Review Seaskin Nova drysuit

[Boarderguy]

That is a bummer. Did he get it worked out?

It's always a gamble buying this way, but to me it was worth it and it panned out. I think the good cases heavily outweigh the bad.

No, he dives it still and the last dive I did with him he bitched about being wet. Could be plastic bag affect but he had some dense wool type undergarments. No idea, but could just be a lemon.

 

[Litefoot]

@vioch I haven’t ever patched a dry suit, but I have done a lot of whitewater rafts. Before you glue a new patch, place it on the repair spot and trace an outline with a marker. Then when you apply glue to the repair spot, you have nice margins to give you a clean-looking repair.

 

[Valerii Vakshul]

Just for the record - one more hole in the crotch area
View attachment 834987

This is an obvious technological defect - the tapes must overlap each other. If there are still such places, expect trouble.

 

[Litefoot]

So I was curious about the way my suit was taped in the crotch area. As you see in the pics, it looks like there is a taped seam running down from the torso that intersects with the seams running down the legs. I can’t tell if the seam tape on each seam overlaps because there are two short pieces of reinforcing tape that cover the intersection of the two seams. Edit: Looking at other seams, they all appear to have overlapping seam tape, so I would assume this one does too.

 

[admikar]

My first drysuit was DUI TLS350, which ended up as a colander )))

P.S. For the next drysuit will consider Hauberk Panzer

You might wait some time for that one.

 

[vioch]

clean-looking repair.

Thanks for the advice. But as far as the patches are from the inside I actually care more about waterproofness rather than clean-looking repair. As you can see on the photos it is normal that glue is outside the sealing tapes... just the manufacturer uses more suitable black glue and mine is white (greenish actually))) moreover I have only that width of tape for patches on hand but would like it to be wider.

 

[stuartv]

Should have bought DUI or Bare suit. @stuartv should replace it for you

Doesn't that stand for Dry Until Immersed?

 

[SeaIRL]

For the first test/trial of my Nova, headed to a local pool with a 18ft deep end. The air temp was so hot that I could only tolerate donning the thin Seaskin base layer and still worked up a good pre-dive sweat.

In spite of measuring with my wife's assistance at least 6 times over a few days before placing the order, the resulting suit feels a bit on the snug side and IMO both sleeves could use another 2cm length. Likely a thermal layer would assist in maintaining a more consistent air structure for the suit shell to form better overall, but whether or not the slim fit will work in the wild remains to be tested.

Trim was not 100% ideal, but captured these pics for reference...

FWIW, kit worn:

Dive Rite XT Transpac Large, 35lb lift Voyager wing.
14lb weight (7ea) in side pockets (likely enough for 150 thermals)
15L steel tank w/1000 psi (empty-ish)
Apeks RK3 fins (std, not HD) Large
DUI rock boots.

 

[ADVRider808]

In spite of measuring with my wife's assistance at least 6 times over a few days before placing the order, the resulting suit feels a bit on the snug side and IMO both sleeves could use another 2cm

Curious if you dusted the inside with the talc first or did you stuff it in dry?

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Curious if you dusted the inside with the talc first or did you stuff it in dry?

This helps. Especially in the beginning. There is a bit of a break in period with the suit (and experience in and out helps too).

Also (in case you're not used to ds diving) inflate a good bit at the surface and stretch out, it'll help the suit fit right under water.