Your wetsuit is an essential part of your dive gear, as it protects your body from heat loss, abrasions, and wildlife injuries on a dive. Without proper care, neoprene can be damaged easily when you’re not even diving. Although they are designed to last a long time, certain elements will destroy it, if you don’t take care of it. Here are a few things that will damage neoprene. This stuff will also damage your H-gear/ Armor carrier and other nylon equipment.

Sunlight

Sunlight is the worst thing for any nylon product. You never want to leave your wetsuit hanging in direct sunlight to dry. Neoprene takes a beating from UV radiation, and it will begin to break it down quickly. Paired with heat, it can break a new wetsuit down in a matter of months.

Heat

Even in the absence of sunlight, heat is not good for neoprene. Under no circumstances should you ever put neoprene in the dryer. Even leaving it in a hot car can begin the process of deterioration. The best way to dry your wetsuit (after a fresh water rinse, of course!) is to hang it in the open air, in the shade. So, try not to store your wetsuit in a Conex box.

Salt and Minerals

If you’ve been diving in the ocean, you’ll need to rinse your wetsuit immediately with fresh water so that the salt, minerals, and bacteria accumulated during the dive will not remain to crystallize and produce odors. Soaking it in a tub is the best way to do this. Do more than just rinse it with a hose and hang it up to dry. Even if you haven’t exposed your wetsuit to any of the other damaging elements in this post, a stinky, bacteria-laden wetsuit is just as ruined if you never rinse it. Occasional soakings with a product like Sink the Stink are a great way to refresh your wetsuit every few weeks or months, depending on how often you dive. 

Improper Storage

As well as suffering heat damage, leaving your wetsuit wadded up in your gear bag, trunk, or garage will cause rapid deterioration, as it compromises the structure of neoprene. Hanging your wetsuit on a proper wetsuit hanger is the ideal storage, but if you’re limited on space, you can store it folded in half in a dry container once it is fully dry.

If you rinse your wetsuit with fresh water after every use, it should stay clean in most cases. However, you sometimes might find that your wetsuit gets a little funky. If you pee in it, it will get funky. Make sure that you always use a cleaner that is designed for wetsuits. The wrong type of cleaning product on your wetsuit can be one of the worst things that damage neoprene. Some people say you have to get a new wetsuit every 3 to 5 years. The truth is it depends on how much you use it and how deep you go. Every time you dive deep it will compress the wetsuit and push some of the bubbles that are in the neoprene out. So there is no real time line on how long a suit will last.

Why should you have or need holes in your fins? Some fins come with holes in some fins now, but only a few companies make them with holes to hang them on your gear. Most fins in the SCUBAPRO line that come with holes mainly have them so the rental company can hang them up to dry and store them together, minimizing the possibility of misplaced or mismatched fins. Holes on the blades of fins make coming out of the water onto the beach or climbing a ladder easier. It allows the water to drain out, so you don’t have to stop and dump it out. The holes can also be used to attach the fins to your wrists or back with the SCUBAPRO fin keepers, or you can use a carbineer and 550 cord.

The SCUBAPRO Jets fins are renowned for their power and durability. They can last a lifetime with proper care. They don’t really get sun damaged, salt eroded, chlorine discolored, travel battered, coral gouged, or split. They are one of the most vital pieces of equipment that you will ever own.

But they didn’t have holes on the blades so that you could hang them upside down. If you want holes in your fins, you would have to use a hole punch and then put a number 5 grommet in there to help keep the fin from ripping. You used a #5 because it was big enough to put a carbineer in the hole if needed, and the brass doesn’t stay shiny for long.

There are a few different ways to attach your fins to your gear. You can put a loop of 550 cord or ½ tape that you can put a carabineer thru and clip it into your H-gear. One of the best ways I have found is to put a male FasTec on one and Female Fastec on the other. This way, you can clip them into each other to hang on the bottom of a ladder. You can also do the same thing on the back of your H-gear so you can clip them on your back.  

