Good wetsuit care can mean the difference between a suit that lasts one season or many seasons. Of course, it depends on how much you use the suit also, but here are some tips for making your suit last longer:

Letting your suit dry in the sun, substantially reduces the integrity of the suit. It may seem like a good idea to advance the drying in between dives, but UV rays are not neoprene’s friend. Same goes for hot water; it reduces the flexibility of the suit.

Take care when you’re getting in and out of your suit. Some instructors I know will only buy the suits with the zips at the ankle and knee areas to ease the strain on the neoprene. I see more and more wetsuits now coming in a stretchy-neoprene material which has obvious benefits without reducing the insulating properties of the wetsuit.

After each dive, I turn my wetsuit inside out and hang it on a thick suit-jacket type hanger to dry. At least then if it’s not completely dry it will be dry on the inside, so it’s nicer to get in to before your next dive. At the end of the diving day, make sure you give your suit a good soak in the rinse tank. Salt-water alone can reduce the flexibility of the wetsuit – which amongst other negatives makes the suit darn hard to get in to the following day.

After your diving trip, take the suit out of your bag and let it fully dry out. You don’t want bacteria building up in it and no one likes a stinky wetsuit. When you’re cleaning it, avoid washing detergents as these are too severe for your neoprene. You can buy wetsuit shampoo easily enough and it’s not too expensive. Alternatively, a mild detergent works just as well. It almost goes without saying, that putting it in the tumble-drier or over a hot radiator to dry the suit isn’t the best idea; equally there’s no need to iron it either.

Bear in mind that most of the time; it’s cheaper to buy diving equipment here in Dahab than it is back in Europe. We have branded wetsuit stockists such as Cressi, Bare, Aqualung, Beuchat et al. Get in touch with us to compare prices and we can reserve your size & model so it’s here before you are.