what is the best way to store your wetsuit between swims? i currently rinse it off and pull it inside out to let dry. should i hang it or utilize any specific product to stop it from cracking or drying out? i just want to make it last.
My wetsuit is 10 years old (gasp!). I rinse with water and hang to dry and it hangs until I need it again. One bit of advice that I follow was posted here by Emilio DeSoto. He says to soak it in water before using if it hasn’t been used in quite some time. Supposedly even after a wetsuit appears dry it is still holding moisture. After sitting for a long time this “moisture” dries up and makes the suit much more prone to ripping when trying to put it on. He says that most wetsuit rips occur when putting it on for the first race/swim of the season.
I had two wetsuits that each lasted 10 years (and honestly they were still fine when I replaced them). I rinse them out in the shower and hang them on an oversized wetsuit hanger to dry. In season, they’ll often they stay there until my next use, but if I’m not going to use them for a while they get taken down, folded and laid flat on a shelf.
DeSoto’s wetting advice at the beginning of the season also seems to help.
I’m a scuba diver so I know a few things about wetsuits. Just rinse them and occasionally use a wetsuit shampoo to clean them and they will last a long time. Avoid hanging from a hanger if it will not be used in a while.
Rinse in warm fresh water, use a shampoo if it needs cleaning. Wetsuit shampoos will do nicely and MIGHT be cheaper at a dive shop. Hang it to dry on a wide hangar. When dry lay it out on a shelf.
That’s the theory anyway, my scuba dving suits are hanging on wet suit hangars, but till recently I was diving 5 days a week. Don’t own a tri wetsuit, but my wife’s is stored like that most of the time.
Any particular recommendations for a wetsuit shampoo?
Hmm any kind you get at a dive shop or a surf shop will do. It’s just formulated so there is nothing that will harm the suit.
Any particular recommendations for a wetsuit shampoo?
I just use a few drops of dish soap in a bath tub ful of cool water, slosh it around for a few minutes, then rinse it well in the shower. I do this before storing it away at the end of the season and also if it gets smelling funky during the season. Works fine.
CAT5 Catfive Wetsuit Cleaner
CAT5 Wetsuit Cleaner is non-toxic, reusable, and biodegradable.
It removes odor, and keeps the rubber soft and supple.
Repeated washes on our own T1 Wetsuits, which get used in the ocean here in San Diego, proved this product to work so well, that we decided it would be the first product we do not make, that we will sell to our customers.
To ask us if it works, we will answer yes and we guarantee it. To ask us how it works, is like asking us how shampoo or soap works.
HERE IS HOW IT WORKS: BIOCATALYSIS - the process of using single celled micro-organisms to induce chemical transformations upon organic compounds. Biocatalysis is used in the production of yogurt, cheese, soy sauce, and even beer. At Catfive, they use it to remove impurities and degrade organic waste residues from wetsuits. They list their ingredients as “naturally occurring biomolecular catalysts” because the formula is proprietary in nature. They have cultivated a formula through the years which has been specially formulated for neoprene and other soakable materials."
This process is what makes it reusable! Keep the bucket full of the water and CAT5 mixture and you can wash your wetsuit over and over!
It works very well on wetsuits and our tests have shown it works well on triathlon
Always rinse with fresh water (shower or bath etc…) Hang dry inside out. You should be fine. Every once in a while use some wetsuit shampoo or the like.
Here are the care instructions for a T1 Wetsuit. If you have another brand, it will most likely be similar, but check with the mftr.
HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR T1 WETSUIT
●Rinse the T1 with clean water after every use.●Hang the T1 to dry, but not on a wire hanger.●When the T1 is dry inside and out, store by folding once or laying it unfolded.●Do not use petroleum jellies, or Pam Spray as these break down the bonding glue as well as the rubber.
●Do not leave the T1 hanging for a long period of time.●Do not expose the T1 to direct sunlight or heat.●Do not machine wash or dry.
We also highly recommend CAT5 Catfive Wetsuit Cleaner for cleaning your suit.
Click here to buy it.
CAT5 Wetsuit Cleaner is non-toxic, reusable, and biodegradable.
It removes odor, and keeps the rubber soft and supple.
Repeated washes on our own T1 Wetsuits, which get used in the ocean here in San Diego, proved this product to work so well, that we decided it would be the first product we do not make, that we will sell to our customers.
To ask us if it works, we will answer yes and we guarantee it. To ask us how it works, is like asking us how shampoo or soap works.
HERE IS HOW IT WORKS: BIOCATALYSIS - the process of using single celled micro-organisms to induce chemical transformations upon organic compounds. Biocatalysis is used in the production of yogurt, cheese, soy sauce, and even beer. At Catfive, they use it to remove impurities and degrade organic waste residues from wetsuits. They list their ingredients as “naturally occurring biomolecular catalysts” because the formula is proprietary in nature. They have cultivated a formula through the years which has been specially formulated for neoprene and other soakable materials."
This process is what makes it reusable! Keep the bucket full of the water and CAT5 mixture and you can wash your wetsuit over and over!
It works very well on wetsuits and our tests have shown it works well on triathlon clothing too.
What Emilio Said!
Also it’s a bit early but it’s time for my annual PSA about what to do with your wetsuit in the off-season:
http://stevefleck.blogspot.com/2008/10/winter-and-wetsuits-what-to-do.html
#1 piece of advice, get nicks, cuts, seam issues or any issue with your wetsuit fixed, ***now ***- not 3 days before your first race next spring!!
What Fleck Said!
His blog about off season care is a good one.
One other reminder. If you own a T1 Wetsuit in need of any sort of repair, no matter how old it is, send it to us as we fix it for free for as long as you own it…and it is repairable, of course!