I have been diving my Otter Skin trilaminate drysuit for over 8 years now and it has served me well. However, it was a stock size and is quite roomy, in addition it has large 'Wellington boots' which mean I've always needed to dive quite heavy and wear gators to help manage my buoyancy. So when the latex wrist seals gave out at the beginning of the year I figured it was time for a new suit.During our South China Seas Wreck Expedition in October 2008 I had Gideon Liew measure me up for a new DUI TLS350 drysuit. This crucial piece of gear is a serious investment and it is really important to ensure that the sizing is done accurately.
DUI have an 11 step process for ordering a custom drysuit (see form here) which includes 21 separate body measurements. Gid took about an hour to methodically work through the form and ensure everything was done correctly and all the various options were explained.
A 'GUE-Spec' TLS350 is a Special Production Explorer Series with the following features:
- TLS350 Drysuit (Explorer Series)
- Cave Cut (Maximum mobility)
- Black with Charcoal (the new red) Tuff Duck overlay
- Overlay style #1
- Turbo Soles
- Zip-Seals on wrists
- Classic zipper
- Swivel inlet valve
- Apeks high profile dump valve
- Cloverleaf crotch pad
- Cordura Kneepads
- Halcyon balanced p-valve
- Halcyon Explorer pockets
- Hood
For a comprehensive guide to drysuit options read Rich Walker's excellent notes here.
Having Halcyon Explorer pockets factory fitted is a nice touch, but non-standard and I'm very grateful to Gideon for arranging this. In addition to the suit I also ordered a Polartec® PowerStretch 300 undersuit.
I ordered the suit through Dr Graham Blackmore GUE instructor and DUI agent in the Phillipines. The order went to DUI in February and it was shipped to Graham last week, after final checking Graham couriered it to me in Perth and it arrived two days later. All told, the order took 64 days (2 months) to arrive, not bad.
The suit ships with its own bag, as does the undersuit, in addition it comes with zipper wax, a talc sack for the seals and an inflator hose. The p-valve comes with a adjusting tool, a catheter and a plastic bottle for rinsing out the hose.
The first job after unpacking and checking the suit is to cut the latex seams to the correct diameter. Trimming the seals is agony because all you want to do is get the suit on, but its important to take your time and do this right. Gideon had recommended fitting the seals over a suitably sized can and using a razor blade to cut the seals to the right size rather than using scissors as DUI recommend. He's right, having recently used scissors to size my repaired Otter seals; this method is preferable.
The undersuit was a stock size but fitted perfectly with plenty of mobility in the arms. The drysuit is a 'Cave Cut' which though not for everyone, is perfect for me and with the undersuit it fits like a glove. After some minor adjustment to the internal braces the suit was on and WOW! I have to say both DUI and Gideon did an excellent job, the fit and the quality of this suit is exquisite. I'm not really sure how I managed to not get one of these for so long, there is certainly no going back!
To anyone considering purchasing one of these suits I'd say ensure you get properly sized, preferably by a GUE Instructor who knows what to specify, there are a lot of options out there and this is a big investment, but be under no illusions it is worth the money and the wait.
I'm seriously looking forward to getting into the water and potentially finally getting rid of most of my weightbelt.