Review Seaskin Nova drysuit

[SteelBeard]

Grateful for all the information in this thread. Put in my order for a Nova. Haven't heard anything at all from Seaskin for 4 days. I know it was over a weekend, waiting is killing me. Got what seemed like all the popular options (all the sitechs, kubis, sox, plastic zip, dir dump, simple neck, PU, 40mm braces, 250 suit, cpu straps) and a few extra seals. Will be diving temps down to below 4 C.

Like reading about how much people have loved theirs. Now for the waiting... waiting... waiting....

 

[FabletheRaven]

What was your original dispatch date? Trying to gauge how much longer I've got to wait since it was supposed to be May 10th

It was May 3. Once they shipped it, it came like the next day.

 

[SteelBeard]

Got my confirmation today with a proposed dispatch of august 2nd! Looks like they are still less than 3 months.

 

[MaxAir]

I tried 22-24 initially and couldn't hold my stop without being squeezed and it sucked towards the end of my dive. I'd rather carry a bit more weight and be warm/comfy. With an HP 100 and my 150 I use 28 lbs. With the 250 I use 30. Life is good when you're warm.

I am spot on with this amount of weight vs thermals as well. Wearing the Seaskin 250gm thermal requires ~3-4 lbs more weight than with the 150gm thermal.

After I've had many more dives in cold salt water and currents with crazy up/down surges, I've added a fair bit more weight to my setup in order to have more control over my range of buoyancy stability - especially toward the end of dive.

As Boardergeuse mentioned, be sure to add enough weight to have good control over your depth at end of dive safety stop - which is especially difficult if there are currents and upwellings. I was "fine" with less weight in calm waters, but man, trying to hold 15-20ft with a 1000 psi or less (even though using a 117cuft steel tank) in washing machine currents can be scary when configured with marginal neg weight and you've already dumped every bubble from your gear and only breathing 1/4 lung capacity while getting worked over.

 

[MaxAir]

So my Seaskin saga somewhat related to 80's rockstar latex fit... during a recent trip to northern Vancouver Island, a helping hand from a dive buddy pulled hard on my partially plastic zipper before I had a chance to get the zipper sides/teeth close together - and pulled the car clean through the teeth on one side. Zipper is apparently not serviceable and will need replacement. This while stuffed in the suit wearing the Seaskin 250gm thinsulate layer.

I'll be sending my suit back to Seaskin for repair ( 126BP, 80BP x 2 shipping next day = 386BP total). I'm also going to discuss what can be done to make alterations to the suit for more crotch and shoulder room.

On a side note, I was lucky enough to have booked the God's Pocket trip through Ocean Pro Divers who (Shawn) had brought 1 spare XL Bare drysuit from their rental fleet. Saved by the loaner suit... this on dive day #2 of 5! Then down in Campbell River at Ocean Fix, rented a Bare "NextGen" for one day of diving with them.

I've had a lot of compliments about how well the Seaskin suit looks, but man, it's not like "I told you so" and had dreaded this might be an issue just waiting to happen at some point. Sum total, 9 dives before user/helper error trashed zipper.

This was my first owned plastic zipper, but have used many loaner/rentals with plastic and no issues because those suits were quite baggy in comparison. Should I have Seaskin switch to metal?

 

[HeXx]

So my Seaskin saga somewhat related to 80's rockstar latex fit... during a recent trip to northern Vancouver Island, a helping hand from a dive buddy pulled hard on my partially plastic zipper before I had a chance to get the zipper sides/teeth close together - and pulled the car clean through the teeth on one side. Zipper is apparently not serviceable and will need replacement. This while stuffed in the suit wearing the Seaskin 250gm thinsulate layer.

I'll be sending my suit back to Seaskin for repair ( 126BP, 80BP x 2 shipping next day = 386BP total). I'm also going to discuss what can be done to make alterations to the suit for more crotch and shoulder room.

On a side note, I was lucky enough to have booked the God's Pocket trip through Ocean Pro Divers who (Shawn) had brought 1 spare XL Bare drysuit from their rental fleet. Saved by the loaner suit... this on dive day #2 of 5! Then down in Campbell River at Ocean Fix, rented a Bare "NextGen" for one day of diving with them.

