Wetsuits, drysuits, and rainwear

In this article I will take a deep-dive into the world of wetsuits and drysuits, and try to link that to rainwear to keep it on-topic for this site. Unlike earlier subjects like hazmat suits and sauna suits, there is actually a ton of historical information available about diving gear with an active community of people interested in vintage dive suits. This article is not intended to give a complete overview of the history or discuss, in-depth, scuba inventions that changed the industry. The focus will mostly be on the relationship of scuba gear with rainwear. That connection is particularly apparent through the fetish scene, so I will have to look into that as well. Picture below by Fetisheyes to get you interested in wearing a drysuit for strolling through nature.

History

There has always been an interest in what lies beneath the surface; especially with sunken treasure or other valuable goods on the seabed waiting to be brought up. But for this article the focus of the historical part will be mostly limited to scuba diving, which is defined as a mode of underwater diving whereby the diver is completely independent of surface air supply.

The oldest ways of reaching the bottom of the sea were either by holding your breath really long at shallow spots or using a diving bell which could hold a very limited air supply. It wasn’t till 1690, when English astronomer Edmund Halley invented the air-replenished diving bell, that people were able to get below the surface for longer periods of time. Below a drawing of his invention which works similar to holding an empty glass upside down under water. The air bubble under the diving bell could be used by a diver to stay under water for longer periods of time and with the help of the wooden barrel (E) connected by a hose (D) additional fresh air could be released under the bell.

The first “drysuit” was developed by Sir Pierre Remy de Beauve in 1715 and an example of his design is shown below at a museum exhibition. The interesting aspect of this suit is how closely it resembles more modern diving equipment with a tight fitting waterproof suit connected to a heavy helmet into which air was fed. Back then the air was pumped in from the surface and it looks like the helmet is not attached to the rest of the suit. Over time divers would bring their own air supply and the helmet would get attached to the suit making it easier for the diver to find the right level of buoyancy by increasing or decreasing the amount of air in the suit. Notice the tiny visors which would limit visibility; modern diving helmets have a much larger visor to make the underwater job easier to perform.

It took till the 1930s for real scuba diving to be introduced where the diver would carry a supply of air with them in pressure tanks. As venturing underwater was extremely dangerous back then diving was limited to a minimum and only to a limited depth. Below a picture from the Australian National Maritime Museum showing some of the earliest scuba diving equipment as was used by Italian Navy frogmen in the 1940s.

The suit shown was first produced in the 1930s by Pirelli which produced a wide range of rubber products and is nowadays best known for their car tires. The material used was thin and elastic rubber and was optionally reinforced by a knit fabric. Water was kept out by the attached feet and a tight rubber seal around the neck and wrists. This suit actually consists of two pieces, for the upper and lower body, and had a fair amount of overlap between the two parts so a seal could be created by folding the overlapping area of the jacket with the pants and securing it with a heavy rubber waistband shown lying on top of the suit. Below another picture of a Italian frogmen wearing the complete suit.

Similar looking suits were used by other military divers. Below a picture of British frogmen in Dunlop rubber drysuits during World War 2 (Imperial War Museum). One of the tasks these men had was clearing the beaches of obstacles for the landing of troops on D-day. For more information about the Royal Navy Clearance Divers see the site of the RNCDA.

The suit of the diver in the middle nicely shows how also the Dunlop rubber suits were made out of 2 pieces and the seal was made waterproof by folding the overlapping parts of rubber on top of each other. And the suit of the diver on the right has an interesting detail in the crotch area: a relief exit. This sealable opening was intended for when the diver had to relief himself (pee); taking off all the gear and getting out of the tight rubber suit would be too cumbersome and time consuming so this is the solution they came up with as no waterproof zippers were invented yet.

With the Second World War coming to an end the commercial market for scuba diving started to develop slowly. New inventions in diving suit materials came along, as well as diving equipment, and what was first exclusively available to military divers soon reached the general market as well. The Pirelli rubber drysuit shown previously was patented by the Pirelli company in 1951 (patent number 2570019, documents available on the Patent Public Search Database) so it could be offered to recreational divers, and the Spearfisher company, operating out of Huntington Beach, California, advertised their rubber diving suit for the first time in Skin Diver magazine in December 1951. This suit was developed on request of the US Navy in 1944. Below an advertisement for their “shorty” suit (source hydroglove dot net).

