I have wetsuits for every season in northern New England and they are easiest to clean in the summer when the temperature is relatively warm and well above freezing, however, in the winter the usual method of spraying your wetsuit down with a hose and hanging it to dry outside are not options as it’s too cold to use a spigot outside (freezing) and too cold to hang your suit outside and expect it to dry.
I’ve rinsed my winter suit, booties, and gloves in the shower and hung them up to dry, but it’s such a pain cleaning out all the sand afterward which clogs drains and is pretty much the worst thing you can put down a drain. There’s a liner at the foot of the shower too for traction but it makes it super challenging to clean sand and grit out of.
I usually use a changing mat that cinches into a dry bag to tote gear to/from the beach but a lot of guys use a large plastic tub to change in and out of. Curious if there is a way to clean a wetsuit in the winter (in a freezing or below freezing environment) that doesn’t involve using the shower? I’ve thought about buying a plastic tub and maybe using an empty gallon container to rinse the suit and gear with either over the plastic tub or outside and after it’s been rinsed hanging in the shower to avoid the sand near the drain.
I’ve looked for tips through searching Google about ways to clean your wetsuit/rinse and they all assumed a warm, hot environment versus below freezing weather, so none of the advice applies.
I used to clean my wetsuit more frequently but if there’s a run of swell like we’ve had the past couple weeks, in honesty, I put my change mat/dry bag with all my gear in it in the garage and just take it out every day for 1-2 sessions, and rinse everything when the swell fades. Curious if anyone rinses their wetsuit and gear in the winter if they are surfing every day for a week or two, or if they do the same and rinse between swells as best they can.