Neoprene Alternative?

[10X]

I have a friend who restricts his diving to tropical waters only. The reason is he is allergic to neoprene. Whenever exposed to it his skin breaks out into a weeping rash. He can't even wear a neoprene strap on his mask because it even affects him through his hair. He dives tropical waters without any protection, which usually results in shallow shorter dives for him, as his body uses more air in an effort to keep warm.

Any suggestions for alternatives to neoprene?

 

[crpntr133]

Dry suit is the first that comes to mind. Don't know how much protection he is looking for but for the tropical dives he might try a full body swim suit.

 

[Bob3]

A full Lycra skin will add a miniscule amount of thermal protection by interfering with the "skin effect" (or whatever the heck it's called) where the heat dissipation from apparent water flow is interfered with.
Other than that, I have some outstanding cheesecake recipes that will outperform the Lycra by adding a thin layer of fat.

 

[jbb]

I have a friend who restricts his diving to tropical waters only. The reason is he is allergic to neoprene. Whenever exposed to it his skin breaks out into a weeping rash. He can't even wear a neoprene strap on his mask because it even affects him through his hair. He dives tropical waters without any protection, which usually results in shallow shorter dives for him, as his body uses more air in an effort to keep warm.

Any suggestions for alternatives to neoprene?

Check out Tropical Dry suits. I don't know much about them, just remember coming across them in my search for a better dry suit. DUI has a 3030 latitude suit that they advertise as a tropical drysuit. Should be just the thing, trilaminate with latex seals. All you would need to do is vary the undergarment for the temperature of the water.

Jason

 

[hardhat]

I have a friend who restricts his diving to tropical waters only. The reason is he is allergic to neoprene. Whenever exposed to it his skin breaks out into a weeping rash. He can't even wear a neoprene strap on his mask because it even affects him through his hair. He dives tropical waters without any protection, which usually results in shallow shorter dives for him, as his body uses more air in an effort to keep warm.

Any suggestions for alternatives to neoprene?

Does he have any reaction to latex? If he doesn't then he could look at a drysuit made out of bilam, or trilam. If he does have reactions to latex he can take a look at Bares line if dive skins, they have some that are smooth on the outside and lined with micro fleece, I'm not sure of the model names of these suits but they are suppose to be equal to two or three mm neoprene suits. At least they'll keep him a bit warmer in the warm water and be able to dive a bit deeper and maybe a bit longer bottom times.

 

[scubatoys]

Henderson will be shipping their new Insta-Dry suits very soon - they are made of a different material... don't know if that will help. He could check them out in a few weeks.

 

[10X]

Larry,
Thanks for the heads-up. I called my friend and asked him to monitor your website for the availabliity of the new suit.