Hello from Montreal, dry suit questions

[Montreal Paul]

Bonjour from Montreal, Quebec. I’ve been enjoying lurking the scuba board for the last few months, it was great to see opions and experiences about where to go. Recently went to the Dive Bus in Curaçao to do my Advanced OW, in no small part because of comments here and on r/scuba, so thank you very much! I had a great experience there!

I want to do some more local diving and am interested in getting a dry suit, but will need a bit of advice in how to buy a used one. What to avoid, what to look for, and what makes the right fit. I just picked up a good deal on a scuba pro reg/bcd set, so am close to having a complete set of gear. They are at the shop getting serviced. I didn’t have much luck finding anything on buying used dry suits with the search on scuba board, but maybe I’m using it incorrectly.. anyways, hi I hope to meet with some of you IRL!

 

[lexvil]

Your best bet is to order a Seaskin drysuit, it will fit and likely cost you less than a used suit that may not fit properly. You can sometimes get lucky with used but by the time you find one and test the fit and have it inspected/tested a good portion of your wait (for the new Seaskin)will have passed .

 

[Badger7]

I concur. I spent over 6 months looking for a used/clearance drysuit that would fit reasonably well. Maybe a little bit more of a challenge for me than others, as I have a longer torso and shorter legs. Regardless, couldn't find anything in good shape that fit well at anything resembling a reasonable price. I gave up, and for less than anyone was offering their used drysuits for, three months later I've got a brand new trilam Seaskin that fits like a glove.

Here's more than you could ever want to know about Seaskin dry suits:

Review - Seaskin Nova drysuit

I ordered a new Seaskin Nova (trilam) drysuit at the beginning of June. It arrived last week. I took it up to the Saint Lawrence River and did 7 wreck dives from Fri to Mon (yesterday), as part of an Advanced Wreck Penetration class with @Trace Malinowski. I am VERY pleased with how it worked...

scubaboard.com

nuage takes a really good stab at organizing 5.5 years of discussion on the topic here:

Review - Seaskin Nova drysuit

/win

scubaboard.com

Regardless, almost everything in that discussion applies just as much to custom-ordering a new suit as to what features and specs you might want or to avoid on a used suit.

 

[Montreal Paul]

Hey, Thank you for your replies, this is what I was hoping for.
I think I will rent a few times to get a sense of what works and what doesn't...

 

[34109411]

Where do you dive mainly?

 

[happy-diver]

Every cent you rent is a dollar wasted

 

[Montreal Paul]

I am looking forward to more diving

Where do you dive mainly?

I did my first 10 dives in the lakes and river near Montreal, then more recently 30 dives In the south, but am looking forward to more local diving in Quebec

 

[34109411]

great try, brockville. be safe.

 

[Jaan]

We did our OW in Brockville, nice memories .. we had a 7mm with hat and gloves in Sept! At that time you needed a separate dive card renewed yearly to dive in Quebec, is it still the case? (had to do one checkout dive with hood and gloves from what I recall).

Brockville had some nice wrecks. I remember the Lillie Parsons . Quite amazingly preserved from 1887, the cold fresh water and current I guess. Here in Florida, give something like that would not last very long in the ocean

Welcome to Scuba Board and Bonjour Lots of great people, with lots of helpful information. Good luck with your DRYSUIT quest.