Old dry Suit Worth Repairing?

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Goose75

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Location
Hurst, TX
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100 - 199
A friend of mine has an old dry suit he was given and no longer needs now he has a new one. All the seals are shot (including the feet). Zipper and suit apear to be in good condition but he can't say for sure. I should be able to confirm the suit doesn't leak by using tacky tape to seal the hands and feet. My question is, for someone who will mostly dives tropical but does visit cold climes, would repairing it be worthwhile or is it better to buy a cheap one on ebay?
 
What kind of suit is it? A 2500.00 Viking might be worth it where a cheap OS System shell might not. You could spend the rest of your life hunting down leaks, old and new, plus replacing seals. Or, if might have no leaks at all. There are plenty of good dive shops in your area, and lots of scubaboard experts as well. I would PM Pug or NWGratefuldiver or OE2X and get a referral (or have them look at it).
Just my .01
 
It also depends if you're planning to fix it yourself or ship it off to have work done. Zipper is really what retires most suits. It's not cheap to fix. Seals and boots if done by yourself, can be replaced reasonably cheaply. But, as Rick stated, you could be hunting down small leaks forever which isn't fun.
 
I work in composites and bonding for aircraft, so I'm not intimidated about replacing seals and repairing leaks myself. I'm told the zipper is sound, but I would have to confirm. I dive with him Saturday, so I will ask make and model. I think it is a coated fabric but I'm not sure. The Lighthouse has their big anniversary sale Fri thru Sun so I was going to flip through their used and new gear to see entry prices.
 
Dearman:
A friend of mine has an old dry suit he was given and no longer needs now he has a new one. All the seals are shot (including the feet). Zipper and suit apear to be in good condition but he can't say for sure. I should be able to confirm the suit doesn't leak by using tacky tape to seal the hands and feet. My question is, for someone who will mostly dives tropical but does visit cold climes, would repairing it be worthwhile or is it better to buy a cheap one on ebay?

You can buy the O'Neill 7mm neoprene drysuit nowadays for $500 off the shelf. I have never seen a better bang for the buck.

--Matt
 
matt_unique:
You can buy the O'Neill 7mm neoprene drysuit nowadays for $500 off the shelf. I have never seen a better bang for the buck.

--Matt

I think some of cheap new suits last much shorter than some of good quality used suits.
For example, a Viking suit lasts even 15-20 years if it is properly stored while some Neoprene suit cannot last 5 years even if it is kept in the best condition.

I will think about getting, or even buying a good quality used suit even if it costs same as a cheap new suit.
 
Ostsee Taucher:
I think some of cheap new suits last much shorter than some of good quality used suits.
For example, a Viking suit lasts even 15-20 years if it is properly stored while some Neoprene suit cannot last 5 years even if it is kept in the best condition.

I will think about getting, or even buying a good quality used suit even if it costs same as a cheap new suit.

I agree. I can't think of any suit that would last longer than a top of the line Viking. My O'Neill Neoprene is going strong into the 6th year. We'll see how long it lasts.

My point was bang for your buck. You can buy a lot of neoprene suits for the price you would pay for a top of the line Viking suit for example. For someone starting out, it would make much more sense to pay $500 for a decent suit such as the O'Neill rather than paying $2500 for a Viking. Even if the suit lasted 5 years, your total price paid for having a neoprene drysuit for 20 years is less than what you paid for the Viking suit. In fact, even with Viking suits the neck/wrist seals are certainly not going to last 15 years, you would need to factor in the cost of replacing those. With a neoprene suit <5 years old you would not have to replace anything.

If I had my choice in any dive catalog it would not be an O'Neill suit but you really can't beat the value. I was referred to the O'Neill suit by several other divers I knew in this area who had them. They had a similar experience - as warm as just about any suit you could buy at 1/3 the price.

--Matt
 
If it is a polyurethane coated pack cloth cloth type suit, I'd pass on it as there is no such thing as a good bilaminate used suit. They generally have a very short useful life and will drive you nuts with pin holes, delamination problems and seam leaks.

I'll second the vote for the O'Neil 7mm neoprene suit. I was well indoctrinated in the "Trilam and vulcanized rubber suits are better than those crappy neoprene suits" school of thought for the better part of two decades until I actually dove a modern neoprene drysuit, now I have an O'Neil that goes diving and two trilams that sit in the closet. Knowing how wrong I was on the issue for 20 years, despite the best of intentions, I would personally not consider the opinion of any neoprene suit detractor who has not actually dove one recently. (30 year old Unisuits with poor valve placement and ungainly hood and zipper arrangements do not count.)

Realistically you can get 5 plus years out of a $500 neoprene suit that costs 1/2 as much as the cheapest trilam available and costs 1/5th as much as a top end crushed neoprene or vulcanized rubber suit and 1/8th as much as a custom cut top end suit.

Personally, for the same initial purchase price I'd rather have five new neoprene suits over 25 years and spend $0 on maintenence than use one $2500 suit for 25 years and spend the last 20 years worrying about and paying for 5-7 latex wrist and neck seal replacements, 1 or 2 $250 zipper replacements, and 1 or 2 $200 boot replacements, plus the occasional pin hole and seam leak that needs to be repaired. The maintence costs alone over 25 years, would be enough to pay for 1 to 3 more neoprene suits depending on what you had to replace and how often.

The economics really are in favor of the neoprene suit and in my experience a neoprene suit offers more flexibility, more warmth and less hydrodynamic drag due to the closer fit allowed by the stretchy material.
 
I dove with my friend this weekend and I think he is planning on hanging on to it as a backup should he damage his new one. In two weeks I move back to Texas so I will not be in dry suit conditions. I travel for work so it would be nice to have one but I don't want to spend alot for something I don't use as my primary rig. I think I'll watch ebay for a deal on one. Inside I grumble at the thought of going back to a wetsuit but I know it won't bother me when I hit the hot weather again.
 
dearman, a FREE dry suit is a GREAT deal. DUI and other sites have great info on how to find holes and patch them. it might be cheap to send the suit to the manufacture for a reseal. i dive a neoprene and love the extra warmth and flexability. i haven't touched a wet suit since i started dry. on ebay, be careful. lots of junk.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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