custom fitted wetsuits - any experience here?

No drysuit for me...

I do get cold, but...

1. I have almost no fat on me.

2. I have lived in Phoenix AZ for 39 years.  One does get acclimated to the heat.

3. When I dive, I tend to dive a lot and for longer than most, I think.   Three dives per day for two weeks, with each dive lasting longer than an hour and spending 30 minutes deep (75-85 feet).

4. Due to my shape and the wet suits I've bought, I'm getting pumping action in the small of my back when I fin, which is a lot.   This has been a distinct problem in both of the heavier wetsuits I've bought, both of which are 'normal' sized, and which have torsos a bit too short for me.  Hence a gap at my lower back and pumping of water.

5. I also wear a hood, and I love it.   Occasionally it's too warm (87F), but I do like that when I come back from a cold dive, my head at least is very warm.

6. Last Friday I did not wear a wetsuit for two morning dives as I had to fly out the next day and would not have time for the wetsuit to dry.   In the past I've just worn my hood and a T-shirt and swimsuit.  This year I borrowed a 3mil shortie and tried that.   My back was actually warmer than my 4/3 full suit because it fit decently.  I even liked the feel of water on my arms and legs (until I rediscovered Fire Coral), but I started getting chilled at about the 40 minute mark.

7. And - a big worry about the dry suit - I have to pee in my suit when I dive.  Not always, but every time when I'm cold.  In fact I've definitely found that when I'm cold it seems to squeeze the pee out of my body and I'll end up having to pee as many as 5 times on an hour dive!  It's very clearly related to being cold as I'll maybe only pee once on a warm dive, or perhaps the first dive of the day.  I'm also 66 with some prostate issues, so I don't really see a fix here.

When I do pee, I use a trick I learned on a liveaboard in Fiji - I use my spare regulator to flush some air/water through my suit.   Doesn't help with the warmth any, but it's brief.

A year ago I wore my Henderson superstretch 3 mil in Hawaii on a hammerhead dive to Molokai.   While some others were diving in shorties, I froze.   I didn't even make the second dive, though mostly because I was heaving over the side with sea sickness.  (That boat was really rocking!).   Then I took it to Roatan in September for my usual two weeks of diving, and the water was 83-85F.   I froze there too.   Figured the suit must have compressed so much that it wore out thermally, and I ended up renting a 5 mil suit.  I got cold in that too, but not so bad.

It seems to come down to the fit.  A poorly-fitted wetsuit simply ends up pumping water, and pumps cold water against warmed-up skin.  I think eliminating that is the equivalent of having a wetsuit versus it acting more like a shortie.   Hence this thread.

I've also got these wonderful thermal gel pads that heat up.   You boiled them until they turn into a gel, put them in a cumberbund-type of holder, put the cumberbund over your wet suit under the BCD.  Press a little button and they activate, generating a lot of heat for about 40 minutes.   As soon as they activate they turn from gel to a solid (until they are boiled for 20 minutes when they turn back to gel).    I use them for 'winter diving' when it gets into the 70's.