Dry Suit Maintenance

You have just completed a great dive and your dry suit has kept you warm and toasty just how you like it. You pull your dry suit off and the cold chilly wind hits you with a force that knocks your breath away and all you can think about is getting into warm dry clothes and in front of a heater, you toss your dive gear into the back of your car and race home for a hot shower and a coffee.

The last thing that is on your mind is dry suit maintenance, because right now you don't care about anything but getting warm, right! Wrong.

Get your dive gear out of your car and start rinsing all of it in fresh water. If you maintain it, it will last and you will both have a long life together, abuse it and you will be looking for a new one.

Dry Suit Maintenance - straight out of the water.

As soon as you get out of the water try and remove as much of the sand and dirt off your drysuit as possible

Just brush it off with your hands, then carefully pack your dry suit with the rest of your equipment at the dive site.

You should have a cap you can place over the inflation/deflation valve, make sure you put this on before packing your dry suit away, you don't won't any holes or distressed fabric from the valve.

Dry Suit Maintenance - the main wash.

Let the chores begin.

Rinse your dry suit with fresh water, copious amounts, make sure you get all the sand and dirt and saltwater off it. Don't forget the closed zipper and valves, ensure water gets into the inlet and exhaust valves for a good rinse.

Then give the valves a good blast with compressed air to dry them.

If the inside of your wetsuit has stayed dry just leave it don't bother to rinse if it has not been exposed to the saltwater. If it has then rinse it with fresh water as well.

Do give the latex seals some tender loving care as well. Not a big deal all you need to do is wash the latex seals with a mild non-scented soap, but the good thing is you do not need to do it after every dive, you can get away with a wash after every 15 dives or so. Also wash the latex seals if you have to store your dry suit for any length of time.

Dry suit maintenance does not stop now that you have rinsed and cleaned it, hang it upside down with the zipper open somewhere dry and out of the sun, the sun can be very destructive to materials. Once the outside is dry check the inside and if need be turn it inside out for the inside to dry.

Once it is completely dry, inside and out, give your latex seals a good dose of un-scented talcum powder also make sure your lubricate the zipper.

Dry Suit Maintenance - Storage.

This is pretty straight forward, hang it on a wide hanger in a cool and dry place.

When you put the hanger on take extra care not to damage the latex seal on the neck of your drysuit.

Also make sure you leave the zippers undone whilst in storage. All fairly simple.

Most of dry suit maintenance is common sense, problems with dry suits arise mainly due to lack of drysuit care and maintenance, which really boils down to your laziness. Your dry suit is an expensive piece of equipment the easiest way to make it last is to care for it.

If you would like more information on dry suits, have a look here.

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