7 or more mill suits for kids?

[Crass3000]

Does anybody know a place that sells 7mm or thicker suits for kids? They seem to only sell thin suits for kids up hear in MN. My son is 10 & 1/2. He's a little over 4 feet tall. He's pretty skinny as he plays soccer and other sports. Is there any company that sells suit like this. I'm asking about wet suits but wet suits with and attached hood or even a good quality semi-dry with a hood would be optimal. The waters around the great lakes are pretty cool. Hoping to get him certified. I definitely would splurge for a really nice cold water regulator and probably get him a nice APEX.

Something like a Hollis NeoTek Semidry would be awesome but that seems like I'm dreaming.

Any good ideas?

 

[ZzzKing]

You could have a custom suit made for him.

 

[GrandpaScuba]

Your local scuba store should be able to order a 7mm suit from one of their suppliers. If your kid can wear a standardized size, then you can also order online from scuba.com, scubatoys.com, leisurepro.com or so on.

 

[mselenaous]

Aqualung sells a kids 7mm suit called the Tsumani (used to be under the Deep See logo). Just ask any shop that carries Aqualung to order it for you and you should have it within a few days. When I taught in SoCal, this was the suit I'd recommend for the kids who could not wear stock small adult sizes.
Very few shops actually keep an inventory of kids gear.
Aqua Lung US - Personal Aquatic Equipment for Personal and Professional Use - Kids 7mm Tsunami

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Look at wetsuitwarehouse.com kid's store. They have some close to if not at you child's size with good exposure protection. Also look at the juniors blue 70 TORP. Henderson also has fairly small size 7 mil wet suits
DivemasterDennis

 

[freewillie]

Henderson makes wetsuits for kids. You can check them out online and the aforementioned online dealers should be able to order them. I know Leisurepro has a it will fit or return for another size policy where they guarantee you can order then return for another size if the fit isn't quite right. You can look at their return policy for specific details.

 

[84CJ7]

I would hate to have to order a suit for someone that age, expensive in full 7mm and he will grow out of it almost immediately.
Too bad he isn't a few years older, Scubatoys still has some original henderson hyperstrech 7mm wetsuits in stock for over 50% off because they are small and x-small, but even x-small is for a foot and a half taller than him.
Looking at their size chart he has about 5 sizes to go before he is into the men's sizes. The children's chart here might help you on size:
Henderson Wetsuit Size Chart
There does seem to be an assumption that nobody in the children's sizes needs more than a 3mm shorty, which is probably generally true as few children dive.
Do keep in mind that being wrapped in that much neoprene makes buoyancy a royal PITA for a new diver and he will need to be able to manage that. A 5mm would be bare minimum up here though so you might as well just get the thicker stuff.
Get him certified first though, anything thicker than a 3mm is useless for other activities as you float like a cork and can't even swim without the weight belts which would be unsafe without a BCD in my opinion.

 

[Kharon]

Also you might look at layering. I would think a 7 mm kids size would be as restrictive to movement as those thick snowsuits we used to have to wear (Mom) in the winter. Something like Polyolefin or LavaCore under a 3 mm vest under a 3mm superstretch full would give 8 mm core warmth and 5 mm extremities warmth and be a whole lot more flexible. Add a hood, gloves and boots and you're good to go. This also reduces the amount of weight you have to carry. In a full 7mm I need about 26# - but with layering and thin boots & gloves & steel tank I get that down to 12#.

 

[freewillie]

I would hate to have to order a suit for someone that age, expensive in full 7mm and he will grow out of it almost immediately.
Too bad he isn't a few years older, Scubatoys still has some original henderson hyperstrech 7mm wetsuits in stock for over 50% off because they are small and x-small, but even x-small is for a foot and a half taller than him.
Looking at their size chart he has about 5 sizes to go before he is into the men's sizes. The children's chart here might help you on size:
Henderson Wetsuit Size Chart
There does seem to be an assumption that nobody in the children's sizes needs more than a 3mm shorty, which is probably generally true as few children dive.
Do keep in mind that being wrapped in that much neoprene makes buoyancy a royal PITA for a new diver and he will need to be able to manage that. A 5mm would be bare minimum up here though so you might as well just get the thicker stuff.
Get him certified first though, anything thicker than a 3mm is useless for other activities as you float like a cork and can't even swim without the weight belts which would be unsafe without a BCD in my opinion.

Having a daughter roughly the same size I can understand it can be very expensive to buy wetsuits for kids, especially since they probably won't dive quite as often and the parent. However, they need adequate thermal protection just as much if not more than the parent.

I took my daughter diving to Catalina Island just after she certified while on vacation in the tropics. She goes from scuba diving in a bathing suit to full 7mm thick wetsuit. The only problem was while the dive shop we used had wetsuits they didn't have hood, gloves, or even booties for the girl. She was in full foot fins and no boots. She was shivering after the first dive and couldn't warm up during the surface interval. I wound up skipping the last dive because she didn't have adequate protection from the cold.

I searched online and found a really great blow out price for a Pinnacle wet suit. She did grow a little and we tried to get as much out of the suit as possible, but when the tightness of the neck became unbearable even when partially zipped she had to get a new suit. That meant dad had to just bite the bullet and buy another one. But, while she doesn't use it that often in California it does go with us to Hawaii where despite the pleasant top side temperatures it works great for scuba. While some people might use a 5 mm, I use the 3mm, she is just fine in the 7 mm and doesn't get overheated. In fact, for her, it is the proper thickness.

BTW, her new wetsuit is a Henderson thermoprene for kids and was about $240. Not too expensive and shouldn't break the bank.

 

[Frosty]

crass--I'm with ya on this one.selection over here isn't so great.
A couple of other suggestions fior you.
1) Ive found that womens suits work for our kids no much bigger than yours.
2)A freedive 5mm suit will require the warm soapy water trick on his body to get into but is more readilly available than a 7mm