Anywhere to get "new" vintage wetsuits?

One piece suits are pretty awkward without a zipper

Actually I am with you on this. I have a 43" chest and 35" waist, up from 32" 15 years ago. I have worn custom no-zip pullover beavertail jackets with a neck dam since a zipper failed and aborted a working dive in the in the early 1970s. I even have the jacket bottom cut 3" smaller to reduce water circulation. All I used was baby powder, which is not nearly as slippery as soap or conditioner concoctions. Skin-1/Nylon-1 Rubatex has a lot more stretch resistance than today's Neoprene blends, but it was not that hard to don & doff.

No-nylon was a little too delicate for me, but most of my suits have been skin-in/Nylon out. Skin-in was always warmer, dried way faster, easier to put on, and less restrictive. It is ironic that the "new" freediving suits are exactly the same cut except for attached hoods and different material — attached hoods pretty much suck with commercial full face masks or hats.

I am just getting my first split cell (commonly but incorrectly called open cell) freediving suit. For those who have not seen them, the cells are much smaller than Rubatex and are about like the raw cut edge of most Asian Neoprene blends available today. The idea is all those tiny split cells act a suction cups to restrict water flow. A lot of people claim a 5mm split cell suit is as warm as a 7mm Nylon-2 Scuba suit.

The one property of the Asian Neoprene blends I don’t like is they have far less compression resistance. This translates into less insulation at relatively shallow depths and a lot more weight change due to suit compression compared to Rubatex G231-N. I think that is the biggest reason for the growth in the drysuit market. My new 7mm suit at 50' feels like an identical cut ¼" Rubatex suit at 140'.

 

Amen, I remember that. Brass snaps were the absolute worst — defeated by one grain of sand. Unfortunately, stainless Twist Locks have been virtually replaced by Velcro or really poorly designed plastic pin & keyhole sockets used on most freediving suits.

My only real complaint with stainless twist locks is they are hard on the suit when bellying over kayak and rubber boat gunnels or on a stern platform in choppy seas. I recently came up with a beavertail closure I like much better than anything else I have tried. Here is a post on Spearboard that explains it:

Picasso wetsuit clip repair? - Spearboard Spearfishing Community

 

Ditto what ZKY said. It makes a skin-in suit slipperier than Abalone snot. I almost feel dumb fighting suits with powder or corn starch for so many years. The second best part is you could care less if the suit is dry or not.

I use about a ¼" of that clear anti-bacterial liquid hand soap from Costco (Softsoap???) in a spray bottle and fill the rest with water. I have never had any irritation even wearing the suit all day on a kayak. Your mileage may vary.

 

True, but the vast majority I saw were those horrible brass snaps. I don’t recall twist locks really taking over the market until around 1970, on the West Coast anyway.