Custom wetsuits

[Bob3]

Outfits that make custom goods where the customers can pick the colors have an "Ugly Contest", where the ugliest product gets an award.

I suggest having either a girl or a gay fella double check your color picks.
:mean:

Other than that, black was the only color made for the longest time, so its become a bit of a tradition. It's your suit, have the critter made whatever colors you want. just keep in mind that sharks tend to prefer yellow by a slim margine.

 

[wetman]

Black is very slimming.

 

[cyklon_300]

was once the only color available for Model T's and dive gear. But then came this goofy Elvis movie (Easy Come, Easy Go, 1967) in which he portrayed a Navy diver and wore an (ugh) orange rubber dive suit. Ever since, adding color has become acceptable dive fashion...

Your point that certain colors (yellow, orange) are easier to discern at the surface is true. Most lift bags and SMBs are of those two colors.

Having some color variation on your gear makes it easier for your partner to distinguish you on cattle boats.

Certain divers like the 'color coordinated' look...the dreaded 'pink snorkle' syndrome was the result of a big marketing push a while back.

As far as sharks go, there is disagreement among researchers concerning the degree of color vision they possess. Some shark species lack the optical cone cells necessary for perceiving color. I believe the Navy did dye marker tests for locating downed airmen and found that yellow seemed to attract a marginally higher number of sharks...so it's kind of a crapshoot on this one.

Personally, I like black, makes it easier to sneak up on the enemy frogmen.

 

[holdingmybreath]

Black will always be a good choice.. custom colors and camo suits will come and go. If I was big into spearfishing I would consider a camo suit, but still lean towards black.

 

[ckharlan66]

Which makes it easier to resale if the need arises.

Good luck on you purchase.

Chad

 

[jonnythan]

Black is easy to match. Get some custom colors on your wetsuit, then decide you need a new mask? Good luck finding one that matches that's not black. Snorkel? Regulator? Fins? Hood? Chances are you're not going to buy your entire gear set from a single manufacturer... and even across manufacturer's product lines, colors don't entirely match. Even if you try to get green everything, the greens probably won't match.

So, get everything black, and you won't look like an idiot for wearing 4 different shades of blue

BTW, I think color accents or areas are nice on exposure suits. Red swaths on your wetsuit, or blue patches on your drysuit or whatnot. Personally I think wetsuits or skins that are solid blue or whatnot look pretty bad.. but a drysuit with green patches is fairly cool, and you get the "stand-out" qualities.

 

[scubamax]

Colors tend to fade on wetsuits, so something that looks really sharp now will be dull and faded with exposure to the elements (especially sunlight), which gives that black suit a better appearance over time.

Red will turn to pink fairly quickly (so I am told!).

Scubamax

 

[wch]

Hi Dave,
I posted this link once before, but you might pick up some design ideas for your wetsuit here!
http://www.vintagescubasupply.com/wetsuits.html

Bill

 

[SLJ]

Cave divers wear black or dark suits to keep light reflection to a minimum.
SLJ

 

[mddolson]

The answer is tradition.

Historically the best neprene was Rubatex G231-N2s gas blown, closed cell neoprene foam made in Virginia, USA. N2S stands for nylon 2 sides. It came stock blue one side and black on the other.

So without paying a premium, you could have black suit, blue suit or blue/black mix.

Navy and police divers pefered black, for obvious reasons.

Mike D
:blfish: