Drysuit Fit - How Loose Is Too Loose?

[OE2X]

So I've been having some issues with getting a neoprene neck gasket to fit and not leak. I go to a place that makes custom drysuits and repairs all others to get the seal done. This is my third time there, since the gasket has leaked down the back of my neck each time. The owner had me try on my suit and voila! he says it's much to small. He says my CF200 needs to be baggy in the ankles, crotch and around the shoulders.

Let me explain about the fit. My CF200 while not a custom suit, fits me very nicely. If it were an Armani dress suit, it would be a bit loose in the crotch and perhaps around the ankles. For a drysuit though, it feels loose enough to get in and out of, but not excessive. Air tends to flow very evenly in the suit as I change position underwater. Another suit of mine, which is very baggy - the air bubble moves all over the place. I have found that I'm very comfortable with the CF200 and it's performance.

My question is: how loose is too loose?
Should I heed this persons advice?

His is the school of thought that you control your bouyancy with your suit and not wear a BCD. He also believes that I should wear about 40#'s of lead vs. the 24# that I currently use and have excellent trim in 10' with 100 psi in a 130.

 

[Mo2vation]

So I've been having some issues with getting a neoprene neck gasket to fit and not leak. I go to a place that makes custom drysuits and repairs all others to get the seal done. This is my third time there, since the gasket has leaked down the back of my neck each time. The owner had me try on my suit and voila! he says it's much to small. He says my CF200 needs to be baggy in the ankles, crotch and around the shoulders.

Let me explain about the fit. My CF200 while not a custom suit, fits me very nicely. If it were an Armani dress suit, it would be a bit loose in the crotch and perhaps around the ankles. For a drysuit though, it feels loose enough to get in and out of, but not excessive. Air tends to flow very evenly in the suit as I change position underwater. Another suit of mine, which is very baggy - the air bubble moves all over the place. I have found that I'm very comfortable with the CF200 and it's performance.

My question is: how loose is too loose?
Should I heed this persons advice?

His is the school of thought that you control your bouyancy with your suit and not wear a BCD. He also believes that I should wear about 40#'s of lead vs. the 24# that I currently use and have excellent trim in 10' with 100 psi in a 130.

Sort of answered your own question in the last paragraph, my friend.

I can't speak to a neoprene neck seal (as I dive Latex) but as someone who has a Sig Series 50/50 that used to fit perfect and now doesn't (lost a lot of weight), I gotta say I don't get the baggy ankles / shoulder thinking.

I mean, if it fits, it fits. The goal is to get a suit that will fit just tight enough as to not restrict full range of movement (serving the second purpose of motivation to stay in shape!) As you know, you don't need much gas to loft the undies - so unless the tight / proper fitting shoulder is pulling on the neck seal and pulling it open, I don't get it.

Big help Ken.

---
Ken

 

[OE2X]

Well that's what I thought. I figured after all dives that I've got now dry, that I sort of figured that I knew what a good fit was all about. I also figured that since the DUI rides like a sports car and my backup rides likes a '74 B210 in need of shocks that this advice was off the charts...

Just thought I'd ask.

 

[Mo2vation]

Well that's what I thought. I figured after all dives that I've got now dry, that I sort of figured that I knew what a good fit was all about. I also figured that since the DUI rides like a sports car and my backup rides likes a '74 B210 in need of shocks that this advice was off the charts...

Just thought I'd ask.

Anytime you can mix "B210" into your post, its a very good day.

Very nice.

---
Ken

 

[Uncle Pug]

Anytime you can mix "B210" into your post, its a very good day.

Very nice.

Gotta agree on that one... I am truly impressed!

 

[Daryl Morse]

So I've been having some issues with getting a neoprene neck gasket to fit and not leak. I go to a place that makes custom drysuits and repairs all others to get the seal done. This is my third time there, since the gasket has leaked down the back of my neck each time. The owner had me try on my suit and voila! he says it's much to small. He says my CF200 needs to be baggy in the ankles, crotch and around the shoulders.

