What would make it worthwhile to build your own wetsuit?

[WeRtheOcean]

The neoprene wetsuit is a highly specialized piece of equipment, made of specialized materials with specialized tools. You're not going to be able to do this with your standard sewing machine and shears. Wetsuit manufacturers rely on selling enough suits to make up the cost of the tools and materials.

Sooooo... under what circumstances would it become worthwhile for you to make your own wetsuit?

 

[Celt]

Have you not heard of the dreaded neoprene rubber wetsuit kit, It was all I could afford in the late 60,s

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Maybe the apocalypse?

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

Maybe the apocalypse?

Yup. I’d be too busy giving zombies lead injections to worry about diving.

 

[Altamira]

We made our own 7mm full wetsuits, hoods, mittens, and booties in 1965, but were only successful because of the expert assistance and perseverance of my phenomenally talented seamstress mother. Unless I was a really good tailor or seamstress, with the right kind of a sewing machine capable of dealing with neoprene, I cannot imagine a circumstance that would ever entice me to taking on that project again. Look on Leisurepro.com website, and you can find a lot of wetsuits at prices that would not make sense for you to try to duplicate. Also, if you want to save money and don't mind buying used dive gear, there are usually a wide assortment of used wetsuits on EBay.

 

[OTF]

I know people who have made their own suits, but those days are mostly gone now with so many good affordable options on the market, plus good drysuits.

Hypothetically, if one needed the suit to be heavily customized in some way that no normal suit is, I could see doing it. Maybe to accommodate a disability or very specialized task underwater?

I've heard custom-tailored wetsuits from the companies that make them are far superior to even well fit off-the-rack suits, but I've never dived one myself. Interested to hear from others how big that difference is.

 

[Darnold9999]

Huge difference between a custom suit and off the rack. Had Whites make me a suit when I started diving. The fit of that suit compared to the one I bought off the rack last year is night and day. Water would trickle in down my back over the course of a dive and until I got deep and the suit compressed parts of me were dry. Not even close to that in today’s suit and I am about as close to “average” in fit as you can get.

 

[Akimbo]

For the most part, DIY wetsuits in the 1950s and early 1960s were before fabric-lining was available. Blind-stitching sewing machines became available in the late 1960s when neoprene was available with nylon on two sides. To my knowledge, the only unsewn no-nylon suits used today are by competitive apnea divers (freedivers).

There are still a few custom wetsuit companies around. All of my suits have been custom since I was 16 years old because of unusual body proportions. My first custom suit in 1967 was a DIY, glued only/no sewing and no zippers. I can't imagine why I would ever attempt to do that again.