I've had a lot of compliments about how well the Seaskin suit looks, but man, it's not like "I told you so" and had treaded this issue was just waiting to happen at some point. Sum total, 9 dives before user/helper error trashed zipper.

This was my first owned plastic zipper. Should I have Seaskin switch to metal?

I ordered mine with metal because of the feedback I read that metal zippers outlast by quite a bit the plastic ones.
I'm still waiting for mine to arrive.
In my opinion, like you said, the zipper was improperly handled and broke. User error.
If a Bare drysuit could handle that abuse? Maybe, but do they use the same brand and model zipper? Perhaps their high quality zipper is what justifies the price being double or triple what a Seaskin costs.
The feedback I read is that Seaskin is durable with many people reporting hundreds of dives without fail, and i'm really hoping they are because I have one ordered

 

[lexvil]

So my Seaskin saga somewhat related to 80's rockstar latex fit... during a recent trip to northern Vancouver Island, a helping hand from a dive buddy pulled hard on my partially plastic zipper before I had a chance to get the zipper sides/teeth close together - and pulled the car clean through the teeth on one side. Zipper is apparently not serviceable and will need replacement. This while stuffed in the suit wearing the Seaskin 250gm thinsulate layer.

I'll be sending my suit back to Seaskin for repair ( 126BP, 80BP x 2 shipping next day = 386BP total). I'm also going to discuss what can be done to make alterations to the suit for more crotch and shoulder room.

On a side note, I was lucky enough to have booked the God's Pocket trip through Ocean Pro Divers who (Shawn) had brought 1 spare XL Bare drysuit from their rental fleet. Saved by the loaner suit... this on dive day #2 of 5! Then down in Campbell River at Ocean Fix, rented a Bare "NextGen" for one day of diving with them.

I've had a lot of compliments about how well the Seaskin suit looks, but man, it's not like "I told you so" and had treaded this issue was just waiting to happen at some point. Sum total, 9 dives before user/helper error trashed zipper.

This was my first owned plastic zipper. Should I have Seaskin switch to metal?

First thing, it’s a self donning suit, nobody should be yanking on anything except maybe the docking, second thing other than you hoping they can make it bigger you may want to look at less “lofty” undies, in which case it won’t cost anymore to send it to DRIS and have a TiZip installed, which, in my opinion, is the best zipper available.

Third, for me personally I will NEVER buy a brass zip again.

 

[bpodbielski]

Check your spam folder, the dispatch email may have gone there. You may get the email Monday morning if it hadn't gone out Friday.

Email came today, so you were only a day off! Now I'm off to stare at the tracking information 24/7 until it shows up at my door...

 

[Litefoot]

Email came today, so you were only a day off! Now I'm off to stare at the tracking information 24/7 until it shows up at my door...

Rather than have 90 straight days of disappointment, it’s better to just put it in the back of your mind and have 1 day of joyful unexpected surprise.

 

[MaxAir]

First thing, it’s a self donning suit, nobody should be yanking on anything except maybe the docking, second thing other than you hoping they can make it bigger you may want to look at less “lofty” undies, in which case it won’t cost anymore to send it to DRIS and have a TiZip installed, which, in my opinion, is the best zipper available.

Third, for me personally I will NEVER buy a brass zip again.

"self donning"

Along with my dry suit order also included the 150 & 250gm thermals which fit perfect according to my measurements provided. You'd think Seaskin would have allowed sufficient room for the 250gm without struggling/dislocating your shoulder to slip in and out of that. Plus the lack of crotch/leg room to do a proper full frog kick without restriction :/ Still, the last inch of the upper part of the zip is beyond what I can reach, hence the buddy effect and risk therein.

I don't find the 250gm thinsulate to be all that lofty and IME thinsulate seems to do better on multiple 46F dives than something like FE Arctic fleece when you are already a bit damp from the first dive.

Anyway, while I was away on the trip my wife called Seaskin to ask about our options. I haven't called them yet as I need to get the suit prepped for shipping first, but it sounds like they can make some alterations to a couple key areas. Wife simply told me to order a bigger suit for cold water and keep the skinny suit for warmer conditions since I have no issues in the 150gm (or FE Arctic) thermals