dboddy
Contributor
I found myself thinking earlier of some of the things I was exposed to as a teenager. It turns out that my dad had been into diving in his early 20s. This would have been in the 1950s era. He used both tanks and a rebreather and this funny looking rubber drysuit. By the time I was a teenager, all he had left of his gear was the drysuit, mask and fins.
I would take the drysuit with me whenever we headed out to a lake (this was in Michigan.) The suit was made of heavy rubber, no coating inside or out. The neck was oversized and this is how you would gain entry. I would pull the suit up over my body until my feet slid into the built-in boots. Once in the suit the rubber neck, if pulled straight up, would extend almost to my ears. The next piece of assembly was a hard rubber ring that you would slide your head through and then stretch the neck of the suit up through and over the ring. Once this was done, I would pull on the hood, which also had a long and wide neck. I would stretch the neck of the hood over both the neck ring and the suit neck. The last step was to stretch this large rubber band around the ring itself. There was a groove in the outside of the ring to hold the rubber band (more like a rubber tube) in place. This would seal the suit. As I walked out into the water, I would hold the hood away from my cheek to let the compressed air escape the suit.
As a kid, I always thought it was the coolest thing to wear my street cloths under this rubber suit and go swimming. It's funny to look all the way back then and compare with the drysuits of today. We have come a long way...or maybe not.
I would take the drysuit with me whenever we headed out to a lake (this was in Michigan.) The suit was made of heavy rubber, no coating inside or out. The neck was oversized and this is how you would gain entry. I would pull the suit up over my body until my feet slid into the built-in boots. Once in the suit the rubber neck, if pulled straight up, would extend almost to my ears. The next piece of assembly was a hard rubber ring that you would slide your head through and then stretch the neck of the suit up through and over the ring. Once this was done, I would pull on the hood, which also had a long and wide neck. I would stretch the neck of the hood over both the neck ring and the suit neck. The last step was to stretch this large rubber band around the ring itself. There was a groove in the outside of the ring to hold the rubber band (more like a rubber tube) in place. This would seal the suit. As I walked out into the water, I would hold the hood away from my cheek to let the compressed air escape the suit.
As a kid, I always thought it was the coolest thing to wear my street cloths under this rubber suit and go swimming. It's funny to look all the way back then and compare with the drysuits of today. We have come a long way...or maybe not.
