Dry suit life expectancy?

[Mitchell Teeters]

With proper care, and minimal abuse (seal care, UV protection, zipper treatment, etc), how long can a person expect a DS to last?

What is the average zipper life?
What is the average seal life?

Please don't bomb this thread, this is just for discussion.

 

[Pedro Burrito]

That's an excellent question. I've wondered that too, particularly when I see drysuits for sale on ebay. A DUI CLX450 just sold for $700 on ebay and it was 11 years old.

 

[gsk3]

Are you asking about the life of the drysuit or the life of the consumables? Seals and zippers are consumable. What kills a drysuit is when the shell itself no longer seals and it just starts weeping through the fabric. This seems to mostly happen with the TLS350-weight suits rather than the 450 or crushed neoprene suits. Neoprene tends to die from dry rot.

I'm not particularly experienced with drysuit repair, so others more knowledgeable may have wiser thoughts.

 

[fjpatrum]

According to the drysuit course manual I just read it says about 10 years of "active diving" for tri-lam and crushed neoprene. Less so for vulcanic rubber, compressed neoprene and other suits.

I just bought a TLS350 that was manufactured in 1999 but the previous owner didn't dive it actively for most of that time. It looks and feels in good shape, has new seals, and the zipper seems to be in good shape. The only wear that I've found is a slight bit of "fuzziness" on the bottom of the socks.

 

[Peter Guy]

I have a several (can't really remember, 4?) year old Bare compressed neoprene drysuit with integrated boots. At around 400 dives on it I had to replace the neoprene neck seal, boots and zipper. In talking with the customer service people at Bare, I was advised that I shouldn't think about replacing the zipper again -- that another 400+ dives is what I should expect for a lifetime on the suit.

If I get 800 dives on it, that should work out to about $2.25 per dive total cost.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Life expectancy is highly variable ... depending on the type and quality of suit, the conditions it's dived in, the frequency with which it's dived, the maintenance applied, the manner in which it is stored, and any number of other variables.

A quality suit should last at least 600 or more dives before it reaches a point where it's not worth fixing. Some suits can and do last much longer. Routine repairs include seals, zipper, valves, and boot(ie)s ... and depending on the type of suit these can last anywhere from less than 100 dives for latex seals to 300+ dives for zipper and/or boot(ie)s ... I've found that suits that use neoprene socks and rock boots require a bit more replacement/repair than those with integrated boots.

By far the biggest concern in any drysuit is ... well ... keeping it dry. As I once explained to TSandM, all drysuits eventually become wetsuits, and then you get them fixed. Punctures and tears are less of a concern with most suits than seam leaks ... because they're obvious and easily repaired. Seam leaks can be more difficult to find and repair because the leak can travel some distance through the seam sealant before it makes its exit from the suit.

Best way to make sure you get the most out of your drysuit ...

- fresh-water rinse and hang to dry after every use
- don't hang or store it near utilities with a pilot light, such as a furnace or hot water heater ... nor in a garage where you're either storing your car or gas in a can. Ozone and petroleum vapors tend to damage latex and other materials commonly used in drysuits
- clean and lubricate seals and zipper before every use
- occasionally R&R the valves ... cleaning inner surfaces and replacing o-rings as needed
- look for wear on the outer fabric and consider patches as needed in areas around the crotch and armpits where abrasion is the heaviest ... particularly if you're wearing a crotch strap or diving sidemount

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[TSandM]

I got somewhere between 400 and 450 dives off my Fusion zipper. I go through neck seals about every 90 dives or so, which is annoying. Wrist seals last much longer, I think because the skin there is drier, but perhaps because they are never exposed to our local water, being in my dry gloves. (I've had it suggested that something in our dive site near the Superfund site is killing my seals ). Wrist seals also aren't required to stretch by as big a percentage of their circumference as neck seals are.

My first suit was a bilam, and I got two years out of it, and sold it, and the woman who bought it got another two years out of it before the leaks simply got too much to cope with any more. That was probably 600 dives or so off a cheap suit.

 

[Mitchell Teeters]

Thanks for the responses. I often wonder if I'm too hard on the zipper but I'm storing it according to how DUI says to store it. I think turning my suit inside out is hard on it when drying.

Sent from my DROID X2

 

[3D diver]

Got my viking sport drysuit in '89 & it was in fine shape when I put it away 2005-ish but was delaminated when I pulled it out again last November. Went through several sets of wrist and neck seals and one or two zippers over the years.