Looking for input on thickness and style of wetsuit for a variety of conditions.

[BabyDuck]

my advice is to really try on some different suits from different manufacturers before you decide on custom. if you go custom, great, but off the rack tends to be less expensive if you find something that works. the henderson hyperstretch 5mm was good to me in 55-80 water, but i'm chubby & you look thin in your pic so you might well need to add a hooded vest like you were considering. less bioprene usually = more need for neoprene!

 

[Gdaaym8z]

I dive a 3.4.5 and have used it in water as cold at 65-70 and as warm as 85 and have had great results, only getting cold when back on the boat and the wind is blowing....a nice boat coat takes care of that. My wife and I both use the Excel wetsuits and they seem to have a great amount of stretch to them to fit our individual body shapes and sizes. Hope this helps. Happy diving....

 

[Gdaaym8z]

I dive a 3.4.5 and have used it in water as cold at 65-70 and as warm as 85 and have had great results, only getting cold when back on the boat and the wind is blowing....a nice boat coat takes care of that. My wife and I both use the Excel wetsuits and they seem to have a great amount of stretch to them to fit our individual body shapes and sizes. Hope this helps. Happy diving....

 

[Blue Sparkle]

Thanks for the input everyone.

I think I've looked at a million manufacturer's size charts, and there's just nothing there that comes close to fitting me. I hate to make myself sound like a side-show freak, but the problem is that I have real (you might say ample) hips, but a very tomboyish top. So if the suit fits on the bottom, I have enough extra room on top for a small family to move in. I'm also very short waisted, so that doesn't help either.

On the other hand, with a custom suit from Liquid Fit coming in under $300, I couldn't see much reason to cram myself into a ready-made one (I'm on a budget, but I am pretty careful with gear, so it should last awhile).

Now, on the stretchy: LF really advocates the super-stretch material. I'm not sure if they even have any other type anymore, but I will check. Because from what I've read I agree: If it's a custom fit, why should I need to have the disadvantages of the super stretchy material; I shouldn't need it to stretch so much in order to "make" it fit. Right?

B.

 

[BabyDuck]

repeat - don't look at the charts, go try them on.

if you decide on custom, great, but don't dismiss off-the-rack based on looking at a list of numbers. you know how you can fit into some company's size 12 or whatever but you're a 10 in someone else & a 16 in a third? those number charts can have little resemblance to the real world. if you go by the number charts, there isn't a suit in the world that would fit me, but there are. perhaps you won't be able to find any that fit you, or maybe you would prefer the custom, but don't base your decision on size charts.

and stretchy is a lot easier to get on!

 

[Wayward Son]

yep, size charts are rough guidelines.

I'm 6' tall, 235 lbs. Yet with Henderson I wear a large. Hpwever, as I pointed out, their sizing is consistent. A large Henderson fits me the same regardless of what line or thickness. At least so far they have.

Scubapro makes great suits. The size their marked for means nothing. I've seen suits labeled XL that were really a small. With them you simply have to go through a rack & try them.

My old 3/2 is a Body Glove in XL.

If I want a henderson, I can buy one from anywhere without guessing. If I want any other brand I need to try some on until I find what fits me from them.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

Well, this is a conundrum. I wanted to get a suit before I go diving later this month, because the rental I had last time was miserable. I had to wear a men's large to get the .. ahem.. seat to fit, and then I had enough extra room on top to make it ridiculous. Not to mention the arms and legs. That's one reason I have not gone again since January 2008.

I did try on many women's sized wetsuits when I was in San Diego prior to going sailing, but none of them fit. Something like an 8 would fit on top, and then a 14 on the bottom. Yeah, that makes me sound weird, but whomever makes the size 14 women's wetsuits also puts quite a bit of extra fabric on top, assuming we're all equally well endowed!

I guess the one possible variable is that I'm not sure if I was trying on superstretch fabrics or not. Would they have been available at a dive shop in 2003?

I guess I just couldn't see why *not* to go custom when they didn't seem all that much more expensive. A side bonus would be not wearing all those freaky neon swooshes and stripes

The one thing I'm still not sure on is whether to get a 3mm or a 5mm base. Boy, that's hard to decide! I know that a 3mm would be "safe," whereas a 5mm might be just right, might be too much. I'll be annoyed if I buy a 3mm and then if even in warm (85º) water have to wear something over it. On the other hand, I don't want to have extra bulk and bouyancy (5mm) if I don't need it in the warm conditions.

 

[Wayward Son]

since you get cold easy, go with a 5mm. Just plan on adding to your collection later.

 

[BabyDuck]

agreed.

 

[Diver0001]

I sort of skimmed through this thread but someone mentioned something i think is worth repeating.

The amount of exposure protection you need depends to a great extent on how much time you're spending in the water.

For example, if I were spending 1 hour every few days in 75F water then I would do ok in a 3mm suit with a hood or a 5mm suit. But if I'm spending 4 or 5 hours a day under water for several days in a row, then with those same temperatures, I would need a minimum of a 7/5 suit and, in fact, I would probably wear a dry suit with light underwear (you need the same amount of weight as a 7/5 suit but it's warmer without the buoyancy swings )

So the temperature of the water/air and your depth are not the most important factors to consider. It's the amount of bottom time you intend to clock that will have the biggest impact on your choice.

R..