Dry Suit Fit Question

[Windknot]

I have dove wet, and loved it....then I had to pee on a surface interval. Trust me, seeing my big fat hairy butt struggling to get back into my farmer john in a state park pit toilet enclosure after the needed relief break was not a sight that I wish to ever repeat.

Now that I have your attention, as well as your disgust I shall pose my question.

I have an opportunity to purchase a used dry suit (trilam) through my LDS. Due to my size, I will need at least an XL, probably an XXL. Problem is i'm 5'8" (around 240#) so that equates to a 19" neck, 49" Chest, 40" waist, and a paltry 30" inseam.

Any "off the rack" drysuit that is going to fit my upper dimensions is going to be WAY TOO LONG below the waist.

Before you suggest that I purchase a custom cut NEW suit, that too is on the agenda (but much later) the deal on the rental suit is well under $500) and I just dont have that kind of scratch right now, but I DO want to start diving dry.

Finally the actual question:

Is that extra 6 or 8 inches of suit going to cause problems whilest learning/using my cheap but only slightly used dry suit? LDS seems to think not, but then again.....their bottom line is....their bottom line, and I dont want to drop cash on a useless drysuit.

Question #2

How much would it cost to send aforementioned excessively long drysuit back to Andy's and have them chop 6" off the legs and glue it back together?

Any help is appreciated

 

[SubMariner]

Windknot, most drysuit mfgs will take back any of their own merchandise & play with it, so you should talk to Andy's directly to find out how much it will cost you. Here's their URL: http://www.andysdrysuit.com/

Meanwhile, a similar problem that happened to me a few years back when I was shopping for a drysuit. As it happens, they had a 1/4" neoprene drysuit in the shop that was "custom ordered" for someone. But the "someone" decided to walk away from their deposit, leaving the fully customized suit in their shop, just hanging there. Well, the suit was perfect EXCEPT the legs were too long (sound familiar?).

As it happens, they really wanted to get rid of this suit and offered to get it downsized for me NO CHARGE. It actually took TWO tries before it came back properly sized, but in the end it turned out fine. I got several good years out of that suit, only giving it up when I moved to a sailboat in the Bahamas for a couple of years.

My newest (3 yrs old) suit is a custom DUI 350 TLS... but that's another story!

Bon chance!

~SubMariner~

 

[Lost Yooper]

I can only suspect that you may be quite unhappy with the suit due to its large size. The boots will probably be way too big as well. I also wouldn't expect much out of a $400-$500 suit unless you are lucky (not likely with a LDS who know what they have).

How old is it? How many dives? What's the general condition of the suit? Look closely at the zipper and all of the seams. Check the seals for wear and abuse. Check the inflator and deflator very closely. Put the suit on, close the deflator valve and blow up the suit (like a balloon) and check/listen for leaks.

I would be leary of the suit, but maybe you'll get lucky. Regardless, you're looking at spending about one third of a new suit on a used one. I would advise waiting and applying that money to a new custom suit. If money isn't much of an object, and you want to experiment, then I would try to rent a suit (not often possible) or buy a cheap used suit. The problem with a cheap used suit that doesn't fit, is that it may produce an unpleasant experience and leave a sour taste in your mouth regarding dry suits.

Good luck.

Mike

 

[iceberg]

Windknot,
Welcome to the non-standard size club. I'm 6'1" 235lbs with a 36 waist and 32 inseam, oh yeah and a 12EEE foot. However, I purchased an Oneil 7000X size XXL and had the huge boots put on from Oneil. Total cost to me was around $540 for a new suit. Overall I'm quite happy with the suit other than being a little stiff and not being able to find a fin to fit over those 12EE boots. I do have a little extra "material" in the legs and arms. The legs dont seem to be an issue and the arm seals were pretty forgiving to trimming, I may need to have them tightened a little though...minor seepage. Anyway good luck. Oh yeah another person I dive with has the same size suit as me and he is probably pretty close to your size and doesn't have any problems.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Gotta agree with Yooper here.... you don't want a suit that dosen't fit....

Hey, since it is used already tell the LDS that you want to take it out for a test dive....

And Andy's will cut the boots off and put any size on for you...but your will have to get in line and wait a month or more... thye can tell you what the cost will be.....

Or you could just do it yourself.... Wack the boots off and put em back on after taking out the appropriate length of leg....

BTW... depending on which Andy's suit you are looking at...
The self-donning have inseams that are 2~3 longer than your personal imseam.... so don't cut too much off....

You can use this suit as your back-up while you wait for that new custom measured Andy's that you are going to order after you....
ahem... how shall I say this.... finalize your size....

 

[Campana]

"Overall I'm quite happy with the suit other than being a little stiff and not being able to find a fin to fit over those 12EE boots."

have you tried some XL Turtles? Rip offs, I mean knockoffs, of Scubapro Jets. I wear a 13 shoe and they fit my Viking Dry Suit Boots just fine!

 

[buff]

There is a shop that is in Brainerd, Minnesota that does a lot of dry suit repair.

I have the opposite problem of Windknot. I have very long legs and a short torso. I bought and XL suit and it's a little tight in the chest and has about 4 inches too much fabric in the torso. I don't notice the torso length since the suspenders hold the suit up very well.

But I would be wary of leg length-nothing to hold your boot to your feet other than curling your feet up! And you might slip out of your boots and then where are you?

No problem getting the suit recut though, just the cost issue.