Hawaii Skin Diver The Breath of Freedivers

My uncle told me yesterday that drying your wetsuit in the sun is a bad idea because the uv rays will ruin the neoprene and make it wear out faster..... anyone else heard of this?

Tru dat!! Dry in shade or mo betta in doors. Btw dry 'em inside out first. Store on fat hanger. Can make one from wood hanger and pool noodle.

hmmm made me realize that my dive socks and gloves are part/full neoprene too.....

Yeah, definitely in the shade, inside out first.
I also have two 3" dia tubes cut to insert into the tops of my booties so the air can circulate more. This helps avoid the stinky smell.
~AB~

The best thing would be if you have a covered area outdoors. If you hang your suit there inside out with good air circulation and breezes, it'll dry out faster. The less time water has to evaporate, the less stink it will be. It doesn't make sense to hang it indoors if there's no air circulation. What you could do though is to direct a fan it to help push air into the suit.

Made this out of PVC from Home depot






Like others stated, dry inside out first and them dry it right way. Nice shady area with a good breeze works well. Normally under my eaves next to my garage. Booties and gloves I have broom stick ends that I put them on. (Do the same thing for my dirt bike riding gear after I wash them)

Good question bro, Keep um coming!

I used a thick plastic hanger to "air-dry" my wetsuit outside in the shade as well. Where I live can get really windy at times. So I would place my neoprene-socks, one piece hood and gloves in a netted dive-bag and hang it on a nailed palm tree to "air-dry" too.

Also, a good thing to do it to dry both the inside and outside of your suit instead of just drying it inside-out. I first dry it inside-out and then after that's dry, flip it right-side out again and continue to dry it.

It's probably true. But, the sun helps kill the stink! Personally, I find that my wetsuits wear out through normal wear and tear faster than the sun would kill them. So, whenever possible I hang them up on the sunny side of the carport. It's a balancing act between which is more important to you. If you dive a lot, the worse your suit smells and the less you will have to worry about the sun wrecking your suit. If you only dive occasionally, your suit won't smell as bad and it will last longer if you keep it out of the sun.

I rarely have enough time between dives to dry both sides of my suit. IMO the inside of the suit is the more important side to dry out.

Drying in the sun doesn't take long so if you're going to hang it up inside out first & dry it (shouldn't take more than 30-45 minutes. Then dry the outside. I think the UV issue is when you dry all day long.

Speaking of drying... How do you wash it? I use the gentle cycle in the washing machine, cold water & super size the load. No cat piss smell for me.

I just use a 5 gal bucket and go midevil on it!

My belief is that as long as you rinse your suit out really well after every use and dry it thoroughly, you shouldn't really have any problems with smell. I usually hang it up right-side out and spray it with water really well and then turn it inside-out and spray it out as well. The only thing that I use (other than water) is the McNett Wet Suit & Dry Suit Shampoo once every six months or so. It's not made to remove smells, but is used to help keep the neoprene in good condition. The only smell that my family complains about is the rubber smell coming from the neoprene. Lol.