Custom Wetsuit for Cold Natured Wife

[amadeus00]

My wife thinks it's cold diving in Cozumel in 86F while wearing a 3/2mm and a hood. She is very cold natured. She starts out ok but get chilled by the end of the dive. She's worn an additional 3mm shorty and she was finally warm.

I want to get her a thicker suit but don't know if I should look for 5mm or 7mm. Would a 5mm with lining be a good staring point. We could always add the shorty if need be.

We are tropical divers only and I can't imagine getting her in water below 70F. I also want to look into custom suit to get the perfect fit for her. I would spend the extra $$ as long as she is comfortable.

Suggestions of brands and/or websites?

 

[TimAZ]

Maybe look at a Pinnacle Merino Elastiprene suit in a 5mil? Other than that, DUI makes a warm water drysuit (the 30/30 or something like that). That's probably overkill, but if she gets that cold (shrug)

 

[DivingPrincessE]

I would say a 5 mm should be fine, maybe get a hood as well incase she still gets cold in the 5 mm. Unless she is very hard to fit, I wouldn't see why she would need a custom wetsuit though. Is she really tall, really short, or very heavy? I'm somewhat short (5'4) 125 lbs and my "dimentions" are a bit off (top heavy...) and I found the Henderson Thermoprene fits just fine. It's far more elastic that normal neoprene wetsuits, but not as elasticy as the hyperflex (which I have heard tear more easily). Unless someone is some extreme of body shape, it just seems like custom wetsuits are a waste of money...custom drysuits however, are another story.

 

[tstormdiver]

There is Otter Bay Suits out of Montery, CA at Otterbaysuits.com Homepage . They specialize in custom wet suits of varying thicknesses. I bought a customized hood from them, because I have a double chin & normally can not find an "off the shelf" hood that doesn't feel like it's choking me. You get a wide variety of colors, thicknesses & designs, all at a fairly reasonable price for a custom. They are more than willing to work with you on sizing & will send you a video on how to get the right measurements.

 

[Fuzzmutton]

Hi!

I was diving Monterey on the weekends for awhile and I have absolutely no circulation what-so-ever! I froze because the water temp was usually around 54-56 degrees. Hubby looked around for some solution because he was deathly afraid he would have to buy me a drysuit to keep me diving and did not want to go that route. I wore a Henderson's 7mm 2-piece to begin with so I had a full 14 mm at my core (good start) but what finally tipped the scale over to being just warm enough to continue was that he bought me a Mysterioso (:: Mysterioso :: The Original Rated SPF Body & Board Wear) top and bottom, the type worn by surfers? I guess. Now only my hands get cold and tingly if it's too cold on the dive.

Fuzz

 

[amadeus00]

Thanks for all the feedbacks. She doesn't have an unusual figure. She's 5'6" 130lbs with proportional figure.

 

[Blox]

I'd also recommend a Pinnacle Elastiprene. In my experience, that suit is as warm as most other suits a grade thicker (3mm as warm as another suit in 5mm), it's pretty stretchy and good quality. They've got a size chart on their web site too ( Pinnacle Aquatics) .
I've got one of their 3mm suits, but have only worn it once or twice - it's too warm for my usual diving