In the early days of scuba diving there were two basic options for clothing. In colder climates there were the rubber drysuits which offered thermal insulation by keeping the water out so the diver was able to wear warm clothing under the suit protecting them against the cold. In warmer water regular bathing suits were worn. A third option came along in 1952 when Hugh Bradner, an American physicist, invented the wetsuit. This suit was made out of a fragile foamed neoprene which was later sandwiched between layers of nylon or lycra. As the name already implies, the suit did not keep the water out but let a small amount of water in which would quickly reach body temperature. The actual thermal insulation came from the bubbles of nitrogen gas in the foamed neoprene though. The development of this suit followed rapidly in the years to come with a now iconic name like O’Neill starting to produce wetsuits for surfers with a focus on flexibility, durability, and thermal insulation. With the American chemical company DuPont being the exclusive producer of neoprene the supply was plentiful in the US and it quickly became the superior material compared to the rubber drysuits. Not much of the supply of neoprene reached Europe meaning divers would be either sticking to the rubber drysuits or get wetsuits made out of sponge rubber. Below pictured the promotional setup that Jack O’Neill used to sell his early wetsuits: a complete pool was set up at the 1956 San Francisco tradeshow and Jack’s kids would be chilling in the pool all day long with blocks of ice floating around them.

During the fifties rubber drysuits easily outsold wetsuits as they costed only a fraction of the price. But over time the design of the wetsuit was improved upon and prices of the neoprene material declined resulting in wetsuits becoming the gear of choice. The use of drysuits would be limited to colder or contaminated water. Below one more time the early drysuits from the 1950s as the shiny rubber is visually mesmerizing (source: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Archives, UC San Diego Library).

Culture

With the Second World War coming to an end, times of general exuberance, economic prosperity, and more free time for labourers appeared. People started to venture out, enjoy nature, and searched for more exciting ways to spend their leisure time. Scuba diving was still a very exotic activity back then; nowhere close to be within reach for the majority of people. Everything surrounding the sport was very basic, something that is maybe best illustrated by the picture below, showing a rubber two-piece drysuit from the So-Lo Marx Rubber Company of Loveland, Ohio (source). Notice how a drysuit was a simple rubber suit back then. No zippers or valves, just thin flexible rubber.

The underwater world was introduced to the general public during the 1950s by Jacques Cousteau in the form of a book (The Silent World, 1953) and later a documentary film (The Silent World, 1956). And in 1958 the American action adventure television series Sea Hunt aired with 155 episodes of Lloyd Bridges playing the role of former Navy diver Mike Nelson (see image below), a series that became extremely popular. During this same period diving equipment slowly became better available and affordable with companies like Mares, Aqua-Lung, and Cressi. In 1954 the first edition of Skin Diver magazine was released as well.

Scuba diving, and the intriguing underwater world, stayed popular for decades to come, with movies, documentaries, and series showing the adventures of exploring the unknown or fighting bad guys over NATO-decoder machines. The James Bond movie Thunderball was released in 1965 with large parts of the movie playing out underwater.

Another great example of wetsuits on television is the movie “Man’s favourite sport” where Rock Hudson, who knows everything about American outdoor activities, has to learn how to put his knowledge into practise. One scene in particular stands out in this comedic movie, which is also the trailer for the movie, when two ladies from the office come across Rock Hudson at his camping site. (link to trailer)

The snorkelling gear the ladies wear nicely shows the type of gear that would be used back in 1964 when this movie was released. Both wear rubber caps to keep their hair dry, but the suits they wear are neoprene wetsuits. As neoprene normally dries fast the producers of the movie had to spray water on the ladies during the filming to keep the black suits shiny and visually attractive. Below a “behind the scenes” of shooting the movie. (source)

While there are plenty of movie scenes and television series showing the scuba gear used during a time period accurately, it is recommended to keep in mind that in some cases the gear used can also be chosen simply for the visual aspects. A good example of this is from the James Bond movie “For your eyes only” (1981), in which James Bond needs to retrieve a decoder from the seabed. You can find the whole scene here. Below a screenshot showing both Bond and partner in bright yellow, what seems to be PVC, “diving” suits. The gear looks interesting as it stands out in the dark water, but it would certainly not be useful at the depth they are supposedly operating at.

Another movie that comes to mind where the scuba gear is more used for visual reasons than functionality is Deep Gold (2011). Here the main actress is wearing a “vintage-inspired” drysuit with a beautiful rubber look. The use of a drysuit in this environment is rather out-of-place, as the movie plays in tropical waters and none of the other divers are wearing similar suits. It does make for an extemely interesting view though. Even so much that WearLatex has created a highlight reel of all rubber suit scenes in the movie which you can watch below.

