Seaskin Neoprene Drysuit - A review

[ardhill]

The day came when I decided I needed a new drysuit. I had been looking about for some time before that, so I wasn't too difficult to decide what I wanted.

I had only ever dived in membrane suits, so I was looking for another. But by now I had a better idea of what I wanted and what I didn't want, what features and modifications were important to me etc.

I wanted something that wasn't baggy but was flexible, and if it looked good too, all the better. So, I had a look on Protec's website at the “Explorer” suit. I also was looking at the Seaskin suits as they have a descent reputation on here and are much more realistically priced. I also prefer to buy from a UK or Ireland manufacturer rather then American or Taiwanese or whatever if it is feasible.

I contacted Protec, and mentioned a few of the features I wanted on a suit. I wanted a neo neck seal and neo dry socks amongst a few other things, but they didn't work in neo at all. Well, no matter how nice their suit looked, I wasn't going to change back to latex as I didn't like it.

So, I had a look again at Seaskin's website. They did all the features that I wanted, but the suit had a bit more generous a cut than the one Protec did. But the way some of the things were worded on the site, I thought something might be able to be done about that.

So, a phone call to Richard at Seaskin followed. I explained that I wanted a membrane suit but would like a slimmer cut than the standard one. He said he he could do something about that for me and the other features I wanted were not a problem. We talked a bit about sizing, I had a bad experience in my last suit, and wanted Seaskin to take my measurements. We looked at me flying over there, he could even help with me getting from the airport to him and back again!

I went away to look at flights and look again at his website, that's were it caught my eye... their neoprene drysuits. They looked slim, were made from compressed neo, so we don't have buoyancy change problems. They looked well on the site and looked warm - Hmmm, warm... I had been having a few problems with the cold, especially hanging on deco, so this might work!

Another phone call to Richard, the flights weren't going to work out, as I couldn't get a cheap one at a reasonable time. I also asked him about the neo suits as I was a bit concerned having never dived in one before. He put my mind at rest about compression / buoyancy change and about flexibility and manoeuvrability in the suit. He also said the the majority of their suits were made from people sending their measurements in rather than getting measured by them, so don't worry.

Back to their website...

I was now sold on the neo suit, so all I had to do was finalise my specification, and print off their measurement guidelines.

Specifications:

- Neo Suit – Blue Upper, the rest in black
- Neo neck seal
- Neo dry socks
- Heavy Duty Latex wrist seals
- Seatec inflator
- Low Profile shoulder dump valve
- Standard medium pitch shoulder zip
- Balanced P Valve
- BIG bellow pockets on both legs on the sides with an attachment point and velcro closure. When I had a look through the pockets on their web site, I didn't like any of the ones they had for their neo suits. So, another phone call to Richard... no problem, he will make something, big, bellow, neo, with a velcro closure and an attachment point for bungie.

Since I wanted something not quite off the peg, I e-mailed the order instead of trying to use their online order form...

Wait...

Wait...

Wait...

Phone call – are we there yet?

Wait...

Wait...

Phone call – are we there yet?

Wait...

They phone me – the suit is ready!

Wait for carrier...

6 1/2 weeks from e-mail order to having the suit in my hands

As I was expecting the suit to arrive at work any day, I brought my Artics in with me. As soon as it arrived, I changed into my Artics and put on the suit, here are some photographs:














After these and a few more shots, the guy who was taking the pictures asked if we could go inside now 'cause he was freezing. Is it cold? I'm not

The Rock Boots were mine BTW, I didn't get boots off Seaskin and I don't think they actually sell any 'Rock Boot' style over boot. But various places do if you would like to go with that format.

It looks a bit big and bulky around my shoulders, but it feels great and the extra material round there allows me to comfortably get my hands behind my head / back, for shutdowns – something I couldn't do in my previous suit. But this is the only place the suit looks big, OK, the legs look a little long in the first photo, but once pulled up into the crotch (see second photo), they are not. I didn't get braces put on the suit, so that is why they have dropped a little.

I had described where I wanted the P Valve in my email and they got it in exactly the right place.

The pockets are 23cm x 18cm x 7cm, with a small plastic D ring inside to attach a bungie loop to it. I must admit, I am not too sure about 'how' the pockets are attached to the suit. There is no back to the pocket, the sides are simply glued to the leg of the suit. I know Richard voiced concerns with me about having large pockets and restricting the stretch in the neoprene so much that the legs wouldn't give as much as they should. So, I guess this is why he has tried this method. Time will tell if they hold fast.

The joins look good on the suit, both inside and out.

The suit is actually lighter than my previous membrane suit, an Otter Britannic with the same type of seals and dry socks. The Otter membrane is 8.5 lb and the Seaskin neo is 7 lb.

