This is a poor translation from the original review which I typed out for a webforum. If there's anything you'd like to know about the suit not mentioned bellow, ask and we'll see if I know the answer. (not that I aexpect anyone to read it, but hey... just in case)
The basics – what is teh Seaskin nova?
Seaskin Nova is the trilaminate drysuit from seaskin which is made to measure. Seaskin is a brand from the company Aqualand Ltd. Which is a factory making scuba-products for several brands.
Front-zip is standard on the seaskin nova, and instead of a regular telescoping torso, they have chosen to go for just some extra material in the back which is secured to the front via a stretchy crotch-strap. go to Dry Suits from Seaskin Custom Drysuits home page for further details (but take em with a pinch of salt).
The process:
So… I was in urgent need of a drysuit, but living on a student loan, funds were short. But wait! What was it I glimpsed there in the back-alley of teh intarweb? A made to measure drysuit fir 400 British pounds/monopoly money? Surely it had to be the Nigerian mob after my money again... but if it was a scam, someone had gone through a lot of trouble making em fake forum-posts (have a look at the Yorkshire-divers forums), so I figured I’d give it a shot. One want everything to be just so when you’re getting yourself a custom suit. I phoned Seaskin and am allowed to chat with a cheery fellow named Richard – all of my questions are met with positive answers. The missus measures me three times while muttering about me visiting a gym. An order is placed, and I send an e-mail with some lines on how I want things done. Material: 2/2 nylon, bla bla– it’s the 22nd of may. A couple of days later I call seaskin again to confirm the details. Richard is his cheery self and says he’ll staple the e-mail to my order right away. My suit should be done in 4-5 weeks, starting from the day before yesterday.
I spend 5 weeks being elsewhere, but my suit is not done when I get home. Oh-well, it should be here any day now. In the second week of July I call Seaskin again, and Richard claims that it’ll ship in a couple of days. Another week passes, new phone call, and again same answer: couple of days. After this I call weekly to get an update – surprises like a lack of hunter-boots, halcyon-pockets not arriving from supplier and not being able to bond polyurethane pads to my suit are popped on me during the phone calls. Hunter-boots are found and glued, halcyon pockets finally arrive and alternatives for the polyurethane on the bum and elbows are promised. At the end of July I run a bit anxious about not getting any dives done, so I call a couple of times a week. Having to change delivery-address because holidays are over kinda sucks.
In the beginning of August my suit arrives. At First inspection it looks extremely good, but there are a few issues that have to be mentioned: there are no of the promised reinforcements on elbows and bum. The seams are double-sticthed and not triple-stitched as the web-page says (no matter as long as it’s functional). A couple of the seams have gone wrong and don’t hold together but for the glue, and there are quite a bit of air-bubbles trapped between the material and the tape. The reflective tape that is supposed to be on the arms is not there - no explenation given. But the inside of the suit with its glued and taped seams look to be high quality and they had done the most neatly done attachment of pockets I’ve ever seen.
So I have my suit – put on the undersuit, slip the drysuit on…. good heavens! – it feels like I’m wearing a soft jumpsuit! – the mobility is superb and the fit is just great! There is a bit of excess of material at the left shoulder by the zipper, but the suit is not tight in one single area. Frogkicks and aerobics are preformed and regarded as great entertainment for the missus.
When diving:
time to play around with weighting and trim with the new suit – its quickly done with and I can move on. The seaskin remains very flexible even when fully squeezed. The inflator is placed on the left side of the chest and I quickly discover that it allows me to have a much shorter inflation-hose (which is good). The valves preform flawlessly, the hunter-boots are flexible and have a nice fit. The warmneck which looked bulky next to the DUI version proved to be thin, robust, flexible and not in the way of movement at all.
I was a bit concerned about the arse of my suit being roughed up a bit as I use this particular part of my body to sit on while in a boat, sitting on rocks before and after a dive etc. but so far so good.
After 20 dives on various wrecks, including snagging on lots of the wreckage on Tirpiz, the suit looks good as new. The material cleans off easily and dries in minutes. The suit itself is very lightweight and overall it appears to be good quality. As you can see from my review, I am not particularly impressed by the customer service of Seaskin – sure the representatives of Aqualand and Seaskin are a friendly bunch, but there's a lot more to customer service than a cheery and positive staff. Don’t get me wrong: the customer service wasen’t bad, just not in any way as good as I had been led to believe through the statements of others.
In conclusion, I can, believe it or not, recommend you to try the seaskin nova drysuit if you are short on funds. I don’t know if I would have bothered with the 2/2 nylon on a second go-around seeing as there are none of the promised reinforcements. The cutting and most of the stitching is nice and precise work. The fit is excellent as long as you measure yourself properly, and the price is simply just unbeatable. I’ve tried several makes of DUI and they are unquestionably a tad better than the seaskin, but seriously… it’s not worth three times the price of a seaskin. I will probably consider a new seaskin when this one wears out.
Thanks for posting this, I'm looking into getting one of these (the price is right) but there's not much info around that I could find
ReplyDeleteThere is some info to be found at the yourshire-divers forum if you use the forums internal search-option. If you live in the UK, this suit should be a very safe buy as long as you are absolutely sure about the measurements and custom options when you place your order. Being able to easily send the suit in for repairs (hopefully you won't have to) is almost a must-have as long as you get a made-to-order product.
ReplyDeleteAfter 8 years gone since your review, are you still satisfied? Maybe you can give a long term review. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi there, I recently ordered a Seaskin Nova and paid by Paypal the total with my bits and pieces was £620, I heard nothing for 14 days not even a receipt of payment, I telephoned to see what had happened, after hanging on the phone I was told it was due the the person who dealt with orders being on holiday, I asked was my order at least being taken care of in the mean time, (more waiting on the phone), when he returned I was told nothing had been done with my order and it would be at least six weeks from then before they could deliver, needless to say I canceled the order there and then, what a terrible unhelpful bunch of people to deal with, they couldn't care less, it was like I had sent them a few pennies not £620, be warned.
ReplyDeleteFunny how I stumbeled upon my own old review when googeling something related ;)
ReplyDeleteUnfortunatly, I got only somewhere between 70 and 100 dives in the suit, so a many-years-on review isn't practical. I keep it somewhere as a second backup. My main backup is a ONE (ursuk/ursuit rebrand), and my primary is a DUI cf200x.
I am however in the process of buying some new suits for work, and you never know, it migth be Seaskin simply because we can pay less than half of what we'll have to splurge on a DUI (which are hard to come by in scandinavia these days) or a Waterproof .