Wilko wrote:
Yeah, I know what some of you think: "He never wanted a dry suit."

Granted, I didn't, mostly because of the high price they normally are.

Yesterday I bought a brand new one for 10 euro's (That's roughly 12 US$)
at a local smoke and water dagame shop, the only downside was that the
latex neck and ankle gaskets were damaged.

I thought that there was already an amazing price on the tag, but due to
the extensive damage to the gaskets I talked the owner down to 10 Euro's
:-).

Since it's really comfortably my size (6'8") and since the ankle gaskets
were shredded, I guess very few people would be interested in even
asking for the price.

Now that I have bought it, I have a couple of questions for experienced
dry suit owners:

-I want to add a relief zipper.

Can this be done by someone handy enough to replace the latex gaskets,
or do you recommend having it done by a company who specializes in that?

-I want to add neoprene gaskets over the latex ones, in part to prevent
scratch and UV damage as well as to keep the water out even better.
Anyone know of a company in Europe who does that kind of alteration?
I can do it myself, cutting up an old thin wetsuit and sewing on the
gaskets myself. Still, I prefer it done by someone who knows what
they're doing... :-)

-I was thinking about having latex socks added to it instead of gaskets.
I remember reading on RBP (probably years ago) that it is better for the
circulation as well as making certain that you keep your feet dry. I was
thinking about wearing booties over them. Anyone know where I can find
those latex socks in Europe (or online?) ?

Finally, I only found one company (Hiko, in Prague, CZ) who seems to do
the replacement of latex gaskets. Anyone know of such a company closer
to the Netherlands?

--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

Is the wet suit a diving wet suit or for paddle sports. ie are there
valves for inflating the suit for bouyancy, Paddle suits designed for
surface usage don't have the valves, and the material tends to be
lighter weight, and more flexible. I got one out of Gortex that is
supposed to breathe. You could try a regular dive shop, they replace
the gasgets in the dive suits, and I don't know that they would be
diffierent. You would want to check it out though because the paddling
exercise is much more vigourous than diving. Dive suits are tempting to
get, and more available, but I have talked to folks that got one to
start to avoid the expense of the paddle type, only to find out they
were way uncomfortable. Also be careful with one that has been setting
around, the UV can destroy the integrity of the material resulting in
blow outs which you don't need at critical times. HYY