How tight should a wet suit be?

Question

When I was trying on wet suits, before we went out to a lake to get certified,my dive instructure told me they should be very tight, and he helped me and my dad find one that he said fit "right". But when we got out to the lake with the other divers, their wet suits seemed way looser then mine and my dads.So how tight should a wet suit be?

Answer 1

The tighter the fit, the less likelihood of water flowing through it instead of being trapped by it.

If it's fairly difficult to get into and out of, then that's probably about right.

NAUI diver since 1970

Answer 2

You need one pretty tight. Pretty much the tighter it is the less water that will get in. If its loose like a tshirt it will do you no good.

It needs to keep a layer of water between you and the suit, your body heat warms up the water.

It should be hard to get out of to.

Answer 3

The idea behind wetsuits is that the neoprene get's warmed by your body, and when you get into the water, there should be just enough room between your skin and the wetsuit that your body heat can warm that water, which in turn keeps you warmer than if you were in with bare skin only.  So the wetsuit should be fairly snug, but not so tight that you're having movement/circulation issues.  If it's too baggy you'll have too much water inside for your body to heat, and you'll end up wearing a soggy, cold suit of rubber.  I find that if I need to struggle alittle to get into my suit, and it feels tighter than is truly comfortable, it's just right.

Answer 4

Wetsuits sorta size up with age so maybe the suits you saw were older. The other thing is people tend to get bigger with time and the suits do not expand. A wet suit should be very form fitting, but not tight so as to restruict blood flow. Fitted wet suit measurements are taken several places on the body with a wet suit on. The tailor measures each location over top the wet suit and tailors the suit to these dimenions. easy answer......wet suit should be form fitting but not constricting. If you have pockets of air in the wet suit, they will fill with cold water which your body will need to warm thus losing body heat.