Modifing my daughters 7-5-3 wetsuit to fit

[SouthSideScubaSteve]

I got a great deal on a used Mares 7-5-3 wetsuit for my daughter on EBay and it fits like it was custom made for her …. Well almost; the wrists are exceedingly tight, but 2-3” up from the end of the arms, it fits perfectly. The wrists are composed of about 2” of smooth-skin type material, which doesn’t seem to stretch very well. The arms are also about 2-3” too long. In an attempt to stretch then wrists out, I forced an Aluminum water bottle into each arm, out through the wrist… My plan is to leave them a few days and then have her try the suit on again.

Short of trying to find progressively larger diameter items to use to stretch the sleeves, does anyone have any tips on ways to stretch out a portion of a wetsuit?? Would steaming it help speed the process??

If that doesn’t work, my other thought is to cut the wrists back about ¾” and trying that, I figure I can progressively take about 3/16” to 1/8” until I’m down to about 1.5” of the smooth-skin material left. I don’t want to remove more, because I want enough to provide good seals at the wrists.

If I have to go this route, how do I seal the edges so the material doesn’t fray and prevent the stitching on the wrist from unraveling???

 

[Doubler]

Steve,
Don't try this yourself, you br sorry. Contact /www.expresswetsuit.com/. They do great work. My spouse has short arms so I marked them and had zippers installed. Very reasonable, quality work. Give them a shout.

Jim

 

[dumpsterDiver]

It is a very easy fix. I did the same thing to my suit recently. Just cut off some of the cuff and then if you are happy with the seal tightness, then hand sew the end of the seam that you cut off. If you want to be really careful, buy some aquaseal and put just a drop or two (no MORE!) over maybe the last 1/8" of the external threads to prevent unraveling of the sewn seam. If you use a bunch it will make the wrist seal unflexible and it will rip. Just a drop or two will tack down the threads so they don't unravel.

Also a very useful trick to make it more comfortable for her to get into the tight suit suit,,, rub a little diluted baby shampoo around the inside of the smooth seal immediately before she puts the suit on. It makes the suit much easier to slip on and it puts less stress on the suit itself.

I would go slow with the cutting and make one cut and let her try to dive before i cut more off.

The wrist seal is too tight if it affects the circulation in her hands.