Folding or Hanging a Wet Suit?

[GaryBDavis]

I've been storing my wet suits on a portable hanging rack that sits in my shop. It's great for drying out my suit, BCD and other gear after I wash it out. I place a big fan on it for a couple of hours and I'm done. I just leave my gear hanging there and it's been good, but things tend to get a bit dusty from the shop environment. Otherwise, I like how the wet suits hold up to be hung on a good wide hanger.

I recently purchased a used stainless steel cabinet with slide trays that I'm going to store all my scuba gear in. It's not tall enough to hang the wet suits in so I'll have to fold them when they are dry to fit on the trays. The thickest suits I have are 5mm.

Anyone have thoughts on if I'll get permanent creases that will shorten the life of my suits?

 

[ibj40]

Just a thought, but have you considered taking your wetsuit(s) home with you, and hanging them in a closet at your house?

 

[OkByMe]

Don't know what kind of "shop", hope it is not a welding shop. One thing to consider... the material is sensitive to Ozone. If you have a lot of electrical equipment or solvents around, you might want that gear out of there. I would not fold Neoprene or nylon. It will crease and take a permanent set and weaken it.

 

[PsyWulf]

Neither, roll them up

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[buddhasummer]

Folding a wet suit is not a good idea the crease will permanently take. Out of season I store my lying flat under my bed.

 

[OkByMe]

Rolling them up, tightly or not, will still crease something, usually at the sides. Hanging the garment up on a wide plastic hanger will will allow it to bellow. I also have large cardboard tubes inside the legs and sleeves of both the wetsuits and drysuits to make sure sure leeching does not stick the surfaces together. Believe it not not... I have, and still fit into, a 1980's wetsuit that is still in great shape.

 

[j2s]

Just a thought, but have you considered taking your wetsuit(s) home with you, and hanging them in a closet at your house?

Ditto, Hanging is best........

 

[icechip]

+1 on hanging your suits. I built two 8-foot coat rack type of stands for my garage with three inch holes drilled in the top and mid-way down the 4x4s. I connect them with aluminum poles from an old roof snow rake. The suit and farmer john (7mm) drape over the middle pole until dry and then I remove the middle pole and hang the suit pieces on thick hangars from the top pole where they wait until next dive. Also have all kinds of space on the racks for hooks for other gear. In winter, the racks and hanging suits and gear all go to the basement.

 

[KeithG]

Folding is not good. Especially for thicker suits. The fold creates a crease that ends up being permanently crushed. Learned the hard way.

Suits now lay flat on he top shelf of a closet.

 

[spectrum]

No good will come from folding. If they are "skin in" suits store them inside out so the unfaced neoprene can't cling.

On my basement off season storage pole I drape a tarp over the collection and close the ends with some clamps.

I have been using 1 inch zinc plated steel EMT tubing with a 5/8 nylon line passing through and up to joists or trusses depending on the location. I have spans to 8 feet and they hold the load well. Hangers are padded wither as bought or tandem plastic hanger taped together and over layed with 3/4 from pipe insulation. This has worked well since 2004.

It may be a nice cabinet but it's not the right solution for the suits. If you insist I suggest pulling the legs and arms in so it looks like a shorty. This will result in larger bend radii but will still cause some deformation. Any time you fold neoprene, the inside is bent differently than the outside and this will cause kink, stretching and deformation.

Pete