Can a drysuit be too old to be worth buying used?

[elgoog]

Hi all -

Wifebuddy and I have recently started browsing for used drysuits and I came across quite a few that were in the 10-15 years old range. I know that seals definitely have a limited lifespan, as do the zippers and valves (maybe to a lesser extent?) but I'm wondering if, past a certain age, the material of the drysuit itself becomes unviable. For example, if a suit has passed a leak test in the past couple of years but is 15 years old, would that be worth buying used? I assume I'd have to replace the seals soon if not immediately.

On a related note, some of the listings for DUIs had notes like "made before quality issues" or "made after quality issues were fixed". I've read that there are reports of some DUI drysuits being leaky but is there any particular range of manufacturing year that these "quality issues" were in? I doubt there's anything this specific with DUI manufacturing but I figured I'd ask.

Thanks in advance,
elgoog

 

[buddhasummer]

Zips, seals, sealing tape, boots, valves and the material itself will all degrade with time and repairing those items could get rather expensive. I'm sure there are some drysuits in that age range that were well cared for may be ok but personally I wouldn't want the potential headache. You can buy fairly new second hand drysuits for very reasonable prices, check out DRIS as they often sell demo suits etc. I have no experience with DUI. Good luck.

---------- Post added May 15th, 2015 at 05:59 PM ----------

I used to drive an old Riley Elf, it would often pass its warrant of fitness but I was always having to fix something, it became a financial abyss, I was forever chasing my tail. I sold it and bought a newer car which initially cost more but saved me time, money and headaches in the long run.

 

[raftingtigger]

I currently have 3 very functional DUI drysuits that are 32, 25, and 13 years old.

The first is a DUI telescoping torso and was born in the early 1980's (about 30 years old). The material on this one is PU coated nylon. The seals have been replaced many times, and currently it has SiTech wrist rings and the Neck Tite neck seal. I have Aquasealed the seams and a few small areas where the PU coating was degrading. I can't remember if I bought it new or used (probably used knowing my budget). The zipper has been shortened about 1-1/2 inches due to a leak.

The second is a DUI TLS350 that was born in 1990 (25 years old) and was bought used in 2013 from Diveseekers. It is trilam, and I replaced the wrist and neck seals with field changeable SiTech ones before even diving it. I was amazed that the latex seals had inspection dates of 1991 and appeared very servicable. I got this since PU coated is sticky and hard to get into. After about 100+ dives I was having some leak issues and it appeared to be a general breakdown of the trilam fabric. I ended up coating about 1/3 the suit on the inside with a thin layer of Aquaseal and some nylon fabric as a liner. I coated one leg, and part of the torso. This fixed all the leaks and this suit is now my back-up suit and my son's primary. While fixing this one I came across a good deal from a friend on my 3rd drysuit and like the fit much better - so ended up buying it even though I had already fixed the 1990 TLS.

My primary drysuit is a 2002 (13 years old) build womens Med-Large DUI TLS350 (again with SiTech wrist and neck rings) and it fits me like a glove.

So to answer the OPs question: yes you can get a servicable drysuit that is over 15 years old. Check the suit out carefully before putting your money down however. I went with Diveseekers for the 2nd suit as they offered a money back guarantee and felt the $15 shipping if I sent it back was worth it. They were very helpful and accurate about the description of the suit. My 3rd suit was from a friend of a friend and she allowed me to test dive the suit several times.

Older suits won't have a warranty, and may need some TLC, but as long as the base fabric and zipper are in good condition the remaining potential repairs aren't that hard (seam sealing and wrist and neck seal replacement).

Here I'm diving the 1980's suit

 

[Yoyodyne-88]

The old 'regular' neoprene suits had a tendency to get porous.

But my DUI crushed neoprene is in excellent condition, apart from minor wear, although it has been worked hard for 25 years and abused ruthlessly (such as pouring concrete wearing it.).
Leak test this spring was perfect.

---------- Post added May 15th, 2015 at 08:27 PM ----------

"I used to drive an old Riley Elf, it would often pass its warrant of fitness but I was always having to fix something, it became a financial abyss, I was forever chasing my tail. I sold it and bought a newer car which initially cost more but saved me time, money and headaches in the long run."

Really? It has been proven emphatically that maintaining an older car normally will never cost near as much as owning a new one. My daily driver is 28 years old and repairs cost as much per year as the monthly payment on a replacement. But admittedly my Jeep has no Lucas parts...

With new drysuits costing thousands of dollars, I think my DUI will be buried when I am.

 

[buddhasummer]

The old 'regular' neoprene suits had a tendency to get porous.

But my DUI crushed neoprene is in excellent condition, apart from minor wear, although it has been worked hard for 25 years and abused ruthlessly (such as pouring concrete wearing it.).
Leak test this spring was perfect.

---------- Post added May 15th, 2015 at 08:27 PM ----------

"I used to drive an old Riley Elf, it would often pass its warrant of fitness but I was always having to fix something, it became a financial abyss, I was forever chasing my tail. I sold it and bought a newer car which initially cost more but saved me time, money and headaches in the long run."

Really? It has been proven emphatically that maintaining an older car normally will never cost near as much as owning a new one. My daily driver is 28 years old and repairs cost as much per year as the monthly payment on a replacement. But admittedly my Jeep has no Lucas parts...

With new drysuits costing thousands of dollars, I think my DUI will be buried when I am.

yep, really. Of course the biggest issue may not have been that it was an old car but that it was British engineering. I didn't mean a new car but a newer car. I'd never buy a new car unless won the lottery.

---------- Post added May 15th, 2015 at 07:43 PM ----------

The old 'regular' neoprene suits had a tendency to get porous.

But my DUI crushed neoprene is in excellent condition, apart from minor wear, although it has been worked hard for 25 years and abused ruthlessly (such as pouring concrete wearing it.).
Leak test this spring was perfect.

---------- Post added May 15th, 2015 at 08:27 PM ----------

"I used to drive an old Riley Elf, it would often pass its warrant of fitness but I was always having to fix something, it became a financial abyss, I was forever chasing my tail. I sold it and bought a newer car which initially cost more but saved me time, money and headaches in the long run."

Really? It has been proven emphatically that maintaining an older car normally will never cost near as much as owning a new one. My daily driver is 28 years old and repairs cost as much per year as the monthly payment on a replacement. But admittedly my Jeep has no Lucas parts...

With new drysuits costing thousands of dollars, I think my DUI will be buried when I am.

Hopefully not while pouring concrete

---------- Post added May 15th, 2015 at 07:52 PM ----------

Reminds me of a joke:

Why don't the British make TVs?

They couldn't work out a way to make them leak oil.

(I'm British by the way)

 

[BabyDuck]

according to steve gamble, there are suits that become unusable after a time. he specifically said about my andy's that the seal glue on the inside was still good and yellow, but that in time it would turn brown and begin to flake and there was no going back after that happened. but that time frame is still pretty long, because the suit has 6 years of hard use and was made likely 5 or so years before that, and is still just fine.

i'd leak test one, but buy it if it passed the leak test and fit me well. good luck.

 

[elgoog]

Thanks for all the replies, now I have a much better idea of what to look for and the potential issues down the road. The main theme seems to be to examine the old suits before buying, which is harder on eBay when most of the sellers don't have return options. The newer used suits are more expensive but will probably work out better in the long run.
I spoke with a couple of LDS here as well and looks like getting a not-so-old used drysuit is easier than I thought it would be. I also found out that new DUIs can be had for a fair bit less than what is listed on the website - considering the warranty that would come with it, this has become a viable option for us.

raftingtigger - You absolutely should change your handle to DIYDiver