Boat Building Forum

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Re: Seeking: Dry suit patterns
By:Randy Knauff
Date: 11/23/2005, 4:11 pm
In Response To: Seeking: Dry suit patterns (Dave)

: Hello all,
: I have access to my mothers fine heavy duty sewing machine and I was
: wondering if anyone has made a dry suit. The storebought ones are nice but
: frightfully expensive.
: Happy Thanksgiving,
: Dave

Having made several items of rain gear and a tent, unless you have some way to heat seal the seams well with tape, I think you will have a incredibly hard time making it immersion proof.
If just good weather protection is wanted and something that will survive a quick dunk with only tiny seepage, then making your own should work.
But by the time you buy five gaskets (or three gaskets and 2 socks)and a big tube of Aqua-seal, get all sleeves, legs and neck to the exact size of the gaskets for good gluing surface matching, pay for coated fabric, etc., you could probably come out ahead picking up a used one or an inexpensive new one.
A new Palm Classic breathable is $399, coated nylon drusuits from other companies are cheaper than that.
$400 divided by 10 years = $40 divided by 8 yearly trips = $5 a trip for comfort and life protection plus any resale value offset. Not a bad deal. : )
Love my Gor-tex, Randy

Messages In This Thread

Seeking: Dry suit patterns
Dave -- 11/23/2005, 2:17 pm
Re: Seeking: Dry suit patterns
Randy Knauff -- 11/23/2005, 4:11 pm