Is your treasured drysuit on its way out ? Kerry MacKay has some ideas for prolonging its life or recycling it into something completely different
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ENVIRONMENT
On the death of a drysuit
Is your treasured drysuit on its way out ? Kerry MacKay has some ideas for prolonging its life or recycling it into something completely different
Back in May I wrote about neoprene recycling . Now let ’ s tackle drysuits . My current drysuit is 14 years old . It ’ s showing its age and has been through more zips than I ’ d like ( thanks to a certain helpful non-diver who carefully FOLDED my zip ).
Much of this month ’ s advice applies to both membrane and neoprene drysuits . We previously learned how neoprene is manufactured , so let ’ s look at membrane manufacture before we get to the ‘ How to ’ bit .
Recreational membrane suits are usually made of several materials ‘ laminated ’ together . For example , trilaminate is a soft inner fabric , a middle waterproof layer , and an outer layer that can be lightweight or heavy-duty . Add nylon or polyester stitching , around 20 metres of tape to reinforce the seams , a lot of solvent-based glue , plus various fittings … and you have a membrane drysuit .
I won ’ t discuss the manufacture of each component . But we can easily see there ’ s a lot of plastic-based materials ( nylon , Cordura , Kevlar …) in a drysuit . Plastic is difficult to safely dispose of ,
as it never disappears . It only disintegrates into smaller and smaller microplastics over time ( as discussed in Jan / Feb issue ).
We can ’ t melt drysuits down like we do glass or plastic bottles . Due to the mixture of materials glued together , it ’ s not costeffective to recycle membrane drysuits . What can we do ? You guessed it ! Repair and reuse . It is almost always cheaper to repair your existing suit than to buy a new one , and certainly
better for the environment . Some repairs are best left to the professionals , such as replacing the zip and re-taping large areas of the seams . However if you have the time , practical inclination and patience to DIY it , then absolutely give it a go .
I have successfully repaired punctures , replaced seals and valves , and even replaced drysuit boots . I may have accidentally pneumatically launched a saucepan across the garden from my neck seal while doing a pressure test , and my handiwork may not be the prettiest , but
“ We can ’ t melt drysuits down like we do glass or plastic bottles ”
the repairs haven ’ t leaked and have extended the life of my ageing suit .
If you can ’ t face another soggy dive and hours with a pot of glue , your next best option is to reuse . If your suit still has some life left in it , donate it to a humble trainee or sell it second-hand . Try to buy your new suit second-hand too . You ’ d be surprised at the number of perfectly good suits being sold after only a few dives .
Eventually , the sad day will come when a suit reaches the end of its diving life . The suit could still be useful for surface watersports . Perhaps donate it to your local watersports club .
Fittings such as the valves , zip , clips and other accessories can be removed to keep as spares or sold as parts . You could upcycle it into some handy waders . Great if you have a pond or enjoy fishing . You can even use your old suit to learn DIY repairs before doing them on your new suit .
The off-cut fabric can be saved and used as repair patches . If you are crafty or know anyone who is , there are lots of ways to reuse the fabric . From upcycled wallets to homemade drybags , dog coats , electronics cases , gear bags , changing mats , and gaiters .
Maybe your community suffers from speeding cars , in which case you could stuff the suit to make it look life-like . Add an old motorcycle helmet and high viz xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
vest to make a great traffic-calming scarecrow , or even just an unusual prop for Halloween .
Maybe one day we will have a new fully recyclable material that drysuits can be made from . Until then we need to look after the suit we have , fix it up when needed , and give it as long a life as possible . I know there are some wonderfully creative divers out there so if you have upcycled or inventively repaired your drysuit , we ’ d love to hear about it . �
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