Connecting rainwear with drysuits and wetsuits

There is a clear connection between the rainwear fetish community and the fetish drysuit/wetsuit community, but I will spend more time on that in the next chapter. Another way rainwear and scuba gear is connected is by the manufacturers of the gear, who sometimes produced both types of products during the same time. The first real drysuits, where the suit was waterproof and not just water resistent, were made from the first waterproof cloth produced by Charles Mackintosh, who was also the inventor or the first waterproof raincoat. Below a page from the Alfred Hale Rubber Co. catalogue showing a (now) vintage drysuit made out of white cloth with a pure rubber insertion to make it waterproof.

One of the earlier producers of rubber drysuits for scuba diving was the Italian company Pirelli, which also had a line of rainwear, as well as the British Dunlop company of which I discussed the history and their rubber and PVC boots previously. Below an early Dunlop commercial drysuit (source).

Another company certainly worth mentioning is the Vestlandske Gummivarefabrikk, located in Stavanger, Norway. At the end of the Second World War the company was approached by Captain Lt. Ove Lund from the Norwegian Navy with the request of producing a rubber drysuit. Unlike today it was back then much more common for a company to produce a material, rubber in this case, and find applications it could be used for so they could make those goods and sell them. They basically produced everything possible made out of rubber, including rainwear like rainsuits as well as rainboots. Below a picture from 1938 showing a rubber rainsuit, sou’wester, rainboots, and gloves, all produced by the Vestlandske rubber factory (source).

And another picture from the 1940s showing the process of attaching the rubber soles to the rubber boots at their factory (source).

The first rubber drysuits were delivered to the Norwegian Navy in 1952 and were very similar to the very basic rubber drysuits shown and discussed before. There were no zippers or valves in the suit and the diver would have to get in through the rubber neck seal. The suit could then be inflated with air from the mask and to decrease buoyancy air could be released by pulling the flexible rubber cuffs at the wrist. In 1973 the company changed its name to Viking Stavanger A/S and it is now the leading producer of rubber drysuits in the world. Below a picture of a vintage Viking drysuit in the famous red and black colour combination. This suit is much newer than the first suits from the fifties as you can see the valves on the suit as well as the non-flexible rubber hood which indicates there must be a waterproof zipper on the back of the suit.

During this time the company kept producing fashionable rainwear as well, also under the Viking brand name. Below a promotional item showing an impression of their rainwear (source). In 1986 the company was purchased by Trelleborg AB and production of the drysuits was moved to Sweden in 1989.

And as a final example there is the Gates Rubber Company that entered the market for rubber drysuits in 1986 to compete with the Viking drysuits. That is the same Gates Rubber company that owned the Hunter boots brand. In 2004 both the drysuit and rubber boot manufactering was taken over by a group of investors but due to financial problems the two divisions were split in 2006 when Hunter Diving Ltd was sold to the Trelleborg group while the boot division becomes the famous producer of rubber rainboots. Some more about that history you can find here. Pictured below a Gates rubber drysuit: the ProAm 1050.

But as previously alluded to already, the real connection between rainwear and scuba gear lies within the fetish community. Since there are noticeable differences between the drysuit and wetsuit community I will be discussing them separately first. Below a screenshot from Fetisheyes showing both a wetsuit and drysuit used in one of their videos.

Fetish – drysuits

Take a look at the previously shown pictures and you will quickly notice how closely the tight fitting vintage rubber drysuits match current-day rubber catsuits. It is hard to see those athletic men and women all geared up in tight rubber and not start fantasizing at least a bit what it would feel like to run your hands over that material or wear a suit like that. Below a Viking drysuit (probably) from the Hapwater website.

A couple of features are mentioned regularly as to why owning a drysuit could be a very interesting experience for a curiously natured person with an open-mind looking for new experiences.

Enclosure

One of the key features of a drysuit is that is encloses your body completely as that is the only way to stay dry underwater. Most drysuits have boots attached and have at least flexible rubber cuffs for around the wrist and neck. With a lock system a pair of thick rubber gloves can be added to the suit and the seal around the neck can optionally be turned into a hood which only leaves the face open. In this setup you will be completely enclosed, airtight and watertight, in the drysuit with just your face uncovered so you can wear goggles and a breathing apparatus. Below a picture of a full-rubber Loitokari drysuit which only leaves a small part of the body open.