10 out of 10 for getting me a suit to MY specifications,and that looked good and fitted good But how does it dive? I was going to have to wait a few days for this bit...



I arranged a dive for the club for the weekend. Then at the last minute, well actually it was after the last minute, and the dive fell through. So, as there was two of us standing waiting on a RIB and other divers when we were informed it wasn't happening, so we went for a shore dive.

I sorted my weighting before the dive and discovered that I could loose lead! That was a pleasant surprise, my previous suit must have had hidden pockets of air in it or something.

The suit performed well I must say. It did feel a bit different to the membrane one, and I felt I could run it a bit tighter too without speaking in a helium voice on nitrox (guys, you know what I mean) The dump valve was positioned in a slightly different place – further up the shoulder, but it worked just fine.

The new Halcyon P valve was nicely balanced, and no pressure was needed to err, discharge overboard.

The pockets were easy to access when diving, and held all the stuff I need without a problem.

The suit wasn't as warm as I thought it would be though. I would have done that dive in my Artics and a base layer in my previous suit. So, I left off the base layer on this dive since I expected the neo to be warmer, but I think I will put the base layer back on again.

I guess the neo is very compressed, as I didn't need to add extra lead, I didn't have too much extra heat and I am glad to say, I didn't have buoyancy issues in the shallows. My last part of the ascent was slow, controlled and I held at 2m without a problem.

Exit the dive, pull a couple of layers of facial skin off whilst removing the neo neck seal and see what the damage is... Only a slight dampness around my neckline and upper chest - the rest of me dry! For those of you who dive latex seals, if you switch to neo, you expect a bit of water ingress. The neo is not as good as latex at sealing, but is warmer and more comfortable. If your neck has been formed though years of eating pork products, then you may have a better seal with neo than me Anyway, I am happy with slight dampness – not wet like my buddy's was.

One problem I did have though was that I normally put my car keys on an elastic around my neck, then have the front zip half open so I can access the keys, and thus the car. I need to rethink this now that I have a rear shoulder zip. To be fair, that is a zip placement issue, not the suit as such. Though regarding the zip - the tag that opens it isn't secured in any way. There is a flap of neo over the zip, but the pull tag was floating about during the dive. I would hate that to get caught on something when I was diving and open the zip, so I will need to think of some way of securing it, maybe a bit of velcro or something.

Conclusions:

I found Richard at Seaskin very easy to talk with and discuss various ideas, but do telephone him. Don't try and use e-mail, it doesn't appear to be his 'thing'. He seems perfectly happy to answer any phone calls though.

I would have liked to get over to Seaskin myself but that wasn't possible. Even so, when using their online measurement instructions, I received a great fitting drysuit - much better fitting than my previous “allegedly” made to measure suit.

I have never tried any other neo suits, so I can't compare, but this one looks very good, better than the photographs which are a bit washed out looking, I should drive over to see Buchhawk and get him to photograph me.

For the options I got, I feel that this is one of the best value suits on the market.

I am very pleased with how co-operative Seaskin are with their customers. They try and make what YOU want, not try and sell you what they have.

I am unsure if the pockets will hold out, but since this is probably the first time they have made any like this, and they made them at my request, I can't complain really can I.

Their compressed neo does really appear to be pretty compressed.

The suit fits good and performs well, I am very happy with the purchase.

The End
.

[Mark Chase]

Excelent review.

Thanks.

ATB

Mark

[Buoyant Babe]

Yaaaay! Glad you like the suit Paul

Helen xxx

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by Buoyant Babe

Yaaaay! Can't wait for the in-water test report Paul

Helen xxx

You are such a Seaskin groupie.

[Darren555]

Nice suit and review.
What make are the rock boots?

[ardhill]

Originally Posted by Darren555

What make are the rock boots?

DUI, you can get hem cheap from here ATM.

[CotoChris]

Great report, many thanks. How much did the suit set you back?

[ardhill]

Originally Posted by CotoChris

Great report, many thanks. How much did the suit set you back?

I will have to get back to you on that one, once I find the invoice or credit card bill. But it was less than I imagined, especially considering that the Halcyon P-Valve is £100 on it's own.

[markbsac]

yep another seaskin groupie here i love mine...superb for the money..great value.

[ratcliffe]

Originally Posted by ardhill

There is a flap of neo over the zip, but the pull tag was floating about during the dive. I would hate that to get caught on something when I was diving and open the zip, so I will need to think of some way of securing it, maybe a bit of velcro or something.
.

Can't you just turn the pull tab back on its hinging type piece of metal which attached it to the zip, so the although the zip is closed, the pull tab goes underneath the flap of neo over the zip ? Thats what I do with mine on my Outer Edge suit, and it works fine, the pull has never come out after putting it there.