Who Hates Their Seaskin Nova? (+ post pics)

[Marie13]

Now imagine trying to tame that thing for EVERY dive. I forgot my beard tie (elastic hair tie I stole from the wife) on a dive in Hawaii and that was a nightmare. My beard kept trying to kill me by getting tangled in my reg and pulling it out. It was like fighting a kraken attached to my face. Even with a hood I still tie the damn thing into a chin pony.

If it’s that much of a PITA when diving, why not chop some off? Whenever I hear women talking about long hair issues, I just laugh - short hair.

 

[Boarderguy]

If it’s that much of a PITA when diving, why not chop some off? Whenever I hear women talking about long hair issues, I just laugh - short hair.

I like having it more than I dislike the maint associated with it. Too many years having to be clean shaven 24/7 and having douchebag gate guards giving me **** coming back from leave or going on base for something when on leave.

 

[Chris H]

I have a Nova that I’ve used for about 46 hours. I’ve been cave diving in Mexico and wreck diving in Lake Superior. I’ve been diving drysuits since 1993, and almost all of my dives are drysuit dives. I had a Typhoon Ranger, a Bare Tri-Lam, a Scubapro Evertec, and a Bare X-Mission MTM before the Nova. The Nova is a nice suit. The fabric is similar to the Bare Tri-lam HD. It is thicker than the X-Mission or a TLS-350. I had a Velcro strap come off one of the boots, and I wasn’t crazy about the neoprene neck seal so I’m having a different one installed. The Seaskin neoprene seal has two seams on it, and I wasn’t staying dry every dive. Having a custom suit for $1200 is almost unheard of. I would buy another Nova with no hesitation.

 

[undrwater]

I like having it more than I dislike the maint associated with it. Too many years having to be clean shaven 24/7 and having douchebag gate guards giving me **** coming back from leave or going on base for something when on leave.

Besides, it's fabulous!

 

[Brett Hatch]

Is this you Brett Hatch

View attachment 769157

The resemblance is uncanny, I think you must have bumped into my doppelgänger in the wild!

 

[Rich1280]

I had a Seaskin, and the life expectancy on one seems to be about 3 years. Thats what both mine and the wife's lasted, along with a couple of others in the club before leaks started appearing. Then to a varying degree they dies with seams or fabric wear through. The cut in the shoulders is OK, but not the best for manipulating valves. Pockets were excellent I found for the expedition pockets. I really rate their suits, but I think the best comparison is a pair of supermarket jeans vs a pair of well cut Levis. One is just cut a bit nicer and moves a bit better. But every time I change my drysuit I do have to think, shall I just buy another Seaskin. Especially since they're 15 miles up the road from me! (but then so is Azdry, and Otter is 10, and RoHo is 8).
Rich

 

[Alekseolsen]

I had a Seaskin, and the life expectancy on one seems to be about 3 years. Thats what both mine and the wife's lasted, along with a couple of others in the club before leaks started appearing. Then to a varying degree they dies with seams or fabric wear through. The cut in the shoulders is OK, but not the best for manipulating valves. Pockets were excellent I found for the expedition pockets. I really rate their suits, but I think the best comparison is a pair of supermarket jeans vs a pair of well cut Levis. One is just cut a bit nicer and moves a bit better. But every time I change my drysuit I do have to think, shall I just buy another Seaskin. Especially since they're 15 miles up the road from me! (but then so is Azdry, and Otter is 10, and RoHo is 8).
Rich

Could you please translate three years to a very rough number of dives?

 

[Robert H. Diver]

I had a Seaskin, and the life expectancy on one seems to be about 3 years. Thats what both mine and the wife's lasted, along with a couple of others in the club before leaks started appearing. Then to a varying degree they dies with seams or fabric wear through. The cut in the shoulders is OK, but not the best for manipulating valves. Pockets were excellent I found for the expedition pockets. I really rate their suits, but I think the best comparison is a pair of supermarket jeans vs a pair of well cut Levis. One is just cut a bit nicer and moves a bit better. But every time I change my drysuit I do have to think, shall I just buy another Seaskin. Especially since they're 15 miles up the road from me! (but then so is Azdry, and Otter is 10, and RoHo is 8).
Rich

So did you dive 50 times or 500 times in those 3 years?

 

[rob.mwpropane]

I had a Seaskin, and the life expectancy on one seems to be about 3 years. Thats what both mine and the wife's lasted, along with a couple of others in the club before leaks started appearing. Then to a varying degree they dies with seams or fabric wear through. The cut in the shoulders is OK, but not the best for manipulating valves. Pockets were excellent I found for the expedition pockets. I really rate their suits, but I think the best comparison is a pair of supermarket jeans vs a pair of well cut Levis. One is just cut a bit nicer and moves a bit better. But every time I change my drysuit I do have to think, shall I just buy another Seaskin. Especially since they're 15 miles up the road from me! (but then so is Azdry, and Otter is 10, and RoHo is 8).
Rich

Yeah, a lot of unanswered questions in that. So far as I can tell, every ds leaks after years of use. I think @lexvil has had his the longest (8 years I think) and has had leaks, but nothing that another suit wouldn't have (so he says.. if we trust him!!).

How is it stored, how many dives or better how many hours? Have you gained weight since purchase? What kind of diving? Honest questions, I would like to get your experience.

Either way, my suit feels like a nice pair of pajamas when I wear it. Could not be happier, and I have zero issues manipulating valves with heavy undergarments in stupid cold water either.

 

[Rich1280]

OK, circa 80-100 (hours) dives per year, mainly UK liveaboard / dayboat and twinset / T1 diving and wreck furtling in Scotland. Always rinsed and dried post dive, hung on a long broom handle with tennis balls on the end and a loop on the middle to hang up through the neck. Dries really well with the zip open and the cover zip pulled forward to protect the dryzip. The previous residents obviously had a thing for hanging baskets, so we've got a couple of nice brackets in the back garden to do this on. Storage was indoors, folded as per manufacturer guidance in the bag it came in, in the basement, so cool and dry. Wear out was mainly crotch and armpits fabric thinning.

I did put some weight on, but not so much as to make the suit unfit for purpose, but I'd essentially got to the point of repeated pinprick patching through the fabric when I changed it. Wouldn't have said I was diving it that hard, and I'd planned saving up another half season or so to replace it when a Santi came up cheaper than cold be missed. Going from a factory measured MTM Seaskin to an off the shelf Santi was a notable difference in mobility in the shoulders. (I then went to a MTM Predator, which has been even better, for reference).
Rich