Off the Wall Scuba's above, we re-glued the suits thinking that this was all that was needed. We discovered pretty early on that the new glue was not bonding to the old glue left on the zipper panel or the zipper itself. So we started replacing all the zipper panels completely with new ones. Since that time we have not had any problems at all.

We have sent a new suit at our expense to Off the Wall Scuba for them to use and test to assure them that this problem has been eliminated and the old glue disposed of.

As far as we know, approximately 35 suits have been effected and we have them back, or in the case of Off the Wall Scuba, we are waiting for the return of the suits.

We are embarrassed and want you to know we take this seriously and have spend hundreds of hours examining all the things that could have gone wrong.

You can only imagine what it is like to make hundreds of suits with no problems and then have these few zipper panels, for no apparent reason, go bad.

If only one has any questions or you want your suit checked, email me directly at bruce@seasoftscuba.com

I want to publicly apologize to Ken Barrick of Off the Wall Scuba for our mess concerning his drysuits, we just did not have enough information at the time and were "positive" that we had fixed the problem. When the two retail customers who had purchased these suits from Ken were asked if they wanted to return them, they declined and decided to keep their suits. We are giving them a lifetime warranty on the zipper panel and the glue. I want to thank them for their trust in us also.
I purchased one of the seasoft commercial style suits a few months back after seeing them at a dive show. My first dive resulting in water entering the suit straight through the glued seams on the boots. The zipper also came apart. I only got one dive on the suit. I sent it back and i was told that the suit was completely redone and new boots added. To me, it looked like they simply painted over the seams on the boots with aqua seal. None the less, i dove the suit again and it leaked straight through the glued seam on the boot and now right through the leg! the suit also looked like it has been thrown around a little and was dirty. I am very disappointed with the quality and response from seasoft. In addition, I was visiting southern california at the time i bought the suit and met the rep i think it was paul or peter, i cannot recall. He was veyr rude and short with me and my buddy. We are professional US NAVY divers and deserve at least an ounce of diving respect but the rep treated us like we had never set one foot in the water - Bruce you gotta do something about your rep and the quality! I love my BC and kit bags - hate the suit.

[dorsey61]

As of today do you still use Seasoft Dry suits
Do you know if the problems have been resolved?

[Bruce Justinen]

Here is what we know, we have resolved all issues with the glue that we are aware of. No new suits from 2011 have been returned for warranty issues with the zipper panels. It is sad that we make such great drysuits and that this zipper glue issue poisoned a great reputation among some customers. In the meantime we have been working, improving and making suits. We won a recent faceoff against the other major manufacturers last year.

Here is the link: http://ads.bonniercorp.com/scuba/PDF/ScoringChart.pdf

We have quietly worked our way back, just ask someone who has a SEASOFT Drysuit. By the way we are continuing to improve and make every drysuit better.

Bruce
SEASOFT SCUBA

[coldwaterlloyd]

Well done Bruce .