Drysuit feet/boot replacement?

[Bigeclipse]

Has anyone removed the feet of their drysuit. The reason I ask is right now my bare trilam currently has boots similar to turbosole which are a bit large on me. It is ok if I wear like 3 pairs of socks but that can be a little much during the mid hot summer. I would like to change out the feet to the basic drysuit sock type material and use rock boots. I called a few shops and they quoted me like 400 dollars which just seems crazy excessive and that does not include shipping the drysuit which would likely be another 50-100 both ways. I can see where the drysuit foot/boot seam is but have no idea how it is attached nor where I could even buy the new socks to install. Are these boots/feet sewn on or simply glued? If just glued...I feel pretty confident I could do the work myself. thanks for any info.

 

[tbone1004]

that's about 2x what it should cost. DiveRightinScuba is $175 not including shipping, and Gamble is $200 not including shipping.

You can purchase yourself and glue on from DRiS for about $70
Replacement Neoprene Booties
Drysuit Glue

 

[Bigeclipse]

that's about 2x what it should cost. DiveRightinScuba is $175 not including shipping, and Gamble is $200 not including shipping.

You can purchase yourself and glue on from DRiS for about $70
Replacement Neoprene Booties
Drysuit Glue

For 200 I'd probably ship it out BUT this bare trilam HD weighs a LOT especially because of the current boots so I'd think it will likely cost $50 dollars to ship one way so that would make the entire cost about 300. If it is simply glued on then I think I can do it myself. I did my other seals myself. Maybe a bit more challenging but doesn't seem to bad? What are your thoughts? This is an old used drysuit so I do not care about finished looks at all.

Also what size should I get. I typically wear a 10.5 shoe. I would like to at least fit one pair of wool sucks underneith. The water temps I dive are from 40f and up

 

[tbone1004]

it's the same concept as gluing on seals. I'd cal DRiS and ask them about sizing. Conveniently you can always take a guess and try them on before you glue them on the suit, exchange if they don't fit

 

[PfcAJ]

Throw on some trident fin keepers and save 400 dollars. Also mad comfy.

 

[Bigeclipse]

Throw on some trident fin keepers and save 400 dollars. Also mad comfy.

I do that now actually and it works ok but the current boots really are too big. I wear 3 pairs of wool socks with fin keepers to make then work. If I only wear 2 my feet start sliding around. I don't want my foot popping out

 

[PfcAJ]

Oh you're on the hook for 400 doll-hairs then. Bummer.

 

[Bigeclipse]

Oh you're on the hook for 400 doll-hairs then. Bummer.

With 3 pairs of socks...it's pretty safe. It is actually really hard to get my feet out after the dive so no worry of my foot slipping out of the boot. It is more of a comfort thing during the hot summer. The 3 pairs of socks is a little much. I figured I'm buying a custom drysuit over winter. If I could spend 100 bucks on new neoprene socks and rock boots and install them myself to get me through the summer I might give it a go if it isn't too hard to do

 

[Doby45]

You have already said you feel like you can do it, then do it. DRIS has from what I have found to be a great selection of drysuit "parts" so buy up your parts and get on it. Even better that it is old and you don't care if your job looks crappy, more than likely it will not, but ya never know.. I just put rings on my Fusion with parts and help from DRIS and I think I did an excellent job, boots can't be that much harder.

 

[Bigeclipse]

it's the same concept as gluing on seals. I'd cal DRiS and ask them about sizing. Conveniently you can always take a guess and try them on before you glue them on the suit, exchange if they don't fit

I called them and honestly I do not know if the person I spoke to was knowledgeable about sizing for the replacement drysuit booties. On their site a large says 9-11 and XL is 12-14. I wear a 10.5 sneaker comfortably in pretty much all brands. I asked if she thought that the sizing took into account for a wool sock and she thought it did but suggested I order the XL since I was towards the end of a large. She said I could exchange for the right size as long as I didn't glue them, but they typically run out of stock for these and it could be a while before they get them back. So what do you think? Do you think their sizing would take into account a pair of wool socks underneath? Second question I should have asked them was how thick is the neoprene....do you happen to know this? Sorry for all the questions but if the neoprene was say 1mm or less, then id think I would still want to be able to double up on wool socks for warmth but maybe im getting carried away. I know you cant answer this perfectly as you may not have actually ordered the pinnacle replacement socks/booties but maybe you have read somewhere.