Cutting excess off wetsuit legs

[johndiver999]

If she wanted the best fit possible, she would not have bought a stock suit. Anyone who needs significant alterations and sets out to do it themselves, is more than likely NOT too worried about cosmetics and prefect fitment. A custom suit would probably add a few hundred dollars to the suit cost.

It is a suit for relatively warm water- especially for her. If she has a decent hood and the rest of the 5 mm suit fits well, leaky ankles and sleeves is not a big deal. In fact the suit will probably be much easier to put on and take off and be comfortable - although obviously not as warm as possible.

Even tapering the ankles etc. is not that big of a deal. There are you tube videos about how to use wetsuit glue to fix a suit. If you measure twice, cut once, use decent glue - it just ain't that hard to come away with a functional modification.

Learning how to repair a wetsuit is a very valuable skill if you want your wetsuits to last anyway. You always get seam threads that are torn. small rips etc. Fixing them yourself before they get bad will save a lot of money in the long run.

 

[Marie13]

If she wanted the best fit possible, she would not have bought a stock suit. Anyone who needs significant alterations and sets out to do it themselves, is more than likely NOT too worried about cosmetics and prefect fitment. A custom suit would probably add a few hundred dollars to the suit cost.

It is a suit for relatively warm water- especially for her. If she has a decent hood and the rest of the 5 mm suit fits well, leaky ankles and sleeves is not a big deal. In fact the suit will probably be much easier to put on and take off and be comfortable - although obviously not as warm as possible.

This guy gets it. Came home from work, dug out a new pair of good scissors still in the package, and started cutting. First 3” and tried it on. Went back and cut 2” more off. That’s where we are now in this photo. May take another 1”-2” off. Not sure. My 5mm booties fill out the bottom.

Sleeves don’t have to be cut. I just rolled the cuffs back a bit.

 

[johndiver999]

You are going to want to do major surgery. You will want to make longitudinal tapering cuts, basically cutting out a wedge shape, wider at the bottom and tapering to nothing just above the knee. Keep the cut off ankle openings for reference for how wide to make the ankle holes. You probabl;y want to make the openings a little looser than stock - to reduce tension on the material and to ease in donning the suit.

The wedge should include the existing seam, so you don't create more than needed.

You can practice glueing pieces of wetsuit together by playing with a pieces you already removed.

 

[Marie13]

Took another 2” off. Much better. Looks worse in the photo than it is.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I just looked at all four of my Bare suits to see what would likely happen if I was in your situation, and wanted to cut off six inches in length. I immediately saw that removing six inches in length would also require a tapering of the remaining leg portion to provide the proper fit where the new ankle length would be. A taper alteration, if needed, is going to be a lot more tricky than just cutting off the leg length, and I am sure you would like to get the best fit possible on any alterations.

I wish Terrapin had offered to do a “taper.” As I mentioned above, all they did was cut 2 inches or so off, and now they don’t seal. I sent my suit to Terrapin thinking they were the experts. I know nothing about suit alterations. I thought I was paying for knowledge. Terrapin apparently has the capability to do any kind of alteration, but I would advise caution in dealing with them. It’s not quite like going in to a tailor for bespoke alterations. Maybe next time, a fully custom suit.

 

[pasley]

Delete, while I was typing about the taper others also noted it.

 

[Still Kicking]

I think it's worth noting that as great as Aquaseal is for things like drysuits, it is completely wrong adhesive for wetsuits. It is tough and flexible but doesn't stretch like neoprene. It's okay to apply a little dab of Aquaseal on a seam to keep it unraveling (minimal stretch) but gluing neoprene edges or tape will end up with the neoprene tearing away from the Aquaseal due to their different stretch properties.

The correct adhesive is neoprene cement (contact adhesive) that chemically bonds to the neoprene and can stretch with it. A repair that is cemented and carefully blind stitched and/or taped with Melco type tape is about as strong as it gets for neoprene.

 

[Marie13]

I don’t see any need for glue at this point. The cut edge of the seam is holding. I’ll use it for 5 days in MX and then CCR pool session.

 

[Brodydog]

Well the good thing is you’ll be in warm water in MX in August. It looks like it’s going to allow water in, but tucked inside your bootie will hopefully help some. On the plus side, you may actually be grateful for a little water coming into a 5 mil in Mexico in late summer.

 

[Tracy]

Well the good thing is you’ll be in warm water in MX in August. It looks like it’s going to allow water in, but tucked inside your bootie will hopefully help some. On the plus side, you may actually be grateful for a little water coming into a 5 mil in Mexico in late summer.

The water is constant temp year round and it is chilly when doing longer dives. She is going cave diving, not to Cozumel.