Surfing Waves

When do you consider your wetsuit done?

My wetsuit is 2,5 old. Regular surfing with 3-4 no surfing (broken ribs, foot, other traumas, flu, and traveling). And summer breaks (3 months per year) with only rush guard surfing. Rip curl dawn patrol 4/3. You can see through the shoulders. The collar is shredded. Some tiny holes on the elbows, under the knee pads and in the groin.

The surf shop guy told me it is ruined. When do you consider yr wetsuit done? I see people with holes all over the wetsuit all the time.

Feel the little jets of cold water seeping in, that is your clue, if you are uncomfortable with being flushed, new suit time.

Leaking water could uncomfortable for the first seconds but then it feels fine. My concern is hypothermia and energy wasted on warming the body.
is this damage worth fixing or is it more like sewing a condom?

Here are the pics of mine

If you feel warm after a few minutes and if it doesn't get colder after wards means you're fine because if the water inside stays and isn't flushed constantly and replaced it should heat up to the temperature under the wetsuit and hypothermia is gonna, you can't get hypothermia as long as most of your body has wetsuit on it, hypothermia only happens when you're directly exposed to cold waters since your body heat is constantly dissipating in the water, a wetsuit with a few holes isn't a biggie.

Source: I was kinda spooked out about hypothermia after a water skiing trip gone wrong so I did a lot of research and read the US navy documents about it, it's pretty cool they even taught me how to make a bouey out of pants

OlegLupusov wrote:like sewing a condom?

I hand knit mine

With some wetsuit glue and youtube instructions you can repair those holes and rips to a point. When the wetsuit is not keeping you warm as well as it used to be, then it's time for a new one. You can still use the old one as a warmer temp wetsuit if you want.

Common sense tells me that if you'd are so cold and uncomfortable then you'd get out of water before hyperthermia sets in (unless I'm wrong, in which case I'll stand corrected.)

OlegLupusov wrote:Leaking water could uncomfortable for the first seconds but then it feels fine. My concern is hypothermia and energy wasted on warming the body.
is this damage worth fixing or is it more like sewing a condom?

If you're not bothered by it, then I think you should just keep using it. I kind of know my wetsuit is done (or bumped down to a summer wetsuit) when the wind blows right through it and I end up shivering. One thing to consider, though, is an emergency situation where you're stuck in the water for longer than you planned. In that kind of situation, your wetsuit's integrity might actually become important.

Surfing is still fine. Some water leaking is annoying but totally tolerable.

But scuba diving proved it to be not warm enough:)

So, now I have 3/2 with almost no holes and 4/3 with shoulders lacking rubber (it still looks fine bcs the out clothe is OK), shredded collar and a number of tiny holes here and there.
And 1,5 vest.

What would be warmer 3/2 (super tight, i.e. no room for the vest) or combination of the 4/3 (not that tight anymore) and the vest?