Difference between Dive and Surfing wetsuit?

[mtsidford]

I'm headed to the Keys in Fla in two months and need a new warm water wetsuit. I'm leaning towards a 3 mm or 4/3 mm wetsuit. I do not surf at all but love a 3 mm wetsuit recommended for surfing. Should I be looking for Dive specific wetsuits or will any 3 mm work no matter what the manufacturer tells me I should use it for? I currently dive with a 7mm made for diving by Oneill. I'm a big fan of my current suit so am looking at another Oneill suit. Did I mention that their Surfing suit it sweet. What should I do? D

 

[Charlie99]

After many dives, wetsuits tend to stay compressed and lose a lot of their insulating effect. The theory is that dive-grade neoprene is more resistant to this effect than the neoprene used in surfing wetsuits.

How true this really is I'm not sure.

Why don't you buy the surfing suit and report back to us in a year or so. ,

 

[davidbusse76]

Some surfer suits have a slick coating on the chest area that minimizes evaporative cooling when the surfer is on his board and exposed to the air. I would also imagine that surfer suits are more durable since surfers are subject to falling, kneeling on their boards, ect. And surfer suits generally look cooler, since no surfer would be caught dead wearing a neon pink/green/yellow/orange wetsuit, yet many dive companies still include these colors in their designs.

 

[Tygh]

The main difference is the cut of the suit. Surfing wetsuits will put thinner neoprene in certain areas to make paddling more comfortable. Also the position of some seams will be different. I use a 3mm O'Neill surfing wetsuit when I dive in Hawaii and it works just fine. It has 2mm panels behind the knee, and under the arms. The issue of the different quality neoprene does not ring true.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Why not call Ed Rodgers at http://aquaflite.com/welcome.html and ask him?

Ed has always been very helpful. No sales pressure, lots of good info, makes nice suits too.



Regards,




Tobin