Ok, maybe it’s not so good of an idea, but… I was thinking that for those that get the “John” wetsuits, why couldn’t we apply the same thinking of the arm warmers you wear while cycling to a wet suit material?
This would allow your arms to stay warm in colder temps, but allow you to make use of your John wetsuit.
Or am I not thinking this whole idea through.
Feel free to send me loads of cash if this idea catches on. 
Trae
Some small bubblewrap would be nice for insulation and buoyancy. Work on that.
Actually, that’s not totally stupid. Seems pretty clever if you can get them to stay on nicely while you drag them through the water. Dan should know whether this would work. Anyway, it’s a better idea than what I thought you were proposing when I just read the title. I thought you were suggesting making cycling arm warmers out of neoprene.
I hate full wetsuits, but am doing Escape from Alcatraz this year. Here’s one idea, kinda consistent with yours:
http://www.tyr.com/technology.html
If that’s not a direct link, sorry, I’m a clueless Safari user.
These have been around for quite some time. I had a sleeveless wetsuit for years and 2 seasons ago I did the swim at the Muskoka tri with a borrowed pair. They were great for a short period of time but they leak too much water into them and my arms felt really heavy after about 600-700m so my swim stroke was not great (like it ever is?) but they did keep me warmer than swimming without them. Last year I bought a T1 which works much better
“They were great for a short period of time but they leak too much water into them and my arms felt really heavy after about 600-700m”
Allan, are you speaking of the TYR sleeves or something different?
Here’s a better answer, made to go under your sleeveless suit:
http://www.wetsuit.com/store/detail.cfm?product_id=319
You won’t get the water leakage with this.
What I used were not Tyr sleeves. They were just neoprene sleeves like a pair of arm warmers (they looked like sleeves cut off a full suit that you pull on) and since I had borrowed them I don’t know the brand name.