Is a Mobby Pro drysuit any good?

[WaScubaDude]

I hope so as I just bought one off Craigs List for $450. Said to have 8 dives on it and looks like new. I inflated it and couldn;t find any obvious leaks, need to get a hood and really test it out. It has a funny front zip pouch. Once zipped you fold it over and clip the flap down. Any experience with this type of suit? Any thoughts at all?

[mm_dm]

I know several people with Mobby's who are quite happy with them. I don't know anyone using the twin shell pro. Looks like a lightweight, but heavy duty, tech drysuit. They claim zero heat loss with this drysuit. I'm not sure if there will be a problem with air trapping between the layers, but that in itself may be part of their design. For 450 bucks, doesn't seem like you could go wrong. Please be sure to post after you dive it a couple of times.

[BSea]

I have a mobby's suit, but not the twin shell. I like the front zipper entry since I don't need any help to get in or out. I'm kind of surprised that other suits don't have something similar. I used a DUI suit with the diagonal zipper, and it wasn't nearly as easy to get out of. But that's probably due to no experience with the suit. I paid just over $400 with shipping for my dry suit from E-Bay.

All in all, I like the suit.

[WaScubaDude]

Thanks for your thoughts. Set up with DB for friday, now I just gotta pick up a hood.

[WaScubaDude]

Took the Mobbys Pro suit in the water. Had a nice dive to 77ft with my new DB.
Leaked at the neck seal, maybe two cups. I didn't have the seal perfectly flat and this may be the reason. I may need to cut the neck seal as it seemed awfully tight. I didn't pass out or get dizzzy, but tight. i think the cone shape is not the best design. A properly sized longer seal may be better. Also I am pretty sure there are two pin holes, one in the left calf and one on the right hip. I think I can pin point these and would be happy to repair them myself, does anyone know the best kit to use? mine is the suit with the silver lining, kinda looks and feels like waterbed material?? Any help would be great.

Thanks,
Sean

[cummings66]

I don't know the material your seal is made out of but I will caution you about trimming it.

First a neck seal, or any seal for that matter must fit tight enough to prevent leaks and loose enough to not restrict blood flow. Most divers will tend to say initially that the neck seal is too tight when in reality it's just perfect. Mainly because we're used to no restrictions on our necks, most of us don't even wear ties anymore for example.

A seal will relax it's grip on you as you dive so it will seem tighter on the surface than it will once you dive down. The real trick is knowing what's tight enough in the first place because nobody can tell you what it should feel like.

A couple cups water is too much, fix the leak. Depending on the suit you may have special glues you need or maybe aquaseal is all you need. My Viking's have different methods, one uses a rubber patch and glue like a bike tire, the other uses a glue similar to what you use with PVC pipes. Go to Mobby's site and find out how to best repair your suit. My poll on drysuits has their site listed if you don't know the page.

PS, I agree that more surface area on the seal where it contacts your skin is better, something with only 1/8 of an inch isn't going to be as dry as something with an inch of material there.

[WaScubaDude]

Originally Posted by cummings66

I don't know the material your seal is made out of but I will caution you about trimming it.

First a neck seal, or any seal for that matter must fit tight enough to prevent leaks and loose enough to not restrict blood flow. Most divers will tend to say initially that the neck seal is too tight when in reality it's just perfect. Mainly because we're used to no restrictions on our necks, most of us don't even wear ties anymore for example.

A seal will relax it's grip on you as you dive so it will seem tighter on the surface than it will once you dive down. The real trick is knowing what's tight enough in the first place because nobody can tell you what it should feel like.

A couple cups water is too much, fix the leak. Depending on the suit you may have special glues you need or maybe aquaseal is all you need. My Viking's have different methods, one uses a rubber patch and glue like a bike tire, the other uses a glue similar to what you use with PVC pipes. Go to Mobby's site and find out how to best repair your suit. My poll on drysuits has their site listed if you don't know the page.

PS, I agree that more surface area on the seal where it contacts your skin is better, something with only 1/8 of an inch isn't going to be as dry as something with an inch of material there.

Thanks for your thoughts. We dove again yesterday, I got the neck seal layed down better, so little or no leak at the neck. (I think you are right about the tightness). I had poly under and a fleece layer over and was still more then a bit cold. do you carry enough weight to keep a fair amount of air in your suit?? For me to get down I had to empty every last bit of air out, the crush of the cold water gets cold.

[cummings66]

During the Winter I'll carry about 2 more lbs of lead on my belt so I can use a little more air in my drysuit. Nothing night and day different.

From the sound of it your undergarments are not heavy enough and you may need a bit more weight, you probably had about 100 gram's of undergarment if you used off the shelf surface thermals.

To be fair, I think a new drysuit diver would be well advised to carry 2 more lbs of lead so that you don't have to completely empty the suit of air. Once you get lots of dives on it you'll find you can go back to how you did with a wetsuit, but it's not bad to start a little heavy until you get the hang of it.

One tip I got that seemed to help, when you do a neutral check with a wetsuit you do so with maybe half a lung of air, when you do it with a drysuit do it with something closer to a full breath which will make you heavy. Work down from there as you gain comfort.

[WaScubaDude]

I dove again today in the Mobby. I put on my tropical .5mm jump suit, then fleece pants, wool socks and fleece jacket. I was fine. Not toasty, but ok. Went to 91ft with out chills. Very much improved. Plus we found the wreck!!