A similar effect can be reached with a standard catsuit: just add some latex socks, a pair of latex gloves, a hood, and a gas mask. But it will be noticeably different as sweat and heat can still escape. The drysuit might look similar visually; the experience is often described as more intense. Below an example of total enclosure with rubber from the now defunct website of HeavyRubberMistress.

The thrill of being enclosed is also a regularly mentioned experience of gearing up completely in rainwear, a hazmat suit, or with wearing a gas mask. Especially many Mackintosh enthusiasts point out the love of not only being donned in their raincoat with southwester on, they also want the cuffs to be tightened, the collar put up, and the strings of the southwester tied under their chin.

Sauna suit effects

This total enclosure results in easily overheating in a drysuit. The suits are intended for use underwater in a colder climate and the diver will likely add insulating clothing under the suit to stay warm. But being on land in such a suit would come close to wearing a tightly sealed sauna suit no matter how little you wear under the suit. An advantage of drysuits over rubber suits or sauna suits is that all the connection points and zippers are waterproof meaning you can easily sweat it out in the suit without having to worry the sweat will get everything around you soaked. Below a drysuit that, while worn in a cold climate, still looks hot.

Some people have reported they wear a drysuit overnight and with the temperatures in the bedroom being relatively low they could get a good night of sleep. But during warmer nights it would often lead to waking up either very warm from overheating, or cold from the accumulated sweat cooling off when you push the blanket away in your sleep to cool down. Similar play and experiences are regularly mentioned in the rainwear community.

Restriction

The intended use for drysuits is diving where you either move forward with flippers or stay vertical to perform your underwater work. In neither case there is a great need to be very flexible and move your arms above your head. Wearing a drysuit on land can give a feeling of being restricted by the thick rubber material. Besides that the rubber cuffs press against your neck and wrists, you will also experience a slightly limited flexibility when moving around. I suppose it is similar to what I experience when putting on a pair of heavy-duty rubber gloves: when you close your hand you need to press against the preformed shape of the rubber which gives a tiny bit of extra resistance. Now imagine wearing a complete rubber suit that is thicker than a simple industrial rubber glove. Below a Navy diver getting “restricted” with weighted boots so she can get and stay down below more easily.

The feeling of being restricted in your movement is not something that can be directly linked to rainwear but there is a decent group of rainwear enthusiasts that enjoys bondage and all play around that.

Transformative play – cosplay

With a drysuit almost completely covering your body there are many enthusiasts who describe gearing up as transformative play where the heavy-duty rubber suit becomes (part of) their new personality. Wearing it brings a certain state of mind that gets them ready for different types of play they would not engage in so easily without the suit. It can give feelings of dominance, professionalism, or bring out your submissive side where you become a rubber toy for your master or mistress to use. Below an image of Japanese mistress Hinako on twitter (@mistresshinako) showing a full Viking rubber drysuit at a fetish party.

For many rainwear can have similar effects where you get in the right mood by putting on the layers of gear and slowly transform into a different person when completely covered by PVC and rubber.

It is a rubber suit, what more do you need to know?

As mentioned throughout this article drysuits were made of (natural) rubber in the past and even today the more popular drysuits are made of a combination of natural and synthetic rubber. At least the outside of lots of drysuits is rubber, with its smooth and shiny material easily accessible to whoever you are playing with. And while some drysuits have a fabric lining attached to the rubber as backing to make it sturdier, a brand like Aquala still makes drysuits with a complete rubber backing. When you enjoy the feeling of rubber against your skin there is a good chance you will get a huge thrill out of slipping into a drysuit made with rubber lining. Below an image from the fetish magazine Atomage showing rubber drysuits have been part of the (rubber) fetish community for decades already.

The link to the rainwear community here is clear: some of the vintage raingear that is still extremely popular today has a rubber lining giving that exciting feeling slipping into it as well. Rubber has been a material closely linked to rainwear for decades, and even though modern rainwear is not made from rubber anymore the overall looks of wet PVC rainwear is very similar to a wet rubber drysuit.

