Custom Drysuit-How long of a wait?

[Jandee]

I lost a lot of weight and my old drysuit ended up fitting like a garbage bag. On March 31, I went to be measured at my LDS, and paid my $2399 for a custom drysuit. On May 19th the dive shop called me to come in for a remeasure because the manufacturer questioned the measurements. My dry suit finally came in today and the sleeves are 3 inches to short. I was measured a 3rd time and todays measuremeants are the same as the last ones. So now the suit gets shipped back to California and I won't get it back for another 3 weeks and I have to worry if will fit when I get it back. I e-mailed the manufactured and someone wrote back and told me it normally take only 4 weeks to receive a custom drysuit. Has this ever happend to anyone else?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I had a similar problem with Diving Concepts. It took a couple of months to get the suit. It arrived without a dump valve because they wanted to know exactly where I wanted it. I guess they don't know how to use a phone. After another few weeks it arrived with the sleeves two inches too short. I later sent it in for repair. It leaked like a sieve. After three months they said it had bad neoprene and built me a new suit instead. I reminded them about the sleeves. It finally arrived with the sleeves about an inch too short.

 

[rawls]

Max Your next post is number 2000 on :sblogo: CONGRATULATIONS EARLY!!!



Jandee

What brand suit did you order? Custom suits cost more (usually not a huge increase) because they are billed as special orders, and the more bells and whistles the more cost can increase. I ordered a custom TLS350 by DUI and it took about 6-8 weeks to get it. My wrists are very skinny and the seals leak around them so I am going back to the pool to get a better picture of things. I think that if the manufacturer is worth his or her weight in gold then they will go out of their way to get you properly fitted. They want to see you in their product. The longer you go without diving their suit the less exposure they get. You are the customer #number one, so they make money on selling it to you. Number two: you are advertisement. DUI has already sold 5 new suits simply because of people seeing me dive it, and that has been over the last couple of months.
Perhaps some realy experienced dry suit divers will chime in....

 

[TSandM]

I had a horrendous time with a custom dry suit from a company in California . . . I think it was a couple of months to get it in the first place, and then they had made a terrible error in assembling it that we never did manage to fix. I ended up getting ANOTHER one at a substantial discount, and that one came with legs about six inches too long and a torso that is too short. I'd never do another custom drysuit, not when the Fusion is available.

 

[fisherdvm]

Good to hear that about custom suits. I am going to stick to fixing my old "new" suit and dive with it, irregardless of how folks make fun of my tennis shoes, instead of fancy rock boots.

 

[TSandM]

Come dive with me, fisher -- I use tennis shoes, too!

 

[mark99]

I had a similar experience with Diving Concepts, I got called back in because the manufacturer had problems with the measurements on the first go-round. I don't think it was as much an issue with the company as it was with the dealer's inexperience in taking the measurements. All in all it took a couple of months to get the suit (duraflex tec). I have to say though, even though I did not ask for a cave-cut, this suit absolutely fits like a glove- I couldn't imagine anyplace another square inch of material could be removed and still have the required mobility. It was worth the wait, and I'd still recommend it highly despite the wait.

 

[RJP]

Four weeks from measurement to delivery for a DUI TLS-350. My LDS measured me up and faxed the measurements over while I was in the shop. They then immediately called DUI and spoke to the order department and went through the measurements line-by-line to ensure everything was clear. DUI had a question about turbo sole size and pocket placement. LDS re-measured my feet while DUI was on the phone and after live discussion between LDS, DUI and me we all agreed to go up one size on the boots and slightly modify pocket location.

That 10min phone call saved at least an additional 3-4 weeks of shipping the suit back-and-forth.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Good to hear that about custom suits. I am going to stick to fixing my old "new" suit and dive with it, irregardless of how folks make fun of my tennis shoes, instead of fancy rock boots.

Most of the divers I know with with the socks type of drysuit wear tennis shoes. They're much cheaper and are more comfortable to walk in.

 

[--tom--]

Bare custom dry suit, 4 weeks and perfect. They don't make custom undergarments, Diving Concepts undergarment 6 weeks and wrong. At least it was too long & my wife can sew. It depends on the company.