Over the last two winters we have kept every wetsuit that came back to the workshop with a fault. Eleven suits, ages from eight months to six years. In February we cut them all open on the bench to see what had actually failed.
What we expected to find
Abrasion on the chest from the board. Knee wear. Seam failure under the arms. The usual suspects.
What we actually found
Nine of the eleven had failed in the same way: the neoprene had gone stiff and lost its cell structure across the shoulders and upper back. Not torn, not delaminated from the lining — just dead. Squeeze it and it stays squeezed.
That is UV and heat damage, and it does not happen in the water. It happens on a washing line in July, or folded on the back seat of a car in a supermarket car park.
The three things that kill neoprene
Sunlight
Ultraviolet breaks down the nitrogen cell walls that make neoprene insulate. A suit dried in direct sun every session will be noticeably colder within eighteen months. Dry it inside out, in shade, on a wide hanger.
Heat
Above about 40 °C the glue in the seams starts to creep. Never leave a suit in a car boot in summer, never put it on a radiator, and never — we have seen this — put it in a tumble dryer.
Folding while wet
A folded wet suit creases in the same place every time, and the crease becomes a hinge, and the hinge becomes a split. Hang it or roll it. Do not fold it.
What barely matters
Rinsing with fresh water helps but not as much as people think — salt is not what is killing your suit. Wetsuit shampoo makes almost no measurable difference. And weeing in it, which everybody asks about, does nothing detectable to the neoprene at all.
Realistic lifespans
| Sessions per year | Careless | Careful |
|---|---|---|
| 20 – 40 | 3 years | 6 years |
| 60 – 100 | 2 years | 4 years |
| 150+ | 1 season | 2 seasons |
The difference between the two columns is entirely how the suit is stored. That is a bigger effect than the price you paid for it.