Fetish – wetsuits

The wetsuit community is a bit different from the drysuit community, although there is considerable overlap between the members of the two communities. In my view the motivations that make wetsuits work for that specific community are further away from the rainwear community than drysuits. Some of the most mentioned reasons why someone should be interested in wetsuits are the following:

It looks hot

Wetsuit are generally tight fitting pre-formed suits that can hide imperfections. Especially a black neoprene suit with some coloured stripes at the right spots can very easily pull the eyes to certain areas of the body that are now perfectly shaped in the rubbery material. Especially with a thin layer of water still covering the suit it looks almost similar to a rubber suit with its reflective surface. Below a picture of two male triathletes showing off their smooth and shiny triathlon wetsuits:

Warm and snug

Besides that a wetsuit looks visually appealing, the wearer can enjoy some benefits as well. Similar to a drysuit a wetsuit is intended to keep the body warm in the water. In dry circumstances it will quickly become quite warm to wear as the nitrogen bubbles in the neoprene insulate the body but there is no water surrounding it to keep you cool. That combined with the tight fitting can be a pleasurable experience for some. Picture below from Hapwater.

Transformative play – cosplay

The last reason for wearing a wetsuit for fetish purposes is similar to why some people are into drysuits or rainwear: after putting it on you feel like a different person. For me personally this is one of the reasons I enjoy wearing rainwear so much in the wettest circumstances: it feels like putting on the suit of a superhero and being able to conquer the elements. A similar case is often made for wetsuits where a wetsuit actually looks much closer to a superhero suit than a rainsuit. The tight fit, the colours, the stripes that accentuate your shape, they are all part of bringing you that transformative feeling.

The fetish vs vanilla community

There is a very interesting interaction going on where drysuits and wetsuits, which are originally intended for scuba diving, get adopted by the fetish community and the two communities coexist next to each other. This is different from many other communities I looked at previously: there barely is a hazmat, sweatsuit, or rainwear community where the items of interest are discussed for their intended purpose as well. Fishermen and firemen do not come together on message boards to discuss the latest developments in heavy-duty PVC rainwear or Trellchem protective hazmat suits. Not that I know off at least. The scuba diving gear communities are different as there actually are lots of divers who are interested in the history of diving and are on a mission to describe and use vintage diving gear for their dives. Also for this article I made use of many non-fetish websites that have pictures and description of rubber drysuits and nowhere are there hints to be found it is related to a fetish. And at the same time there are sites discussing the pros and cons of certain brands of rubber drysuits only focusing on the fetish elements of the suits and nowhere discussing how well they isolate at 30 meters of depth in a certain climate. Below a diver in a rubber drysuit that could change the heartrate of the genuine diving community (professional use of the gear) as well as the fetish community (he is hot).

Colliding communities

The complete different use of the scuba gear leads to collusions between the fetish and vanilla communities from time to time. The most often mentioned example of this is the “controversy” surrounding the Aquala company which produces vintage inspired rubber drysuits. The company was established in the 1950s and they produced a range of hand-made neck and tunnel entry suits. Over time the company has changed hands several times and only recently the newest owner has put considerable time in revamping the promotional material, website, and designs of the rubber drysuits. It only happens that Aquala rubber drysuits have been extremely popular within the fetish community, mostly because the suits stand apart from competitors for their availability and their white rubber lining.

While Aquala drysuits are priced from $1,500 upwards, there is considerable interest for purchasing these suits for fetish activities. But the new owner is not entertained by this prospect and has spoken out against “his suits” being used for these things based on his personal values and beliefs. Requests for adding a relief zipper, which is a zipper in the crotch area so the diver can relief themselves without having to take off the complete suit, are often declined. And requests for repairs of damaged suits come back negative when a closer inspection of the suit indicates it has been used for purposes other than diving. Below some of the suits made by Aquala (then named Bell-aqua) in the fifties (source).

People who are interested in purchasing an Aquala suit are often recommended to introduce themselves as a genuine diver to not be refused to get a suit made. And residues of talcum powder should be carefully removed from the lining of the suit when returning one for repairs as the owner would not entertain the thoughts of having you as a repeat customer.

Harmonizing communities

Interestingly the fetish and diving communities often overlap or come together as well. There are plenty of examples of people purchasing a drysuit for fetish purposes who later pick up diving as well, or divers who get interested in (mis-) using their drysuits for private activities. This is quite unique and it would be like someone with a rainwear fetish applying to become a fisherman at sea or a hazmat suit fetishist opening a chemical factory so he can dress up more often. In many cases it is the exact opposite: when you need to gear up for work you probably create an aversion for that gear as you associate it with hard work and the dangers you are exposed to. Scuba diving is different as both the fetish activities in a drysuit and diving in a drysuit are both pleasurable and doing both regularly can intensify your connection to the gear. Below a drysuit hanging to dry at a fire station.

