Drysuit Rentals and AOW

[hayleyfish]

hi.
I'm super bummed. Tonight I went for my drysuit fit as I'm starting my AOW and have my pool class on Sunday, with ocean dives the following weekend. When I originally signed up I specifically asked the shop if they were going to have any trouble with providing me a suit. They swore up and down it would not be a problem at all. By most sizing guides I've read I would fit a 2XL short because I'm 5 8'.
The shop tonight did not have anything that fit at all. The ones that "sort of" maybe could fit were huge through my shoulders and super long in the legs. Not to mention the seals were worn, and one actually tore when I checked the seal on my wrist. I was super careful too. The suits look poorly cared for as well. The neck wasn't tight either and I know it's going to leak badly. The shops response was "don't worry, when I did my training my suit leaked and I got soaked too".

Hello!
This Vancouver and the water is freaking cold here. I do not feel ok about going out in these ill fitting suits to do my training.

What do you think? I want to tell the shop that I don't feel ok or safe with this. Am I over reacting?

Thanks very much for the feedback.

 

[Marie13]

That's unacceptable. Period.

The shop I went through for my training has replaceable neck and wrist seals on all their rental dry suits (mostly Fusions). I did my OW in a dry suit (got fitted for a rental, but my own custom DS ended up arriving in time for checkout dives, so I was only in the rental for an hour in the pool) and did DS cert at the same time. When my class was getting fitted for dry suits (many students do the dives in DS), neck and wrist seals were being changed out as necessary to get the proper fit.

I sympathize with the ill-fitting rental suit problem. I'm 5'5" and the rental suit had arms and legs too long, plus it was tight enough in the chest that my arm range of motion was restricted.

You shouldn't be getting very wet at all. Are the seals latex ones that are glued onto the suit? Sounds like it. Is a 7mm wetsuit an option?

 

[KevinNM]

That seems unreasonable to me. If they said they had one that fit they should provide it. Is there somewhere else around that you could rent a drysuit that would fit?

 

[hayleyfish]

That's unacceptable. Period.

The shop I went through for my training has replaceable neck and wrist seals on all their rental dry suits (mostly Fusions). I did my OW in a dry suit (got fitted for a rental, but my own custom DS ended up arriving in time for checkout dives, so I was only in the rental for an hour in the pool) and did DS cert at the same time. When my class was getting fitted for dry suits (many students do the dives in DS), neck and wrist seals were being changed out as necessary to get the proper fit.

I sympathize with the ill-fitting rental suit problem. I'm 5'5" and the rental suit had arms and legs too long, plus it was tight enough in the chest that my arm range of motion was restricted.

You shouldn't be getting very wet at all. Are the seals latex ones that are glued onto the suit? Sounds like it. Is a 7mm wetsuit an option?

I would use a 7mm wet, but this was specific for my drysuit training, plus no one around here dives in anything other than dry. It's too cold.

 

[hayleyfish]

That seems unreasonable to me. If they said they had one that fit they should provide it. Is there somewhere else around that you could rent a drysuit that would fit?

I'm going to try another shop to see if I can rent from them. Fingers crossed.

 

[Diver0001]

hi.
I'm super bummed. Tonight I went for my drysuit fit as I'm starting my AOW and have my pool class on Sunday, with ocean dives the following weekend. When I originally signed up I specifically asked the shop if they were going to have any trouble with providing me a suit. They swore up and down it would not be a problem at all. By most sizing guides I've read I would fit a 2XL short because I'm 5 8'.
The shop tonight did not have anything that fit at all. The ones that "sort of" maybe could fit were huge through my shoulders and super long in the legs. Not to mention the seals were worn, and one actually tore when I checked the seal on my wrist. I was super careful too. The suits look poorly cared for as well. The neck wasn't tight either and I know it's going to leak badly. The shops response was "don't worry, when I did my training my suit leaked and I got soaked too".

Hello!
This Vancouver and the water is freaking cold here. I do not feel ok about going out in these ill fitting suits to do my training.

What do you think? I want to tell the shop that I don't feel ok or safe with this. Am I over reacting?

Thanks very much for the feedback.

Rental suits never quite fit like your own suit will. In this case, however, it sounds like the shop isn't able to provide you with a suit that even comes close. To my way of thinking you have a few choices here:

- rent a suit from somewhere else. How you decide to deal with the costs of the rental is a discussion between you and the shop.

- get a refund and chose a shop based on them having a suit that fits you.

- buy a suit now if you're sure you are going to dive in one. HOWEVER if you do choose this option then get a refund from the shop first because normally when you buy a drysuit then you can get the shop to throw in the specialty for free as part of the deal.

- take them on their word that they know what they are doing and hope for the best.

 

[Steve_C]

I did a couple days of diving near Vancouver when I was in Vancouver on business. I dove wet and was comfortable. The suits I rented were as I recall 10/14, The suit was all connected but after you pull on the single piece legs there was an inner and outer part to the top. Built in hood. Sounds bulky but I had no problem moving around in them for everything from the dives to going up and down the cliffs at Wycliff. If you plan to be diving dry in the future then you probably want to dive dry for training purposes. But if your goal is warmer water diving wet is an optin.

I will note that I did a couple dry dives during AOW in NC, and later took a dry suit course in NC all with rental suits. I did fine in the suits but they did convince me I was not going to take a strange rental suit and jump off a strange boat into strange waters. Too much task loading for a fun dive if things went a little pear shaped. At least for me I would want to dive them a bit before I went into the ocean with them.

 

[Doby45]

Also be advised that most ALL places will not rent a suit to you if you do not have a dry suit cert card.

 

[Marie13]

Also be advised that most ALL places will not rent a suit to you if you do not have a dry suit cert card.

I rented time in a local shop's pool last weekend with two buddies. I had my dry suit half on to save time. Anyway, shop owner wanted to see my dry suit cert card. Would not have allowed me to dive my own suit if I hadn't had my card on me.

 

[Doby45]

I rented time in a local shop's pool last weekend with two buddies. I had my dry suit half on to save time. Anyway, shop owner wanted to see my dry suit cert card. Would not have allowed me to dive my own suit if I hadn't had my card on me.

I would have gone to another shop as I don't have a dry suit card. Got about 40 dives in mine and have found no need to get a "card".