Sea Elite - Semi-dry Suit

[The Kraken]

Anyone here have any experience with Diver's Supply Sea Elite 7/5mm Expedition semi-dry suit?

If so, please comment on your experiences and observations.

Thanx . . .
the K

 

[The Kraken]

Second post - now that everyone's up, bright eyed, bushy tailed and awake !!!!!

 

[JKSteger]

I have a 7/5mm. I like it pretty good. One thing that sticks out is that the neoprene is not very stiff, it's not stretchy...just not very stiff, a little softer than regular 7mm neoprene. I tried the Sea Elite superstretch but they didn't fit very well and although seem to be of good quality they are by no means in the same class with Henderson Hyperstretches.

The semi-dry keeps me pretty dry when getting in the water. It "leaks" in water over time and by the end of the dive when getting out of the water your suit will be full of "warm" water that cannot get past the wrist and ankle seals. It gives you a puffy ankle look until the water drains out.

The suit is warm and I haven't got cold in the last few dives out at Lanier, granted the lake is warming up some but I've took it down to the 50's F. You can tell it's cooler below the thermocline but not too cold not to venture down below it.

I did think that the arms were letting in water in the seams but I think that I didn't have the internal wrist seal on the arm on correctly. The seal was "folded" over on half of it therefore not making a good seal.

For the $189.00 price (+tax) I am very happy with this suit.

Jeremy

 

[The Kraken]

Jer,
Thanks for the reply!
Went ahead and bit the bullet for one. D/S had a medium in stock and it was an excellent fit.
At $200 it'll do me till the scuba budget builds up to the dry suit level.
Hopefully it'll reduce some weight requirement and bulk from the 6.5 farmer john/jacket unit.
See ya in the puddle.

the K

 

[m7scuba]

I was looking at one of these, but my wrists are too small. I tried on a ML and it had a nice gap on the wrist seal - kind of defeating the purpose of a semi-dry. I ended up getting a FJ 7mil instead.

Has anyone heard of anything that someone with a small wrist could use to make a larger suit fit? I can imaging something that looks like a wristband made of 6mil neo with internal seals and would mate with the seals on the suit itself. Does such an animal exist?

 

[The Kraken]

M7,
Get a couple of the velcro watch bands and put around each wrist.

the K

 

[m7scuba]

M7,
Get a couple of the velcro watch bands and put around each wrist.

the K

Hmmm.... Now I wondering if I need to return the FJ...
That's so simple, why didn't I think of it? (of course the dive computer and dive watch would probably do the same thing)

 

[The Kraken]

Yep, they would.