Custom wetsuit - Boggled by neoprene types sold by different custom wetsuit companies

[Scott L]

Blue Sparkle,
You are like me in that you do not want to make a mistake. I spend hours & hours making a decision so I do not kick myself later. Buy the best so that this does not occur. Based upon your parameters I would suggest a custom made 3mm jumpsuit with a 3mm shorty to layer in the colder periods. In addition, a 3mm hood...Good luck! Over and out...

 

[rcohn]

Whatever issues they have had in the past seem to be behind them. I went in for the fitting on Monday for my second suit (5mm) and they cheerfully called this afternoon to annouce that they completed all work ahead of schedule and are mailing out tomorrow. Not sure how they could be more responsive and customer oriented.

Well in our case they were late in finishing the suit, appologized, and offer to rush it to my wife. Then they charged her ~$50 for overnight shipping. That combined with the strange hard sell for their products; that they tried to convince me that my Deep Thought G231 suit wasn't really G231 even though they had never seen it; and their dubious demonstration of neoprene thickness under pressure makes me leary of doing future business with them.

Ralph

 

[deadly_risk]

Why would the Wetwear Atlantis Polartec Jumpsuit not be a reasonable alternative for Blue Sparkle? Any reason it has not been mentioned? Seems like being Neutrally Buoyant would be a plus.

*I don't own, nor have ever seen one, just read the weatwear site and am posing this question.

 

[Scott L]

Why would the Wetwear Atlantis Polartec Jumpsuit not be a reasonable alternative for Blue Sparkle? Any reason it has not been mentioned? Seems like being Neutrally Buoyant would be a plus.

*I don't own, nor have ever seen one, just read the weatwear site and am posing this question.

It's a well made skin with insulation properties probaly equivalent to a 1mm neoprene...

 

[Scott L]

Well in our case they were late in finishing the suit, appologized, and offer to rush it to my wife. Then they charged her ~$50 for overnight shipping. That combined with the strange hard sell for their products; that they tried to convince me that my Deep Thought G231 suit wasn't really G231 even though they had never seen it; and their dubious demonstration of neoprene thickness under pressure makes me leary of doing future business with them.

Ralph

I see no mention of G-231 on their website. At the end of the day I could care less about a two day delay or their song and dance about the compression test. What I want is a safe and well made suit that will last for years. The GUE Training Agency recomended them and that was good enough for me. As soon as I complete one of their 19,000 linear feet cave penetrations at 300ft of depth I will begin to think for myself. Lol

http://www.blueh20.com/wetsuits.html

 

[fnfalman]

Since the two scenarios I want to cover are

a) January in the Keys; and,
b) Summer in the Keys/Carib,

I was thinking I'd get a 3mm jumpsuit and then a 3mm shortie. That way I could wear the jumpsuit in summer and not be too hot (I *froze* snorkeling in 80º to 85º water in a dive skin), then add the shortie for winter diving (which is the trip this wetsuit will see first). I'll also get a hood, and I have booties and gloves.

If you're that cold sensitive then I think that your plan to get a jump suit for warmer climes and add a shortie on top for colder climes is dead on. I'd suggest 3mm jump suit and 5mm or even a 7mm shortie. That way you get the flexibility of the 3mm jumpsuit during the summer and the extra insulation over the torso area for the winter and depending how the shortie is cut, it may not affect your mobility (i.e. instead of extending the lower portion down to the upper thighs, just cut it off at the groin and shape the leg holes slanted up ala 1-piece swim suit).

The jump suit should be made out of something with a liner that allows you to slip on and off easily like the TiPlush from Horizon Wetsuit (love my 7mm TiPlush from Horizon). The shortie doesn't need to have a liner because it's not trying to slide against your skin.

Or do away with the plush liner and wear long sleeve splashguard for your upper body and a lot of skin lotion for the legs.

If you do your measurements correctly, the Horizon wetsuit will be molded to you like a second skin. It (or at least the 7mm one) took me about two dozen dives to break in, but once it does...heaven!!! Horizon's delivery time is also great, less than two weeks plus shipping time, of course.

JMJ is also another reputable custom wetsuit maker in SoCal and it uses similar material to Horizon (down to the TiPlush but they call it something else). Though JMJ's delivery is a wee bit iffy.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

Just thought I'd post to mention that I did order a wetsuit. It was not an easy choice, as there seem to be a number of good companies, and everyone I contacted was very friendly and helpful. Too bad I couldn't order multiple suits!

I ordered from Ed at Aquaflite, who nicely put up with all my questions about what to get and how to make the measurements, and who typically answered the phone on the second ring (or was very quick to return phone calls).

I went with a 3mm jumpsuit/3mm shortie combination, and then also ordered a 3mm hood and a pair of 1.5mm socks. Their neoprene comes from Glomex, and Ed feels it's a good balance between strength, compressibility, and comfort. I also ordered the Oceanliner (Titanium lining). As I understood it, the neoprene is (or is like) "skin" on the inside, which helps it to fit close to the wearer's skin and make it warmer. Ed advised that due to this additional seals were not necessary.

They were offering a special which included a free set of either ankle or wrist zippers, so I went with the ankle zippers. I ordered a back zipper on the jumpsuit (they offer back or front) to make it easier to don and doff (my shoulders don't really like to bend backwards all that much).

I think I'm going to be warm next time I'm in the water

Thanks for all of your notes and suggestions,

B.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Let us know how it works out.
I'm always into knowing about different suit makers out there and other services.
M&B isn't necessarily the end all in wetsuits, even though I own two of them.

I wonder if Aquaflite can make an old school retro skin both sides beaver tail 7 mil?
I'll have to call and ask.

 

[widget]

An interesting debate indeed. As the suit has been ordered its probably a moot point now, but personally I think the fit, cut and stitch as well as the model of suit is far more important than the neoprene manufacturer.

For recreational use like yours, basic closed cell neoprene with a double nylon cover from any of the manufacturers is going to work just fine.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

Hi widget!

Well, more input never hurts, especially if anyone in the same position reads this thread in future.

For recreational use like yours, basic closed cell neoprene with a double nylon cover from any of the manufacturers is going to work just fine.

If I'm understanding correctly, the suit I ordered doesn't have a double fabric cover. It has fabric on the outside, and then a plain "skin" on the inside. This is supposed to be a feature because the "skin" bonds better with one's own skin, and so less water gets in (which makes it warmer). Also, there is nothing to need to dry on the inside of the suit between dives. (Of course, as you say, double fabric is probably fine too.)

I didn't specifically seek out this material, but it sounds good. I'll report back about how I like it after I have it and have taken some dives with it.

Trivial side notes: When I used to make sprayskirts, wetsuits, and booties with sheet neoprene, for kayking, it was "nylon 1" material. (This was all pre-Internet, so who knew the origins of what we were getting or how to compare it to what others were doing.) We used it skin side in for easy don/doffage and simply glued in the seams and zippers. Other people had "nylon 2" material, and that seemed very cool and fancy, but also less stretchy (they also had... gasp... colors). I suppose this has probably changed with Lycra and etc. which would be more stretchy.

I understand that the skin side is more damage prone, but I never had any problems with that, and we certainly weren't overly careful with our kayaking gear. However, we were never more than a few feet underwater, so compression wasn't even a thought.

At some point windsurfing became popular and then all of a sudden you could buy wetsuits ready-made, with colors and thread stitching and everything! (We didn't look to dive wetsuits at the time because they were all rather thick neoprene.) It got to the point where I felt old when someone looked at mine and said... "You can make a wetsuit?"

B.