Product Review: New “Generation 2” BARE SB Drysuit

[Deep South Divers]

What a shame. Sorry to hear it.

Neither of your new offerings utilize stretch trilaminate materials?

 

[Deep South Divers]

I GOT A LEAK!

Alright, I know y'all have been waiting for this, and I wouldn't want to disappoint...

The past couple of dives have been a little wet around my left arm. As in... Not so much a leak as seepage. Kinda swampy.

At first I thought it might be just sweat... Then I'd doff the suit at the end of the dive and take off my BARE SB base layer. My UnderArmour underneath was wet, and more obvious since it's thinner and darkens with wetness (the BARE SB base layer wicks so well that it's tough to know for sure if you're wet or not). All of this was happening right around my left bicep.

Over the next few dives it got worse, and got to the point where the wet spot was down to my elbow... Although I don't really notice until I took the suit and base layer off and was cold in the wind in one spot. On one dive - like a four-hour dive - most of my arm and shoulder was wet.

...So today, on a hunch, I removed my exhaust valve for inspection, being careful to check the valve/suit seal during removal. Everything looked great... So I pressed my lips against the threads of the exhaust valve and sucked... And yep... It was leaking. I could get a clear flow of air in the wrong direction.

A little salt or sand or something had gotten into the exhaust valve.

I didn't bother to disassemble the valve... I just followed the instructions on the SI-TECH website and ran it all under warm water while off of the suit. The "suck test" proved that that did the trick and my valve is now clean and functioning properly. For what it's worth... This is the same standard SI-TECH exhaust valve that most drysuit manufacturers are using.

I'll test the suit again in the morning. I'm sure it was the problem.

265 or so dives, and a little dirt or salt in my exhaust valve is the only issue.

Had ya fooled!

I have sent an email to BARE in hopes that they'll share with me the vendor that made this suit for them. If BARE won't carry the SB drysuit anymore, then maybe I'll see if the maker (I know they're Canadian) can sell to me directly... Because my guys and I usually need a new one every year.

Who knows... Perhaps I can rebrand the suit and become a drysuit manufacturer if BARE is out of the stretch trilam drysuit business.

Yes, it's really that great.

Of interest: As soon as I read that the SB drysuit is no more, I contacted the US distributor of SANTI suits to inquire about the new e.motion suits... After all, all of us need suits on a regular basis. It turns out that the information that I received about the 2016 e.motion is incorrect... It is NOT made of a stretch trilaminate, which explains the presence of external pockets and the need for an extending torso.

In other words... It is NOT a like/kind replacement for the BARE SB drysuit.

I sure hope that I can find out who their vendor is. These suits are GREAT. I am very spoiled now and have no intentions of ever going back to a non-stretch trilaminate.

 

[tech3324]

I sure hope that I can find out who their vendor is. These suits are GREAT. I am very spoiled now and have no intentions of ever going back to a non-stretch trilaminate.

Yes, disappointing, and a strangely worded announcement from Bare.

we have removed the SB system outer layer from the line-up.

Why not just call it a drysuit?

Keep us posted on what you find out about other options.

 

[lukemil]

What a sad end to this thread. You had me convinced to go out and buy the SB as my first drysuit. Thanks for all the great info though.

 

[Deep South Divers]

Same here.

All may not be lost, however... I am so into this suit that I may decide to remarket it direct from the maker. BARE wasn't the maker of this suit - it was rebadged.

...At least I think so. We'll see.

 

[tech3324]

Any thoughts on why Bare dropped this suit? It must have been that sales were not up to expectations. But why? I don't recall reading many negative comments, but maybe there were problems.

 

[Deep South Divers]

Yes, there were lots of problems initially with the generation 1 suit... Delaminaton. Not all of the layers stretched equally, and so over time they delaminated.

This caused a lot of warranty issues.

The generation 2 suit isn't quite as stretchy... But it's still a fantastic suit... And free of the delamination issues present in the generation 1 suit.

I'm in love with this suit... But yes, they did have problems, and yes, it's possible that the SB name has been tarnished to the point of no return.

I imagine BARE had to make a decision.

To me, it's a perfect opportunity to rebadge and start a new marketing campaign. The suit is unique and completely bad to the bone. Nothing else like it on the market.

 

[tech3324]

The SB seems to be well stocked at the usual dealers. I wonder if they will go on sale.
But probably no chance of getting anything custom like bootie size and P-valve.

 

[KevinNM]

The SB seems to be well stocked at the usual dealers. I wonder if they will go on sale.
But probably no chance of getting anything custom like bootie size and P-valve.

Booties are easy to replace (easy it you fix dry suits for a living - not for me) so if it fits...

 

[Deep South Divers]

300+ dives and I've finally sprung a leak.

Actually, the past few dozen dives have been pretty swampy. I figured it was the exhaust valve again, but cleaning it didn't help this time... And the suck test was negative - meaning, "Nope, the exhaust valve isn't the problem."

It's hard to say whether or not this has been the problem all along, since dive #250 or so. A couple of posts ago I said that the exhaust valve was the problem... The next dive was dry as a bone. Since then, dives have sometimes been a little wet and sometimes really dry. Today's dive wet my entire left arm and down my left side and apparently puddled at my left butt cheek. The dive was a little longer than usual - maybe two hours - so that might have had something to do with it.

I figured it was time to do a leak test. I had done one maybe 30 dives ago - like three or four weeks ago - but I did it by inverting the suit and filling it with water and looking for water. The area in suspect was wet already and I guess I wasn't able to see the leak... So today's test was a much better test of inverting the suit and filling it full of air and using soapy water. Presto.


We'll see how BARE handles this.