Let me explain about the fit. My CF200 while not a custom suit, fits me very nicely. If it were an Armani dress suit, it would be a bit loose in the crotch and perhaps around the ankles. For a drysuit though, it feels loose enough to get in and out of, but not excessive. Air tends to flow very evenly in the suit as I change position underwater. Another suit of mine, which is very baggy - the air bubble moves all over the place. I have found that I'm very comfortable with the CF200 and it's performance.

My question is: how loose is too loose?
Should I heed this persons advice?

His is the school of thought that you control your bouyancy with your suit and not wear a BCD. He also believes that I should wear about 40#'s of lead vs. the 24# that I currently use and have excellent trim in 10' with 100 psi in a 130.

I tried neoprene seals and didn't like them at all. I found they leaked much more than latex seals. Not that I'm perfectly dry with latex seals, but I sometimes come out of the water wet with only a bit of condensed perspiration rather than seal leakage.

I can see that if a suit is too tight, if you flex your limbs, it could tug on the seal and make it leak.

Should you heed the advice? He might be right about sizing, but based on what he told you about buoyancy and weight, I'd take everything he tells you with a grain of salt. Why in the world would he recommend you use 40# when you're neutral with 24#?

 

[USIA]

So I've been having some issues with getting a neoprene neck gasket to fit and not leak. I go to a place that makes custom drysuits and repairs all others to get the seal done. This is my third time there, since the gasket has leaked down the back of my neck each time. The owner had me try on my suit and voila! he says it's much to small. He says my CF200 needs to be baggy in the ankles, crotch and around the shoulders.

Let me explain about the fit. My CF200 while not a custom suit, fits me very nicely. If it were an Armani dress suit, it would be a bit loose in the crotch and perhaps around the ankles. For a drysuit though, it feels loose enough to get in and out of, but not excessive. Air tends to flow very evenly in the suit as I change position underwater. Another suit of mine, which is very baggy - the air bubble moves all over the place. I have found that I'm very comfortable with the CF200 and it's performance.

My question is: how loose is too loose?
Should I heed this persons advice?

His is the school of thought that you control your bouyancy with your suit and not wear a BCD. He also believes that I should wear about 40#'s of lead vs. the 24# that I currently use and have excellent trim in 10' with 100 psi in a 130.

When I hear about people getting wet in the back of their neck, Normally this is due to a suit being too short in the Torso. Whenever you try on a suit, always put the suit on with the Undergarments, squat all the way down and tilt your head forward. If you don't have a tight seal around your neck, that means your torso is too short. It is the number one reason people complain that their suits leak. Even if the suit looks great on you, that doesn't mean it if functional. Especially with Neoprene suits, it extremely important to have a near perfect fit.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Easy OE2X.... Easy...

 

[Snowbear]

I was having leakage problems with my latex neck seals, so last time it needed replacing I had a neoprene one installed.

WOW!!! I like that I don't get that blast of coldness on my neck (from no insulation) when I enter the water. I also like that I can turn my head or flex my neck in any direction without getting cold water seeping into my suit.

I have a scrawny neck, so at first it was somewhat traumatic getting it over my head, but after a few dives that's not an issue any more.

If I have a choice, unless some other new underwater exposure protection technology takes over, I'll be using neoprene neck seals on my drysuits for the rest of my diving days

 

[jagfish]

If you have any sensaion when it actualy leaks, that can give you a clue. I now know for sure that if I do a valve drill or other complicated hand task, I will feel the water leak into my wrists. Sometimes, messing with my fin straps will get my wrists leaking as well.

My neck has been better than this, expecially for the last year since I have been horizontal. When I used to be more vertical in the water, some air used to burp out of my neck once in a while, letting in an icy splash....

Anyway, now I pretty much know how and when my water gets in. Any other water entry these days has proven to be a hole somewhere...once in the zipper, once in my neck seal (latex)...