Wetsuits are made for a wide variety of uses including Snorkeling, Water Skiing, Surfing, Jet Skiing and of course Scuba Diving... See more ▾
Tec-Tips:
Most suits are completely interchangeable between sports – the 3mm Shorty that you use Scuba Diving today in Hawaii can be used next weekend back home water-skiing.
Wetsuits are made of neoprene, a porous material containing literally millions of tiny bubbles. This material is an excellent insulator because it places a barrier of air, in the form of the nitrogen bubbles, between your body and the surrounding water. A thin layer of water will enter and it is quickly warmed to body temperature. As you dive deeper and deeper - neoprene compresses against itself, which makes the suit become looser, and looser, making it easier for any water that did enter the wetsuit to leak out. (remember that these are wetsuits)
A wetsuit must fit snugly if it is to be an effective at keeping you warm. See How to fit your Wetsuit like a pro
Like air temperature, water temperatures through out the world are different in winter than they are in summer, varying as much as 20 degrees. In Caribbean the water temperature can be in the 80’s in the summer, six months later the water temperature can be in the low 70’s.
Women tend to get colder easier than men. This is because women tend to have more surface area (curves) then men do. If a couple are traveling together it will almost always make more sense for the woman to have a warmer suit than a man would to the same destination at the same time of year.
If in doubt, always buy a wetsuit slightly warmer than your needs. If your wetsuit is keeping you too warm you can always let water in to cool you down, but if you are cold during a dive there is not much you can do except stop diving.
One-piece wetsuits VS two-piece wetsuits – As a general rule two-piece wetsuits will keep you warmer than one-piece wetsuits since a two-piece wetsuit has the advantage of double the insulation around your chest and groin area. Of course when a wetsuit has double the insulation the suit is more restricting and will be more buoyant (which means that you will need to carry more lead) than a one-piece wetsuit of equal thickness.
FOR SCUBA DIVING OR SNORKLING IN SUCH AREAS AS: Florida, Texas, Cozumel, Bonaire, Cayman, Belize, Hawaii, Sea of Cortez, Northern Great Barrier Reef, Fiji, Sipidan, Papua New Guinea, Tahiti, Seychelles, the Mediterranean and warm waters throughout the world.
For cooler times of the year, deeper diving or extended dive vacations:
Add a beanie, 3mm hood or even a 3mm hooded vest
Add a 3mm Shorty over a polyolefin, Trilam, polar fleece or Lycra jumpsuit
Use a 3mm two-piece wetsuit
Add a 3mm tunic over a 1/2mm to 3mm jumpsuit
FOR SCUBA DIVING OR SNORKLING IN SUCH AREAS AS: Red Sea, Mexico –Pacific side, Southern Great Barrier Reef and temperate waters throughout the world.
For cooler times of the year, deeper diving or extended dive vacations:
Add a 3 to 5mm hood or even a 3 to 5mm hooded vest
Add a 3mm or 5mm two-piece wetsuit
Add a 3mm tunic over a 5mm jumpsuit
FOR SCUBA DIVING OR SNORKLING IN SUCH AREAS AS: California, Oregon, Washington, New York, the Great Lakes, New England states, Northern Europe and colder waters throughout the world.
For cooler times of the year, deeper diving or extended dive vacations:
Add a 5 to 7mm hood or even a 5 to 7mm hooded vest
Use a 5mm, 6.5mm or even 7mm two-piece wetsuit
Add a 3mm tunic over a 7mm jumpsuit50° and lower
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