You can also put a male on one wrist and a female on the other so you can clip them into your wrists to make coming out of the water easier; it also helps if you are doing a ladder climb and you want to keep your fins with you in case you fall off the ladder, and there is a strong current.

For groups that use the Twin Jets or twin jet type fins where there are twin blades, you can’t put holes in as the blade won’t support the fin’s weight. You can hang the fins by their straps or put something around the middle of the fins and hang them on your waist.

There is a lot that goes into the design of all of our products. Almost all things serve a purpose. We make products or update old ones. We have to take many user groups into account, so we ensure we are getting the best product out there for everyone.

Combining the original D-Series regulators’ iconic design with the latest advances in breathing performance technology, SCUBAPRO engineers have created a 21st-century regulator in terms of quality, reliability, performance, and style.

The new D420 features a brand-new balanced valve inside a housing supported by a full metal structure. Called the Progressive Flow Control Valve, it can deliver excellent airflow for the best breathing performance, with a natural smoothness comparable to what you might experience breathing on the surface. The uniquely shaped fiberglass-reinforced nylon casing is ultra-durable and allows the LP hose to be connected on either the right or left side for maximum rigging flexibility. A new dive/pre-dive system includes a switch on the top of the casing with a thumb tab for adjusting the direction of airflow right out of the valve. The highly efficient purge button is a technical jewel based on a new concept that gives the D420 its unique face — teamed with the MK25 EVO balanced piston first stage, a regulator system purpose-designed for avid and professional divers.

SCUBAPRO has been a Leader in the Evolution of piston controlled first stages since it was started in 1963; the MK25 EVO carries on this heritage with an array of patented features ensuring unfailing performance. The MK25EVO is a balanced piston first stage and is one of the best in its field. It is a superior regulator because of its ultra-stable intermediate pressure (IP), resulting in extraordinarily punctual and constantly high air delivery.

Air balanced, flow-thru-piston first stages with air balanced pistons deliver significantly more air to the second stage than any other first stage. At the same time, their performance is totally unaffected by the changing tank pressure. A balanced piston allows the use of lighter and more sensitive components, resulting in ultra-fast breathing response, instant delivery of air on demand, and extra-high airflow, especially in low tank pressure ranges. This benefits a tired diver giving them a smoother breathing regulator during all stages of the dive, from the descent to the ascent or deco stop. Balanced piston first stages are the first choice of demanding sport divers and professionals. A balanced piston performs equally in warm and cold-water environments.

Cold Water Diving conditions can be different, including extreme cold water and outside temperatures, posing the possibility of a regulator “freezing.” Therefore, resistance to freezing is imperative for the diver. The MK25 EVO regulator uses SCUBAPRO’s new Extended Thermal Insulating System (XTIS). The SCUBAPRO MK25 EVO first stage regulator meets the new EN250-2014 requirements for cold water diving, CE approved for 3360psi (230 bars). This model goes even beyond this super stringent qualification and has successfully been tested in extreme cold diving conditions at less than 36°F (2.2°C). The freezing resistance has been increased by 30% over the previous MK25 regulator first stage. SCUBAPRO has achieved this with some new design features. The new MK25 EVO has a proprietary thermal insulating coating on key internal components and an encapsulating main spring bushing that resists the cooling effect in previous MK25 first stage regulators, also; as a specific anti-freezing measure; our engineers have designed a patented finned cap with additional body fins for the MK25 EVO first stages for optimal-cold water diving. The fins (ribs) of the XTIS act as a radiator to increase the surface area of heat transfer from the water to warm up the internal parts that have been drastically cooled down by the gas pressure drop. The new MK25 EVO has a bigger body cap, a new body with insulating bushing and ribs, a new antifreeze cap patented isolation system with all internal parts fully insulated to improve cold-water performance dramatically.

The MK25 EVO is manufactured from marine grade chrome plated brass and offers a balanced composite/stainless steel flow-thru piston that would make any diver proud. It demonstrates SCUABPRO’s dedication to quality and creating positive diving experiences.