Shortened the legs on my drysuit.

[Andy_Mason]

Thought I'd share this project. Living and diving in Michigan and the Great Lakes region I knew I wanted to dive dry eventually (45-50 degree water in July and August at depth; my 7/8mm semi-dry just doesn't cut it) so I got my drysuit certification/training last year. I wasn't ready to drop $3K+ yet on a suit and figured it would be a few years before I'd get to that point. A new friend I met while diving in the Straits of Mackinaw had a very old drysuit that he wanted to sell so I took it off his hands. Knowing I would need to fix some leaks and make some other repairs it was well worth it at only $125 and included a heavy weight insulation suit. I patched up the boots and dove it to 115'. It held up and didn't leak much...a little damp at the neck and wrists but I think it's because I'm new to drysuit and need to concentrate on not moving my head around too much or flexing and twisting my hands too much so I think it'll work for a little while longer. The legs were 3" too long so I decided to shorten them. I didn't want to spend the money to replace the boots which I would think is the "right" way to do it so instead I folded them down over the boots, glued them in place and wrapped the seam with 1" webbing because I'm hoping it will provide more strength than seam tape...we'll see if it holds up or not. I'm going to dive it on Sunday so I'll update the thread on if it holds up or not. It's really ugly, but so is the whole suit so I don't really care. If it holds up that's fine with me. The suit is a 20+ year-old Andy's and in it's day I think it was a really well made suit. We'll see how it goes. I intend to buy a new one in the Spring so it only needs to hold up until then. Here's some pics:


Applied the glue:
View media item 210202
Folded the material down over the boot:
View media item 210204
Wrapped the webbing:
View media item 210203
The Uglysuit
View media item 210201

 

[Curious_George]

I can’t view your pics Andy.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Huh, I guess I didn't consider that as an option, but it should work ok aside from being a bit lumpy there.

I recently had my suit shortened as well, but I was having new boots put on it at the same time. As I understand it, the typical issue with changing length in either direction, is that the limbs are tapered just slightly and they arrive at the right diameter at the seal or boot, so shortening you might have a too wide diameter, lengthening, it would be too small, so there is some finessing at that transition point that usually does result in a suit that has been noticeably altered if you look closely.

Hope your trick works out well, a good fitting suit makes for a big difference in the water.

 

[Andy_Mason]

It definitely looks altered but since this suit is in it's final last gasps of life I don't really care a whole lot...as long as I can manage the bubble better than I could when they were 3" too long. I'm going to dive it on Sunday so I'll repost the results. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Andy_Mason]

I can’t view your pics Andy.

How about these ones?

 

[Outbound]

I think it looks pretty good, actually! And if it holds up for a while, great. I've seen some old Vikings that have more patches on them than original rubber, so this suit looks great in comparison.

 

[GJC]

That looks really good. My off the shelf drysuit is a little long. I might try that on mine.

My wrists always leaked until I got dry gloves.

Your neck may have been cut and be a little big for you. If so, you may want to try this:

Seaskin Seal Grey - Neck - Seaskin Custom Diving Suits

Less of an investment than replacing the neck seal.

 

[Andy_Mason]

That looks really good. My off the shelf drysuit is a little long. I might try that on mine.

My wrists always leaked until I got dry gloves.

Your neck may have been cut and be a little big for you. If so, you may want to try this:

Seaskin Seal Grey - Neck - Seaskin Custom Diving Suits

Less of an investment than replacing the neck seal.

Thanks for passing that along. I may have to try some bio seals like that.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Great work. I have a POS dry suit that I want to modify for learning purposes.

It would be highly unethical for me to sell it (ScubaPro Evertec dry suit - my worst diving purchase), so I'm just going to practice my dry suit repair skills.

 

[Andy_Mason]

So far this alteration has been holding up and working well.