Does such a drysuit exist?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Siltout-queen

Registered
Messages
15
Reaction score
3
Location
Austria
# of dives
500 - 999
Hello!
I'm looking for a new drysuit, but I'm not too experienced with the different brands, so I wanted to ask for recommendations before going off and buying one.
I made a list of everything I'd love my new drysuit to have, but I'm not sure if there is a suit that combines all of that:
  • stronger material (need one for wreck & tec diving)
  • exchangeable neck/ wrist seals (preferably latex)
  • 2 front zips
  • 2 pockets
  • (womens cut or custom made)
The price doesn't matter as long as it's justified. Thanks in advance for your answers! I'm thankful for every tip you can give me on buying a good one, so recommendations about brands are also very welcomed!
Happy diving everyone :D
 
Products - Waterproof
d7_is_lady_front_low.jpg
 
The material is the one thing you will have to decide about condisering you list. The rest is (almost) standard or can be fitted at the factory. The material choice IMO will be ripstop or kevlar.

I'am looking for a new suit too. Looked at a lot of brands: Santi, Rofos, Ursuit, Artic, SF Tech. They are all good suits. I decided to go with made to measure. I will also add pee valve and rock boots. You might want too consider that too.
 
That's a fairly standard drysuit. It will probably come with silicone seals in the quick change, but you can put latex in place of silicone. They can be installed the same (not glued in) for quick field changes.
You forgot to add a dry glove system.
 
When you say you are not that experienced, but you want easily replaceable latex seals, I want to be sure you know all of the options. There are neoprene seals, latex seals, and silicone seals. Latex would be the absolute last on my list. Perhaps you said latex because you didn't like neoprene, and weren't aware of the silicone option? I have not specifically researched quick change latex to see if it exists, but the systems I am familiar with are silicone and not latex.

I am also unclear what you mean by 2 front zips.

Anyway, in case you haven't run across it, I will suggest you consider the Aqualung Fusion suit. The "Fit" is the women's cut version of the Bullet, whitch probably meets your durable criteria. There is also a Kevlar version under the Apeks brand, but not in a women's cut. The suit is pretty forgiving, so if you really want Kevlar you might be fine with a men's version. But the KR1 is pretty heavy and probably overkill for most divers. I'll let you explore the link and ask follow up questions if you are interested, rather than spend time on a full sales pitch here and now.
Fusion Fit with AirCore

There are some videos at that link also.
 
If you want a durable suit and money is not an issue, I'd suggest Otter. Specifically the Britannic Mk2 Telescopic.
https://www.drysuits.co.uk/Otter_Britannic_MK2_Telescopic_p/britmk2.htm

I've been diving mine for a few years now. A custom cut would be available if you didn't fit a stock size. Here is the ladies stock chart https://www.drysuits.co.uk/Articles.asp?ID=252

Personally I use only latex seals and have on all my suits (1st one which I sold and the 2 I have now) and I don't care for the replaceable ones. Mainly because of the ring systems you need to use with them. They are hard, not as flexible as glued on seals, the glove rings interfere with certain tasks, and the neck ring actually can hurt the collar bone of smaller divers when their BC straps press down on it. My GF hated hers. Actually had to roll up a washcloth to put under it to keep it from bruising her.

I have tried the skin over bag suit and hated it. The skin moves around too much no matter which one it is. Not like a well made laminated suit. The Britannic was specifically designed for UK wreck diving. The material is tough and highly resistant to snags. I am an Otter dealer and only became one after actually getting the suit and diving it.

Latex seals are not hard or expensive to replace. With proper care I usually get between 300 and 400 dives out of a set of wrist seals and my neck seal is approaching 500 and still in excellent shape. I don't baby my suits but I do take care of them. The double zip on the front is standard. There's the suit zipper and the protective cover one over it. Pockets are standard and can be placed where you want them. One neat pocket feature is a smaller pocket integrated into the flap that can hold a small back up light, a collection of arrows, or other small item you want to access without digging through the big one. Works great for my valet car key in a small waterproof case!

The stock sizes are right around 1600-1700 USD at the current exchange rate in the USA. You are in Austria and before Brexit happens you may be able to get a deal since Britain is still in the EU.
 
Took me a little to figure the "2 front zips" but after thinking a little I figured it out. A protective over zipper on top of the actual waterproof zipper. My Ursuit is that way, my old Pinacal had a Velcro flap over the zipper. Most back zips have nothing over the zipper.
 

Back
Top Bottom