Accessibility of the fetish community

One of the main issues regularly mentioned surrounding especially the drysuit fetish community is that it is not very accessible to newcomers. The purchasing price of one of the most popular rubber drysuits, the Viking suit in red and black, easily sets one back $1,500.

And if you are looking for a more special suit, with added features like an integrated hood and relief zipper, or the all black version, it will become more expensive. Here the second hand market comes in nicely: a drysuit is one of those items people purchase and have no further need for after a couple of years of use when they switch to a new suit or stopped diving altogether. You will regularly see used drysuits being offered online and depending on the quality of the suit the prices become a lot more affordable.

Vintage (-inspired) shops

There are also craftsman specializing in producing vintage (-inspired) diving gear from a time period when scuba gear was much less technical. The perfect example here would be Hydroglove, which makes and sells simple rubber drysuits and swimsuits at very affordable prices.

Fetish shops

Some rubber fetish shops have recognized the opportunity of producing rubber drysuits as well, with for example latexcatfish offering a Viking style drysuit made from natural rubber as shown below as well as a beaver-tale latex wetsuit shown further down.

Needless to say these suits are not actually intended for scuba diving, so keep them in the bedroom or spend a bit more to purchase the real deal if you intend to actually dive in them as well. One of the main differences is not just the lack of valves and waterproof zippers on the drysuit, these suits are made of natural rubber without the synthetic rubber components in them, making them more susceptible to wear and tear and they will be damaged by extended exposure to salt water and sunlight.

Wetsuit and drysuit online content

As one would expect there is quite some online adult content available covering both wetsuits and drysuits. Below I will give some examples of content creators that produce scuba diving related material to show the diversity.

Photos

One of the most interesting content creators of scuba diving related content would be Hapwater. The focus of this site is scuba gear from the sixties and seventies and the beautiful pictures not just show the shiny gear but it is worn by stunning models as well. To make it even more interesting it is not limited to wetsuits and drysuits, there are face masks, snorkels, and fins involved and most pictures are taken in and near the water. Below an example of one of their pictures showing a lady in a red and black Viking rubber drysuit.

There are also tons of individual content creators which more often focus on wetsuits. An example here would be Kinkysplash where Lucy regularly models swimwear, dive gear, and floatation jackets, both above and below the surface.

Videos

The site that comes to mind right away when thinking of scuba gear videos would be Fetisheyes. This site has different fetish specific content, from rainwear and Mackintosh raincoats, to hazmat suits and diving gear. Similar to Hapwater the gear is shown by beautiful female models who not just wear a wetsuit or drysuit, but regularly add a breathing apparatus and other layers of gear as well. Do keep in mind that the content is 18+. From what I can see from the previews there is often a light-hearted scenario for the videos making it more fun than all the hardcore breathplay and BDSM videos normally available online.

Comics

Also in the digital realm there are wetsuits and drysuits to admire, with sometimes whole (short) comics being created. A name that pops-up as a creator of scuba-focused comics would be Osvaldo Greco (shown below).

While drawings of drysuits and wetsuits are no match for real-world rubber gear with perfect lighting and attractive models, I noticed that they are very interesting for telling a specific narrative. Where a video or picture often gives a limited world-view of what is going on, a comic is able to create a whole setting, express more feelings and thoughts, and that way make the reader fill in and create their own story in their imagination. Added advantage, for me at least, is that a comic can more easily portray a situation that would be off-putting in real but palatable in drawings due to the disconnect from reality. Case in point the comic from Rosvo on DeviantArt below which has an element of kidnapping but does not come across as disturbing.

Final words

It is hard to deny that drysuits, and to a much lesser extend wetsuits, draw my attention as the ultimate rubber gear. While I am not interested in actually putting it to use by trying out diving, as that clashes with my open-water anxiety, it would certainly be interesting to slip into some heavy rubber drysuit with a nice lining. The purchasing price of a decent drysuit is very prohibitive though, especially for just experimenting. The real-life useability is very limited if you do not dive, although some people have pointed out that it could be a great suit for mudding where you can go fully in without ever getting your body dirty. Wear some raingear over the drysuit and it won’t draw too much attention.

For now I will just enjoy the pictures in combination with the idea that owning and wearing a rubber drysuit is within reach. I do not feel a real need to actually have one; fantasizing is enough for now.

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