Always wondered this, how should a wetsuit really fit on someone? Is it best to get a suit that is tight on your skin or should it be lightly loose? Ive always had one that was tight around my chest and my thighs, is this correct or have I been a kook
A wetsuit, as opposed to a drysuit, works by keeping insulated pockets of water in between your skin and the suit. Once your body warms the water up, the pockets keep you warm, thanks to the high specific heat of H20. The larger the pocket of water, the warmer you will be. Thus you should always aim for large pockets in the most crucial areas of warmth.
The tighter it is, the better. Less water gets exchanged and your body stays warmer.A thin layer of water is all you need to stay nice n toasty
That might work for you, with a 7mm suit. 7mm and up to, say, 10mm, and you can get away with a thin pocket of water. If your wetsuit is really tight, how do you fit the heat packs underneath it? A XXXL 1mm suit should fit like a large garbage bag and provide enough space for a sufficient number of heat packs to keep you warm in any conditions. Why would you want the heat packs rubbing against your skin? That's just annoying.
tight all around- except you need to have it not too tight that it would be unflexable. check out different brands- they are all cut a little different-example- im tall and thin- ripcurl and quicksilver seem to fit the best for me... you want it to be tight agains your skin- but still have flex- specially in your shoulders. armpits can be loose-but you will lose warmth. make sure its not too tight across your back/shoulder blades- or else it will cause you pain after paddling for a while.
You couldn't be more wrong. Wetsuits do not keep you warm by "large pocket's of water". they keep you warm by the tiny cells in neoprene filling with water and the thin layer of water between your body and the suit which are then heated by your body warmth. A wetsuit should not have any large pockets...if it does, it's too big for you.
I mean, you could say that more warm water corresponds to a warmer wetsuit, but that isn't really the case. Once all those tiny neoprene cells fill with water and there's a thin layer of water between your skin, all you need is a little bit of body heat to heat that thin layer of water and neoprene. A baggy wetsuit results in water being exchanged, so all that energy that your body used to heat up the water you had is wasted. Just one thin layer in whatever it is, my 7 mil or just a 3-2, is the best way to go. There's a reason they glue and Blindstich seams on nicer wetsuits, to keep that layer of water warm and prevent it from being exchanged
a tighter suit is better than one that's slightly too big...and this would ideally be measured when the suit is wet/relaxed (so get it tighter than you think in the shop). Even then, finding a suit that fits perfect in all areas is probably not going to happen. Supposedly, chest and waist are the major areas that should be tight...and, of course, the arms and legs should be long enough.
First off, who the hell wears a 10 mm wetsuit? Secondly, this sounds like a "Kooky Quote of the Year Candidate": If your wetsuit is really tight, how do you fit the heat packs underneath it?
Tight is right!! The suit will loosen up when it gets wet so you want it to be tight but comfortable.
cool appreciate the input. Ive always rocked the excel suits and my 4/3 was to tight but that was because it was a 6 year old suit with the neoprene dried up mostly. The reason why I asked this in the first place was because I tried on a 4/3 excel dry lock in a medium and it seemed like it fit fine but just took me forever to put on. I want to get a 4/3 with a hood attached just worried it would fit weird on me, sounds like I'm over thinking this haha
I don't know where your located, but for New England winters you need a 5 or 6 mil suit, or a 7 mil if you want to be nice n toasty like me
I live in vabeach and rocked a 4/3 the last 6 years, I could get away with a 5/4 dead of winter but when you start to get into the early part of spring I feel like Ill start to get to hot in the water,
I bought an Xcel hooded 4/3 last winter and absolutely love it. In winter I mostly surf VB but also try to get up to Chinco and other spots when the conditions are right. I never got cold last winter even in February. Virtually no leakage and the water just falls off tthe suit keeping me warmer especially when getting out of the water when cold is really against you. I also use 7ml boots and 5 ml gloves.
Not sure if you do this but I always wear a pair of ankle socks when I put on a full suit. Helps tremendously with getting your legs in.
"You couldn't be more wrong. Wetsuits do not keep you warm by "large pocket's of water". they keep you warm by the tiny cells in neoprene filling with water and the thin layer of water between your body and the suit which are then heated by your body warmth. A wetsuit should not have any large pockets...if it does, it's too big for you." Thanks man, saved me the typing. Anyway I think Slashdog is a troll. 10mm wetsuits, pockets of water, heat packs..... good stuff! By the way for all you dumdums.... that tape over the stitching is the radio active strips they put in there to make your wetsuit warm. How else would you heat up water like that? Your body heat... ha, that's a good one! In reality there's a actually a chemical reaction that takes place in the neoprene with the salt water and it activates the radio active tape strips. If your wetsuit is too tight or too loose the strips will not work properly. Waverider, the sock trick works great but what you really want to do is get a couple of bottles of baby powder and one bottle of baby oil. Coat yourself in the baby oil and then dump the two bottles of baby powder on you. Then put your wetsuit on. Try not to get any on your ears.
