We became aware of the problem after approximately 75 suits were made. We have fixed or tested all of the suits and we have returned them to the stores and/or customers.
In the meantime, we are back to building fantastic drysuits that are the best value in diving today.
I feel inclined to tell this story to protect the public.
We are one of the shops that purchased Seasoft Drysuits. In fact, we purchased a total of 7 from Bruce. One XV-4 for myself, 3 TX-3's for rental, a suit for my wife and two suits for customers.
The rentals were dove 3 to 4 times in water varying from 38F - 48F degrees before coming unglued. Two of the three rentals failed and then my XV-4 failed. When I say failed, I mean failed - as the entire zipper panels came unglued. To me, the scary part was they were fine for 3 to 4 dives... then suddenly, without warning, they came apart in catastrophic style.
We notified Seasoft and were advised they were just becoming aware of the problem and that we could send our suits back for repair at their expense. We packed up all 7 suits, gathering the ones back from our customers and sent them back.
Approximately three weeks later we received the suits back from Seasoft with a guarantee that this would not happen again. I advised Bruce that if it happened again, I could not in good conscious dive his suits or ask my customers to do so. He stood in my store and told me that if it happened again, he would refund my money for the suits.
This past week, diving my suit for the second time since it had been back, the zipper panel again failed catastrophically - coming completely apart on me while on a dive. My suit flooded with 48F degree water within seconds. Luckily I was only in about 10 feet of water at the time and was able to safely make it out.
Upon returning to the store, I examined the only other rental that had been in the water since the suits came back from repair - and it to was peeling apart at the zipper panel.
I called Bruce at 10:30am EST and left a message for him advising that I had had enough and demanded a full and immediate refund for all 7 suits. I also advised that I needed to hear from him immediately or I would initiate a complaint with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. I waited until 1:30 in the afternoon and after not hearing back from Bruce, I called Seasoft again. The girl who answered the phone advised me she had given Bruce the information and he was aware of the problem. I further advised her that I needed to hear from Bruce within the hour -and she advised me he was on an airplane. I was livid that he couldn't have taken 2 minutes to call me before getting on that plane - given he had a couple of hours after being notifed of the problem before he boarded.
By 8:30pm EST I still had not heard from Bruce, so I filed an online complaint with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Sometime very late in the evening Bruce sent me an email... the details of this email and other subsequent emails is not all that important at this moment.
I have been told that I will be receiving a complete refund for all seven suits. I will let you all know if and when that happens. I expect nothing less from Bruce at this point, as this is what he agreed to if the suits failed us a second time.
With all of this said, I'm on a shaky fence here. To be honest, I have dove three other brands of drysuits in my days... and none of those were as comfortable as the Seasoft suits. I believe Bruce when he says he has customers who love them. I loved them right up until they failed so horribly - not once - but twice.
Being a dive industry professional, my greatest fear is that someone could be seriously injured or killed by one of these suits in cold, deep water. Keep in mind, we're not talking about a slow leak - we're talking about a catastrophic failure where the zipper panel comes completely apart in a matter of seconds. I believe anything short of a total safety recall is putting lives in danger. Again, it is a problem because the suit may work fine once, twice or even three or four times before suddenly coming apart.
For those that saw the Gilligans Island episode where they discover the amazing glue and patch the minnow back together... only to discover water dissolves the glue... well thats exactly what this reminds me of.
I obviously don't believe this impacts every suit Seasoft has made over the past 5 years... but it certainly affects - in my mind - all suits made within the past year. If you own or know someone who owns a Seasoft suit, please advise them of these concerns. If your suit has been back for repair once - I wouldn't trust it just yet. Dive it shallow multiple times before considering deep cold water.
I am hopeful Bruce fulfills his promise to me and my customers of a full and swift refund. I am still a Seasoft dealer - and Seasoft makes many other terrific products that I am proud to sell. Where there is good - I'll state it... and where there are problems, I'll state them.
These are the current facts in this situation... so do with this info as you see fit.
