Trilam vs. crushed neoprene drysuit

[runsongas]

there are front zip neoprene options from otter and pinnacle other than an expensive DUI. both will be a bit more than a seaskin though. trilam is durable enough for most that unless you will be doing aquaculture or really crawling through places, the downside of the backzip seaskin isn't worth it.

 

[NauticalNick]

I took the easy way out: I asked the opinions of very experienced people who were doing the type of diving (extended range, Great Lakes shipwreck diving) I was hoping to do, and then I opened my wallet! Never looked back. No buyer's remorse. (Well, I did have pockets added and a protective zipper installed when I had my original DS zipper replaced after owning my suit for about six years.)

ETA: If I were to make the purchase right now, I would order silicone wrist seals (to go with dry gloves) instead of the neoprene fold-under wrist seals I have on my suit. I've been watching a lot of videos about diving Iceland's Silfra fissure, and water temps there are barely above freezing--much too cold for me for cold-water gloves or three-finger mitts!

rx7diver

I did silfra (in the winter) with the three finger mitts because it was a rental and it was.... doable. I can see the appeal of the dry gloves though. The additional factor too is that the dives are not that long at Silfra. It's not that big and there's not a ton to do.

 

[rx7diver]

I don't expect to travel with a drysuit. It's going to be used regularly in Puget Sound, probably nowhere else. ...

Flew to Seattle with my DUI CF200SP (crushed neoprene) drysuit Memorial Day weekend 2009 or so, and did my only dive ever in Puget Sound. Was attending a conference. IIRC, I washed out the suit in my hotel room bathtub that evening, and left it hanging on the shower curtain rod overnight and throughout the next day (with the bathroom door closed and the exhaust fan running), and packed it up that evening. I had turned it inside out that first morning after my dive. My suit was really very dry when I packed it up.

I don't know what the housekeeping staff thought about my gear drying all over the bathroom, though. I don't think that that hotel ($$) saw much of this kind of thing!

rx7diver

 

[WillieJustice]

I haven't sold any of my horde yet, but I do have quite a few sitting around unused lol. Yes, this is part of the Thursday night crew in search of 6-gills. Marker Buoy will be out there tonight as well. YSS should have some killer deals on tanks fir black Friday. Next Thursday - Saturday UW Sports will be having their annual sale and tanks will be part of it.

I will be at UW Sports for exactly that reason. I had been thinking about buying a drysuit, but I can wait six weeks for custom at about half the sale price. Tanks are a different thing. I figured to just rent them, except they didn't have what I wanted a couple times. And if I manage to find dive buddies who think a night dive on a random Wednesday is a good idea, letting them down on account of no air just doesn't cut it.

 

[WillieJustice]

Flew to Seattle with my DUI CF200SP (crushed neoprene) drysuit Memorial Day weekend 2009 or so, and did my only dive ever in Puget Sound. Was attending a conference. IIRC, I washed out the suit in my hotel room bathtub that evening, and left it hanging on the shower curtain rod overnight and throughout the next day (with the bathroom door closed and the exhaust fan running), and packed it up that evening. I had turned it inside out that first morning after my dive. My suit was really very dry when I packed it up.

I don't know what the housekeeping staff thought about my gear drying all over the bathroom, though. I don't think that that hotel ($$) saw much of this kind of thing!

rx7diver

I can see that kind of thing happening on occasion in the future.