Making your own wetsuit

mrodoc

Well-known member
Many years ago I purchased for a song a roll of smooth 5mm neoprene. It is still in excellent nick and I thought during lockdown I could make a spare suit. However a lengthy  online search yielded no patterns and adverts for custom made suits. Anybody made their own in recent years. I even have the yellow tape you used to run up the seams (used to see it regularly underground ;))
 

T pot 2

Active member
When you use your home made wetsuit always take a tin of glue with you to the cave  in which you wish to wear it in.
In the 70s when we made our own we often had to glue them together after putting them on before a trip commenced.
Happy days, thank God for flurries and vortex.
 

pwhole

Well-known member
T pot 2 said:
When you use your home made wetsuit always take a tin of glue with you to the cave  in which you wish to wear it in.
In the 70s when we made our own we often had to glue them together after putting them on before a trip commenced.
Happy days, thank God for flurries and vortex.

No wonder the carbide flames were so large. And I guess if you missed the pub you could always finish the tin off  :blink:
 

T pot 2

Active member
I remember doing the giants oxlow in a home made two piece suit needless to say it didn't do another trip afterwards. The one piece double lined with sewn seams purchased made to measure from Maggie Aldred was the bees knees.
That wetsuit lasted five years.
 

Subpopulus Hibernia

Active member
My father made his own wetsuit from a mail-order kit back in the 70s. I remember seeing the pattern/instructions that came with the suit with some old caving literature in the attic about 10 years back. Might still be there, but I've no way of getting at it till the end of July...
 

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Subpopulus Hibernia said:
My father made his own wetsuit from a mail-order kit back in the 70s. I remember seeing the pattern/instructions that came with the suit with some old caving literature in the attic about 10 years back. Might still be there, but I've no way of getting at it till the end of July...

Would that be "Aquaquipment" in St. Albans, Herts?
The used to advertise on the back of Descent.
 

mrodoc

Well-known member
My first wetsuit for diving I got when I was fifteen. It was second hand and expensive at 10/-  (50p). That was the classic yellow tape job. It was better than a woolly jumper and bathers though.
 

Subpopulus Hibernia

Active member
Had a chat with the father over the phone just now and he told me that the wetsuit kit came with all the pieces pre-cut. You got given a list of measurements to take, which you sent off, and then the wetsuit company did all the cutting. So you just had to do the assembly. So the old instructions in the attic are probably just that, assembly instructions, and not a pattern.

He doesn't remember the company, but it was somewhere in England, and in about 78/79, so most likely Aquaquipment.

I googled Aquaquipment, and got the following thread - Pitlamp, did you ever get around to making that suit?

https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=4397.0

In that thread there's a link to a pattern website, which gives the below 'wetsuit' pattern.

https://sewing.patternreview.com/Patterns/5198
 

Subpopulus Hibernia

Active member
Also there's this interesting article about early home-built wetsuits on the Red Rose's website

http://www.rrcpc.org.uk/newsletters/NL_V49_N4_A15.htm
 

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Subpopulus Hibernia said:
I googled Aquaquipment, and got the following thread - Pitlamp, did you ever get around to making that suit?

No - but I did rummage through the loft as mentioned in that topic and found various old wetsuits which fit me in one area but not in others. So I cut some of them up and stuck the parts that fitted back together, ending up with a "Frankenwetsuit" which did the job until I destroyed in on a couple of gnarly trips.

Incidentally, following advice in a recent topic, I ordered one of the Decathlon stretchy wetsuits which arrived yesterday. I'm about to try it on in a few minutes in fact. Maybe it'll turn me into a handsome, young, bleached-hair surfer dude. No? Oh well, just a thought.  :LOL:
 

mrodoc

Well-known member
I suppose I ought to contribute to the thread with a vintage wetsuit photo! Moderately vintage anyway.  Took it on 5th August 1978 in Swildons 4.
 

Attachments

  • SWI0052 small.jpg
    SWI0052 small.jpg
    611.7 KB · Views: 196

PeteHall

Moderator
Here is a not-so-vintage photo of a vintage wetsuit. Stoke Lane, 2019.

I was given the wetsuit by a friend; he made it in the mid-seventies and hadn't used it for a few decades, so passed it on. I lent it to my colleague Rob, for his first ever caving trip. It kept him warm and comfortable for the first part of the trip until the arse ripped shortly before we returned through the sump  :LOL:

I got a lot of grief from the girls on reception for not getting any pictures after the wetsuit failed!  ;)
 

Attachments

  • P9020353-1.JPG
    P9020353-1.JPG
    155.1 KB · Views: 180

pwhole

Well-known member
I'm a bit concerned for Pitlamp - it's been well over two hours now. Are you stuck? Or just frantically trying to dye the new blond highlights out ;)
 

Pitlamp

Well-known member
pwhole said:
I'm a bit concerned for Pitlamp - it's been well over two hours now. Are you stuck? Or just frantically trying to dye the new blond highlights out ;)

:LOL:

Looks like cool dude surfing is off the agenda for a while I'm afraid. I decided the size "LT" suit which arrived probably wan't quite big enough. Others who know me (and know I have what's called a "light frame") might like to bear your original advice in mind on sizing. That Decathlon offering is a beautifully made suit. It's just been posted back this aft and, once the refund's been made, I'm planning to order the same or a different suit of theirs in the next size up.

I'm not altogether convinced by the zip entry system they use though; I can foresee it being a problem when the going gets hot and sweaty (prussiking big pitches with a heavy load dangling springs to mind.) It also makes dressing a lengthy process as it needs thought and care. Not ideal for dressing / undressing at the coldest place in the universe (Leck Fell in a howling wet gale). But they do other designs and I intend to pursue this until I get sorted.
 

pwhole

Well-known member
Yep, that's exactly what I did - ordered a Large and ended up with an Extra Large, though it's the first garment in that size I've ever bought. Reassuringly I've since bought a shirt and some trousers in Large and they fit perfectly, so I'm confident I'm not getting bigger. But I just couldn't move comfortably, whereas the next size up felt like I was wearing Lycra (kind of). Agreed, the neck fastening is a bit tricky and the first (only) time I wore it in anger I had ask Cave_Troll  to help me fasten it. I trusted him as he's a diver. But hopefully it'll get easier as it gets stretchier. It seemed to me it would make more sense to have the zip fastener already on at the bottom end, and then you just pull it closed, rather than engaging the fastener on the open end. I guess this way the tab is out of the way.

Maybe I'll have to put it on again just to feel like it wasn't a total waste of money  ;)
 

Pitlamp

Well-known member
:eek:  The thought of you wearing lycra . . .    :LOL:  :clap:

Having seen the zip design I think it'll get some strain.. I'd advise a regular light application of silicone spray. There is a proprietary product called "Zip Slip" which is excellent (I use it all the time for drysuit zips) but silicone spray will be fine for your wetsuit. It's worth doing regularly as your zip will always be easy to do up and it'll last aeons longer.
 
Top