Diving Wetsuit Care Extending your Wetsuits Life.Diving Wetsuit Care is simple and easy Looking after your WetsuitDiving wetsuit care begins the moment you buy it. Scuba diving wetsuits are not cheap and making sure they stay in good condition is not hard and if we are truly honest with ourselves the reason they deteriorate so quickly is because we are lazy.As soon as you take your wetsuit home from the dive store you purchased it from hang it up on a nice big coat-hanger, wooden or plastic would be preferable. If you hang it on a metal coat hanger you will get some horrible creases and stretch marks in the shoulders that will stress the neoprene and also in time the metal will rust and stain the wetsuit. If you get any rips or tears use some wetsuit or neoprene cement to bind the fabric together, before the rip gets to large. Wetsuit Diving Care after the dive.After your scuba dive, you will need to rinse the saltwater off your wetsuit and the best way to do this is in freshwater. The best time to do this is just after you have taken your wetsuit off. Rinse it in freshwater then put it in your tub until you can get it home and then hang it up.When you hang it up, I always make sure it is still inside out. I also never ever hang it in the sun to dry. Hanging your wetsuit in direct sunlight is a sure way to reduce the life of your wetsuit, the sun is pretty unforgiving on most things but specially neoprene, not only will it fade any colours but it will also degrade the neoprene. If your wetsuit has any zippers make sure no sand or grit has stuck between the teeth of the zipper and open and close the zipper in or under freshwater, this should remove any bits that should not be there. When you store the wetsuit with zippers always let them dry with the zippers done up and ensure they are lubricated to stop them from drying out and cracking. Wetsuit Diving Care - It Still Stinks!Now no matter how hard you try, eventually your wetsuit is going to get a bit on the nose. The smell will not be unbearable. but it will be there to annoy you.The reason your scuba wetsuit stinks is due to oils and odours of your body entrapping themselves in the neoprene, or you may not have rinsed your wetsuit properly and let it dry out or you broke the golden rule and peed in your wetsuit, which is never good for it, you may have warmed yourself up briefly, but you have also reduced the life of your wetsuit. When your wetsuit starts to stink it is time to give it a bath. Don't put it in the washing machine, this is not even a quick fix, the washing machine action is a bit to rough on the neoprene. The best thing for your wetsuit is to fill your bath tub up with warm water and use a commercial neoprene shampoo, just ask your local dive store, there are many brands available. Wetsuit Diving Care - StorageWetsuit diving care does not stop at cleaning and drying, once you have cleaned and dried your scuba diving wetsuit you need to hang it in a dry cool place, away from sunlight. Hang it in your garage out of everyone's way, your wetsuit will love you for it.Your wetsuit will eventually start to stiffen up and as we get older and less fit your wetsuit will also seem to shrink, well it will not shrink as much as you put on weight. If you look after your wetsuit there is no reason why your wetsuit will not last the length of your diving life, my 5mm scuba wetsuit is still going strong and it's just turned 17, although I did have to go on a diet to get into it, after last years Christmas cheer. If you would like more information on scuba wetsuits, have a look here. Have you every struggled into a wetsuit and thought this is all too hard? Well have a look here for some good tips on how to get into your wetsuit and out again.
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