7 mill for skinny teenage son

[Mitten Diver]

I am looking for a low cost wet suit for my 13 year old son who is recently certified. We are planning a trip to Munising, Michigan for some diving in Lake Superior.

Now for the problem, James is about 5'5" tall and weighs about 103lbs. We have been trying to find a suit for him to wear that will keep him warm. We will dive no deeper than 60' twice in the morning off of a boat. we may even do some shore diving in the afternoon, not realy sure as this is our first dive trip.

I have been trying to work with my LDS with no luck. They have about six 6.5mm suits in stock all womens and all the same manufacturer, Body Glove. Tried going thru the used suits and the rentals also no luck. On our check-out dives in a local lake my son became quite chilled in 65 degree water. We were down about 30 minutes in about 25' of water. He was wearing a farmer John with step-in jacket 7 mill Henderson suit. He did not have a hood and the first dive he had on a pair of reef gloves on the second dive same set-up except he tried to wear my 3 mill gloves instead.

All of the rental suits are older units and JP had a lot of trouble getting the farmer John on over his legs, sweating like a pig in hot LDS changing room. He tried on men's smalls and they seemed closest to fitting him, but when he stood up he had a lot of air pockets under arms and around chest jacket seemed tight enough to zip up. Are there any manufacturers that make a good kids/young adult wetsuit maybe even a program where you can pay a small fee to upgrade the size each year?

I just want my son to be warm and be able to enjoy his first dives in a big body of water with no fear of freezing to death.

 

[scubasean]

the Henderson Hyperstretch suits?

Ask around, or go to their webpage, and try em....

Good Luck!

 

[wch]

Take a look at these suits. (About half the price of the Henderson.) My son and I both dive the Bare arctic full suits. We use 2.5 mm hooded vests with these. The coldest we have dove with these is 48 degrees and we both stayed warm.

http://www.bare-wetsuits.com/bareshop/diveproduct.asp?dept_id=28020&pf_id=68116

There is a dealer locator on the site if you want to stay as local as possible and try one on, or LeisurePro

http://s1059kxm.LeisurePro.com/webapp/commerce/command/ExecMacro/LeisurePro/macros/main.d2w/report

and Divers Wholesale

http://www.diverswholesale.com/main.html

also sell them online.

Good luck keeping him in gear. My son can’t seem to make it a year in anything that requires a close fit in sizing, suits, boots, and gloves. Ebay is a great resource for new and used gear if you know what you are looking for.

Hope this is helpful,
Bill

 

[Mitten Diver]

Bill,

Thanks for the reply. I did see that Bare offered a junior sized 7/5mm suit. I was going to go that route initially as there is another dive shop about 45 minutes from my present location. I see that the shop even offers a trade in program where they will give you a certain percentage off of a new suit with trade in.

I ended up talking to Carolyn at Liquid Fit and she is going to make my son a custom suit. James is fairly tall about 5'4'' and 103lbs. the concern is that he would not find a rack mount suit that would fit properly. I have not received the suit yet, but I will let you know. All I can say is that Carolyn is the nicest person I have had the privalige of working with. If you are in the market for a custom suit I would suggest that you visit the web site www.liquidfit.com or give her a call (800) 785-8362. Carolyn has assured me that the suit can be modified in the future for a very reasonable charge to accomidate a growth spurt. This is accomplished by adding new cuffs or a stripe up the side or even a gussett along the top. Based on the customer service I have received so far liquid Fit is my company of choice for wetsuits.

John

 

[wch]

John,
It is always good to hear about a company that is giving good service. Sounds like you have solved your problem. I’m curious, what is the price range for their suits?
(My son now wears men’s sizes so we get him "off the rack" suits now that fit fine.)
Bill

 

[Mitten Diver]

Bill,

I have not received the bill for mine yet, but I thought that Carolyn was starting a line of semi-custom suits for kids. This would include measuring your child for a few of their measurements like chest, stomach, hips, some length and so on. This portion is not that difficult with a good flexible tailor's tape. I have not seen the suit yet, but anticipate that it will be very nice. I will follow up with a reply, we will be diving in Lake Superior next week. Carolyn said that it should fit like a glove. I had her include a seperate hooded vest and was able to pick the colors.

I thought that Carolyn said that the semi-custom suits were going to be around $200 plus shipping. I had her use some different types of neoprene for my suit, so I added extra cost to mine, but I would like JP's suit to keep him warm. Give Carolyn a call if you are looking for a better fitting suit for your child. Even if you don't get a suit from Liquid Fit the conversation that you have with Carolyn and diving with kids is worth it.

Mitten Diver

 

[wch]

John,
I am sure the suit will be as good as it sounds. I have read good things before about Liquidfit on the board here.
My son is 12 and at 5’7" and 152 lbs. he fits nicely into a men’s medium (at least this summer). We both use Scubapro .5/2.5mm hooded vests. My LDS talked me into trying them, he was using a Henderson Goldcore 3/5mm hooded vest but he had outgrown it, and I was using a 7mm hood, I could not believe how comfortable and warm the SP vests were. We got two little trips in during the last couple of weeks and my computer read 48 on all of the dives except one at 49. The only thing that got cold were my hands and hopefully Bob3 solved that for me with a new pair of gloves.
Have fun and be safe on your trip to Lake Superior,
Bill

 

[zeN||]

The problem with your son wasn't the suit, he was diving without a hood, 6.5 is plenty for 65 degrees, but you will lose a TON of heat thru your head, no matter what suit you wear, you can wear a thinnier suit with a hood and do well in cooler water, but without a hood-60% of your heat goes out your head zeN

 

[Mitten Diver]

First dive trip was a major success. Thanks to Carolyn at Liquid Fit, James's suit arrived on Wednesday as promised. The fit on the thing was awesome like it had been designed for him. Oh yeah, it was designed for him. JP was quite pleased with his color selection black suit with yellow arms and a green vest hood combo. He was able to make 3 dives over the weekend one in 56 degree, one in 57 degree and one in 43 degree water. No complaints from him on being cold at all.

This should in no way be considered advertising, but I could not be happier with the Liquid Fit company. Carolyn was so nice to deal with and delivered the suit as promised. She even called me on Wednesday night to confirm the delivery. All that I can say is that if you are in the market for a good wetsuit for a child male or female, you should give Carolyn a call. She has started a line of custom suits for kids and they are reasonably priced at $165 for a full 7mill suit. She will also make a vest hood combo to go with the suit, but I did not get the price for that. Carolyn also confirmed that Liquid Fit can alter the suit as your child grows and thought that she would be able to keep the cost around $35 per alteration, this would include adding height by cuffing the suit or adding expander panels if they should happen to get some girth on them.

As for Zen's comments, while JP did not have a hood on for our check-out dives the suit that he wore did not fit him well at all. Trust me we were back at the LDS trying on all of their suits and the one he wore for those dives gapped badly around his chest and neck. I am sure that a hood would have contributed to his over all comfort, but combined with a proper fitting wetsuit it was the savior of our dive trip.

Mitten Diver

 

[zeN||]

Well, a poor fitting suit is not good, but even with a good suit you will get cold without a hood in cold water diving, have him try it sometime with/without hood and report back cheers zeN