how long do wetsuit/drysuit last?

[eelnoraa]

I bought a Pinnacle 7mm merino wetsuit last Sept. I have about 30 dives in it. Most dives are within 50ft, but a few were down to 70 to 100ft. The wetsuit does't seem to be as warm as it used to be, and also it feels thinner than 7mm. Are these all in my head?? Or does wetsuit degrade (noticeabely) around 30 dives?

All these lead me to ask how long a wetsuit last before lossing its thermal protection property? particularly 7mm.

How about a drysuit? do they degrade?

 

[ams511]

Wetsuits do degrade over time but I never heard of it happening in less than a year and with only 30 dives.

 

[SailNaked]

my 3mm does not keep me as warm in the same spring fed river as it did 100 dives ago, no idea when that happened. I do not think dry suits suffer from the same malady as the warmth factor is exchangeable. They do however suffer when they get a hole in them from the same sort of end result.

I have also talked to people that feel colder in water because they dive more often and for some reason tolerate cold less.

 

[SeaHound]

If the wetsuit is of stretchy material, it will flatten sooner. Non stretch suits tend to last longer.

 

[ptyx]

The wetsuit does't seem to be as warm as it used to be.

My (limited) experience has been that all wetsuits compress noticeably during the first dozen dives. Good ones stabilize after that. Bad one keep getting thinner and need earlier replacement.

Another reason for getting colder is that as you become a better diver, you move a lot more efficiently and don't generate as much body heat you used to. And your gas lasts longer, which keeps you in cold water longer.

How about a drysuit? do they degrade?

The drysuit themselves don't (unless they're old style non crushed neoprene). The undergarments do - not so much from diving than washing them. And drysuits need more maintenance, which costs about the same as replacing a wetsuit every couple years.

 

[Web Monkey]

I bought a Pinnacle 7mm merino wetsuit last Sept. I have about 30 dives in it. Most dives are within 50ft, but a few were down to 70 to 100ft. The wetsuit does't seem to be as warm as it used to be, and also it feels thinner than 7mm. Are these all in my head?? Or does wetsuit degrade (noticeabely) around 30 dives?

All these lead me to ask how long a wetsuit last before lossing its thermal protection property? particularly 7mm.

How about a drysuit? do they degrade?

Wetsuits do degrade, however if I had to guess, I'd say that you're just noticing that you're colder, and there's nothing wrong with the wetsuit.

Drysuits last as long as you're willing to repair or replace parts as they go bad (neck/wrist seals/zippers/etc.

If you're cold, I'd suggest a drysuit, since you can add any level of underwear necessary to stay warm.

Terry

 

[Web Monkey]

I bought a Pinnacle 7mm merino wetsuit last Sept. I have about 30 dives in it. Most dives are within 50ft, but a few were down to 70 to 100ft. The wetsuit does't seem to be as warm as it used to be, and also it feels thinner than 7mm. Are these all in my head?? Or does wetsuit degrade (noticeabely) around 30

On second thought, are you going really deep? I've heard that (some?) wetsuits don't recover well if they've been severely crushed.

Terry

 

[The Kraken]

Depends upon how much you dive and the conditions in which you dive.

the K

 

[widget]

Neoprene do's degrade, but that sounds awefully quick. A wetsuit should be good for a lot more than 30 dives, even in really adverse conditions.

If the suit feels noticably thinner, a more likely scenario is the neoprene is collapsing.

However, its highly unlikely it would collapse equally over the entire garment, it would usually be seen first in areas of high movement / use, like, shoulders, backs of knees, elbows, butts etc and generally you can easily see this as it gets a sort of "flat / dead" feel and look to it.

My suggestion would be to first have a good look and see if you can find places of collapsed neoprene, if Yes, you may very well have a problem and the neoprene is starting to compress and collapse, (which, I imagine could be a warranty claim, as, after only 30 dives this is certainly not the norm) but if not, the chances are good that on such a relatively new suit, the integrity of the neoprene is fine, and, (possibly)it is just your imagination.

 

[Diver0001]

I bought a Pinnacle 7mm merino wetsuit last Sept. I have about 30 dives in it. Most dives are within 50ft, but a few were down to 70 to 100ft. The wetsuit does't seem to be as warm as it used to be, and also it feels thinner than 7mm. Are these all in my head?? Or does wetsuit degrade (noticeabely) around 30 dives?

The others covered this. One angle that hasn't been covered is old-fart-ism. I've noticed as I've aged that I can't tolerate the cold anywhere near as well I could when I was younger. I don't recall being cold when I first learned to dive even though I had a 7mm wetsuit on in 10C water. These days, there would be absolutely no getting me into 10C water in a wetsuit.

How about a drysuit? do they degrade?

Yes and no.

neoprene ones are subjet to the same crushing as wetsuits so they'll eventually lose some buoyancy and some insulation. However, the neoprene in a drysuit is often much denser than in a wetsuit and it's much easier to compensate for loss of insulation as it gets older.

The trilaminate ones don't degrade like wetsuits do.

What does degrade on drysuits is everything else. Seals, valves, boots, zippers. And some of the repairs can be pricy. On my last drysuit, which I had for about 10 years, I had to replace the inflator valve once, the wrist seals about 4 times, patch it repeatedly and I finally gave up on it when the zipper failed and the shoulder dump was leaking to the point that diving in it wasn't "dry" by a long shot.

The fabric had turned from blue into something that didn't really have a colour, the pockets came unglued, the tape around the seams pealed off, one of the boots started to seep because I had walked so much in it that the boots were worn out and eventually it looked like something I took out of dumpster to dive in. I don't log dives anymore but I think it had on the order of 1000 dives on it when the zipper went and I decided not to bother with fixing it anymore.

I like my new drysuit, though. One of the things that's nice about old stuff wearing out is that you can buy new stuff! LOL

R..