In Reply to: Re: What has been your experiance with drysuits, suggestions ? posted by Max Bottomtime on April 16, 2010 at 16:49:34:

Let me begin by saying that I support my local dive shop because they are good to me. They let me fill my own tanks for free and give me great discounts all the time. However, when it comes to large ticket items, I'm pretty cheap. If I can get something for less than half of what my lds wants, I'll buy it without hesitation. Drysuits are a good example.

The first drysuit I ever bought was from a Phoenix, Arizona dive shop selling on Ebay. I sent them my measurements and they assured me the Poseiden suit would be a perfect fit. I won the auction and when the suit arrived it was big enough for two people. I made two dives in it. The first was great. I was concerned about how much weight I needed with a large rubber suit, but when I reached my anchor in only 35 feet I was able to remove my weight belt and leave it wrapped the anchor. We headed for a second site where the suit flooded, letting in nearly a gallon of water. I washed the suit and considered returning it to the seller, but I figured I could just resell it and save shipping costs. It sold for about $30 more than I paid, so things came out even. I decided to stop being cheap and I bought a top of the line DUI TLS350 for nearly $2000. Out of around 200 dives, I remained dry on about 10% of the dives. I sent it back to DUI twice, but they couldn't find any leaks. I ran a flashlight next to the interior and found numerous pinholes. I patched them, but the suit still leaked. Finally, I looked on Ebay and found a crushed neoprene suit being sold by a local tech instructor I knew. I got a great deal, buying a drysuit that didn't leak for $230! I sold my DUI suit on Ebay for over $600. I was honest with the buyer, a dive shop owner in Texas. He said he would just patch the suit. He wanted it for teaching, so we were both happy. I had a new dryuit and $400 profit. After about 50 dives, I broke the zipper on the neoprene suit. I had it replaced, but the suit began leaking after that. I found a couple pinholes in the neckseal and patched them, but the leak was in the left leg. I filled the P-valve with Aquaseal, but it still leaked. Last week, I decided to send it in for repairs. I wanted the leak patched, P-valve removed, as I've never used it anyway, new neckseal installed and dump valve moved from the wrist to the shoulder. I figured it would cost at least $500. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted a different suit instead. I didn't want to use my wetsuit while my drysuit is in the shop, so I looked on Ebay for another suit. I found a USIA drysuit that is like new and I got it for less than the repair cost of my other suit.