Doning the Wetsuit

[scuba-sass]

I've seen several threads lately where someone has whined about the difficulties they have struggling into their wetsuit. (Notice I said WET and not DRY - I haven't done dry yet!)

I have a brand-new 3 mm suit (worn exactly twice), and I don't really have any trouble putting it on, provided I follow a few simple steps:

1. Wear a dive skin under it. This makes everything "smooth" and the whole process a bunch easier.

2. Turn each leg and arm practically inside-out prior to starting. And don't skimp on this step! Leave only a few inches right-side-out.

(Your wetsuit material is designed to stretch. If you are trying to get your ankle area properly positioned by yanking somewhere up above your knee, you're just stretching the material, not shifting the ankle into place. To set my ankles, my hands grab folded-over fabric somewhere below mid-calf.) This is even more important at the wrists, since you only have one hand to yank with.

3. Forget fashion, or whatever other use you might have for them, and trim those finger nails! There's nothing quite like bending back... Never mind, I don't even want to think about it!

Any other suggestions are very welcome!

Happy Diving,

Scuba-sass

 

[SubMariner]

Frankly, I find that it's only putting on the BOTTOM part of the suit where people struggle. So my solution is to use panyhose or lycra tights. Panyhose is the cheapest, but will only last about 4 dives or so. Lycra tights are a good alternative: they may cost a bit more (say $3.00 for a pair) but are practically indestructable.

Last year we were on a liveaboard in the Red Sea. We were diving dry, but all the others onboard dove in 5-7mm suits. You should have seem some of them struggle to get into them. Well, I "loaned out" a few pairs of pantyhose I just happened to have in my dive bag, and boy, did that get a lot of "thanks". However, none of the men would allow themselves to be filmed for the ship video putting them on...

The rest of your advice is good... but I think women have the edge having learned that "trick" via pantyhose.

~SubMariner~

 

[Weezle]

Thinking about bending or folding a fingernail makes me shiver!!!


You can also use a plastic grocery bag over your foot/ankle...