I’d been looking for a new suit for a while and there were already a lot of Seaskin fans on the board. Having read the reviews I decided that if I was going to get a new suit it would be worth visiting the factory and talking to Richard about what I wanted.

Leeds is a long way to go but it was worthwhile as Richard took me on a tour of the factory and we talked about the various options on the suit. Richard measured me up as I wanted my suit cut specifically to allow more room for shoulder movement and allow for shutdowns (the standard suit is cut very well so there really wasn’t much modification needed).

5 weeks later and my suit turned up together with the 250grm undersuit.

The following options are on the suit

- Neoprene socks
- Bellows pockets
- P valve
- Overzip
- Warm neck collar
- Repositioned dump valve

i’ve been testing it for the last month of so and I’m very pleased with the build quality and the fit. Its cut for a 250grm undersuit (though having dived it with a 400grm santi its still usable) and there is plenty of room for shutdowns and general movement.

The telescopic torso is a different design but works well and enables a high degree of flexibility. The warm neck collar is a cut down redesign and far less intrusive than the original. Pockets are well placed and certainly big enough for all the stuff I normally carry.

I’ve elected not to fit drygloves to this suit as the fourth elements that I have work so well but I do know several people that have successfully fitted rolocks and been very pleased with the results.

The undersuit is very warm and for runtimes of under 2 hours when combined with a base layer sufficient to keep me comfortable.

The material of the suit is very hardwearing and yet still flexible - it will take longer to dry than something like a TLS but the ability to turn it inside out thanks to the softsocks means that the interior of the suit can be dried very quickly. In all honesty its the driest drysuit I have ever used with minimal leakage.

Softsocks work extremely well - you obviously have to be careful where you stand but when combined with allstars or wetboots then they are great for flexibility and being able to perform different kicks.

So I’m pleased with the suit- its works well and the backup and support from Seaskin is superb. Its going to get very well tested in Scapa but I’m sure that it will be upto the job.