I've been a big fan of neoprene dry suits for years and I used to dive 7mm and 5mm neoprene dry suits by Atlan, Comox and O-Neil. My favorite neoprene dry suit prior to my Everdry 4 was the 5mm O'Neil given the reasonable buoyancy and wet suit like feel and swimability in the water.
They got hard to find for a while and I was glad when Scubapro came out with the Everdry 4.
In addition to being very streamlined in the water, and being very easy to control the bubble in the suit, neoprene dry suits have a couple other advantages.
- The neoprene 'shell' in a neoprene drysuit is the insulation so neoprene drysuits don't have the problem that bi-lam or tri-lam shell suits have in terms of moisture condensing inside the suit. The air inside a dry suit is warm and humid and when the diver enters the water, the cold water chills the bi-lam or tri-lam shell, which then causes moisture to condense on it inside the suit. That makes bi-lam tri-lam shell suits cold, damp, and clammy on the inside of the shell, which requires both heavier insulation and efficient wicking to keep the moisture off your skin.
- The thicker shell of a neoprene suit makes it much less prone to pinching the diver when the suit is squeezed, which means you can run the suit with much less air in the suit with much greater comfort.
- In the event the suit springs a leak or you tear a seal in the water, you've now got a very efficient semi-dry wet suit and you can continue the dive more or less normally. In a bi-lam or tri-lam, you've got a very cold and flooded suit in the same situation.
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I mostly dive warm water now (60-72 degrees) so I'll give you the warm water diver answer to the above questions.
1. Does the suit sizing run small (L, for example, is smaller than large)?
I'm 5'9" tall and weight right at 208 pounds with a 44" chest, and my Everdry is an XL Regular. That compares to a 2XL or 2XL Short in most other dry suit brands.
The suit is made from 4mm high density neoprene (as opposed to compressed neoprene) so it's got a fair amount of stretch to it. That means you can wear the suit a lot snugger than you would a trilam drysuit and that's important if you want to get minimal wrinkles for maximum streamlining. It also makes the suit volume much easier to control.
In other words, unless you are diving really cold water with a need for really thick under garments, avoid the temptation to buy the suit too large. Snug is good in a neoprene drysuit, particularly, a 4 or 5mm high density neoprene dry suit.
2. What type/brand of thin base layer do you wear with it?
Given my warm water uses for it (cave dives in N FL with bottom times in the 3-4 hour range split over 1 or 2 dives), I generally just wear a wicking layer - I've used Under Armor's HeatGear compression top and bottom and they work well, but there's no need to get too out of control price wise either, as pretty much any tight fitting stretch polypropylene pant and long sleeve shirt will work fine, and you can do that for $30 total.
In 60 degree water, there's still no need for any other under garment, but for colder water I'll step up slightly to lightweight Tilos polar fleece one piece undergarment that is also self wicking.
3. Can one install the user replaceable type of wrist and neck seals on this suit without too much trouble?
The current Everdry 4 comes with latex seals and it's a little easier to replace those seals as you can just glue to the existing base material. It's a bit more difficult with the neoprene seal versions, and I send those out to have any changes in seal type done, rather than doing it in-house. But anything is possible.
I actually prefer the neoprene seals on the Everyday as they are:
a) warmer;
b) much easier to get on (using just a little KY on the inside of the wrist seals);
c) the neck seals in particular are much more comfortable; and
d) unless you abuse them, they last basically forever, so there is no need for a "quick change" seal.
In the event you tear a neoprene seal you can almost always repair it with neoprene seal cement, reinforced with another layer of nylon seam tape glued over the tear on the nylon fabric side of the seal. The whole repair process can be done over night, and in a pinch you could dive it in just an hour or so after gluing it.
Scubapro uses an interesting system where you have an adjustable neoprene neck warmer that secures on the back of the next with velcro. This allows a fairly loose neoprene neck seal to be used that is then held snugly against the neck by the outer neck warner wrapped around it. It's much more comfortable than the tighter neck seal you'd otherwise use to prevent any burping of the seal.
And in case you are not familiar with the neoprene neck seals, they are "skin out" seals where you slide your head through the nylon covered inner section of the seal, and then roll the seal inward for an inch or two at the top to the smooth "skin" side of the seal is against your skin.
You may still be able to find a neoprene seal version of the Everdry on closeout, and the closeout price is about half the normal price.
4. Is the suit buoyant and requires lots of weight?
This is a big advantage for the Everydry 4. It's a 4mm suit, and with just a wicking layer it doesn't have any more buoyancy than a 5mm one piece wet suit. I dive with just 4 pounds ow weight in side mount with a pair of steel 72s, and 6 pounds with a pair of AL 80s.
With a single AL 80, the weight requirement for me with an aluminum back plate is about 8 pounds in fresh water and 12 pounds in salt water.
That's about half the weight of a 7mm semi dry or a 7mm neoprene dry suit.
5. What do you wear for socks?
The socks on mine are also neoprene and in combination with the rock boots I wear over them they do a fine job of keeping my feet warm with just a thin pair of socks to wick moisture away from my feet. Thin polypropylene socks are my first choice, but a pair of regular socks works ok as well.
I pull the socks over the cuffs on the under garment and that keeps the cuffs from getting pulled up when putting the suit on.
In very cold water, I'm more inclined to just wear an over sized pair of neoprene socks or wet suit boots over the neoprene dry suit socks, along with larger fins.
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One oddity of neoprene suits in general, and the Everdry 4 in particular, is that if you install pee valve with the larger diameter Norprene 1/4" ID fuel line sized tubing, and you go foot up to force air into your feet (and you can go head down/foot up with zero fear and the snug legs and boots control the bubble quite well) you'll get more air in the leg with the large tubing since it flows into that leg more readily than the other non tubed leg.
In my case I just bought a 1/8 ID barbed to 1/8" NPT fitting and replaced the large Norprene tubing with smaller 1/8" ID clear tubing and that reduces the difference to hardly noticeable levels.
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In that regard you can easily install a pee valve in one. Just be sure to cut the hole a little undersize (3.8" rather than 1/2") and be sure to cut the hole far enough from any seam tape to ensure the inside surfaces of the valve don't overlap the tape. I use a rubber gasket on the outside of the suit glued to the outside of the suit with silicone adhesive. That ensures a solid seal between valve and suit, and leaves the valve removable for periodic thorough cleaning.
a) Place the gasket on a couple pieced of duct tape stuck together to create enough width and trace around the gasket on the tape.
b) Then cut the resulting circle out of the tape and place the remaining tap on the suit where you want to install the valve. That leaves just a round circle of neoprene fabric where the gasket will be glued exposed.
c) Place the gasket against the circle of neoprene, and trace the hole in the center of the gasket.
d) Using an Exacto knife (and being very careful not to cut through both sides of the leg) cut the hole about 1/8" undersize (3/8" versus 1/2" diameter).
e) Apply silicone adhesive to the gasket, position the gasket (glue side out) on the outer portion of the valve and put the vale in the hole. This puts the adhesive in contact with the suit.
f) Install the inner portion of the valve and tighten the valve enough to crush the neoprene suit fabric and align the barb fitting/ hose in the needed direction. (You may need to tighten it some more after a few weeks or a few dives).
g) Wipe away any extruded silicone adhesive from the valve and tape, then remove the tape and double check that there is no silicone exposed surface of the suit itself. If there is some adhesive, it should still wipe up with no residue using a cloth dampened in white vinegar.
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