Spearfishing wetsuits are tailored to the needs of spearfishers, which are very different from those of a diver. Of course, a spearfisher is also a diver. However, there are subtle distinctions.

A typical diver has very little need to move about and spends very little time underwater compared to a spearfisher. Recreational diver spends up to an hour in the water at most. A spearfisher is going to spend at least several hours in the water, and he’s going to be moving a lot during those few hours.

That means a few things. One, a spearfisher is going to be burning his oxygen like no one’s business. Getting back to the surface is crucial in a situation like that. Second, to move quickly, a diver must have freedom of movement, and for that, he needs a very flexible wetsuit, a wetsuit that does not restrict movement. It also must be as soft as possible, and as light as possible.

A spearfishing wetsuit must have as few openings as possible, no matter how good they are fastened. Wetsuit for spearfishing must be well insulated, and you can’t afford to be using a thin wetsuit. Getting hypothermia is all too simple when you spend hours underwater, and your wetsuit is your first line of defense.

The best spearfishing wetsuits had to be made in one piece. But these days, you can get decent waterproofing if you use a two-piece wetsuit. However, I must admit that a one-piece wetsuit simply does not have such liability as an opening. A typical diver can afford using a two-piece wetsuit, but a spearfisher has to be very careful.

Wetsuit Types

There are three types of wetsuits used both by regular drivers and spearfishers. Each is designed for different conditions, including temperature. A type of wetsuit is the first thing to pick when making a choice in favor of a product. You need to understand clearly where and how the suit will be worn. So, what are these types?

Dry Wetsuits

You can tell that dry wetsuits are airtight from their name alone. Indeed, they isolate the user’s body from the water. That makes them ideal for diving in freezing water as well, but you won’t be needing to do that most of the time. 

The cuffs are sealing, and the zippers are also waterproof. Therefore this kind of wetsuit is the best as long as you don’t want the water to touch your body at all. Dry wetsuits have all the waterproofing they need, and that’s the reason why dry wetsuits are the best to use for an extended period.

A long time ago, dry wetsuits had to be one piece to allow sufficient waterproofing. The upper and lower parts were connected to each other, and the joints were sealed in different ways: using waterproof glue, welded seams, and more. Now, a two-piece wetsuit can offer adequate water protection, and it’s likely to come with a fitting for scuba and air valve. The diver controls the amount of air inside with the valve to change the depth.

Many modern dry suits for spearfishing are made from neoprene or three-layer trilaminate, and both materials have their pros and cons.

Neoprene suits for spearfishing are more elastic than suits made from other materials, warmer, fit the body perfectly, and they don’t fold, very rarely so. But it takes them too long to get dry.

Trilaminate has its own drawbacks. For example, it’s not really stretchable. It’s a bit heavy, and it also constraints movements too much. Bending down to slip the flippers on is a challenge if you wear a wetsuit made from trilaminate. The seams are more challenging to work on, as well, and because of that, trilaminate wetsuits are more likely to come undone than neoprene. All in all, dry wetsuits are quite thick regardless of the material, often more than 7mm.

As I said, dry wetsuits should be reserved for freezing water only. There are several reasons for that. The excessive bulkiness is one of them, the high price is another. Plus, you’d have to buy special underwear as well, since no one uses dry wetsuits without specially made undies, or so I’ve been informed.

Semi-dry

No a fully impenetrable type of wetsuit, but it’s good enough. It’s decently waterproof. However, water can still get under this kind of suit, albeit in small amounts. The amount of water that does get under the suit can be neglected because it fits snugly to the body. While the insulation a semi-dry wetsuit offers is not good enough for swimming in near-freezing water, it’s decent for most temperatures. A semi-dry wetsuit can still provide some pretty good insulation. It’s not like this type of suit does not come with its own obturators and sealed zippers. All of that is more than enough for preserving heat.

Semi-dry wetsuits are most often made from a layer of neoprene that is 5-7 mm thick, less often from other types of microporous rubber. Neoprene shrinks at great depths under the water pressure, which negatively affects its thermal insulation properties and buoyancy. Besides, this material cannot be called wear-resistant, mainly if used intensively, it only serves for a relatively short time before it deteriorates.

That happens because foamed neoprene is as susceptible to fatigue as any metal, and it’s often compressed and released when in use. That makes the maximal life cycle of a neoprene wetsuit not exceed 5 years.

Almost all semi-dry costumes are made of double-sided neoprene and equipped with rigid zippers. They may sound good, but that design impedes the movement of a spearfisher. They have to exert a lot of physical effort. In the process of spearfishing, as a result, that fatigue accumulates faster, and the user also gets tired.

Wet

A wet wetsuit is one of the most popular options to date. There’s a reason it’s called a “wetsuit” and not something else. I’m going to call them just wetsuits in this paragraph, to avoid repeating the phrase “wet wetsuits,” which feels incredibly redundant, bordering on violating.

Wetsuits are not really waterproof. In fact, they are pretty much water-transparent. The catch? They absorb water and then keep it. The water under the wetsuit is heated from the body heat, and since it does not mix with the cold water outside the wetsuit, there’s no heat exchange, which makes it more or less insulating. Of course, it is difficult to call that design an effective heat insulator, so a wetsuit should be run pretty tight. I don’t say a size smaller, but as close to “smaller” as you can get without actually going there. The more snugly it fits, the less water can get inside, the less heat your body is going to emit to heat it.

It doesn’t actually mean that normal wetsuits are only good throughout the warm season. You can still use in near-freezing water, depending on the thickness. How about just above 32 degrees? You can do that if it’s thick enough.

Just as semi-dries, actual wetsuits are made from neoprene, and its thickness varies between 1.5 and 9 mm. The thicker the suit, the warmer it is. However, the thickness also impacts the elasticity and your mobility. As you can guess, while a regular diver couldn’t care less, a spearfisher is going to need all the mobility he or she can afford.

Some of the wet diving suits are trimmed with nylon, with heat-reflecting inserts that help to retain heat. That makes wetsuits more comfortable for cold seasons.

If you want to get this type of suit, you need to consider the temperature of the water that you plan to use it in. If it’s going to be cold, then it is better to give preference to a wetsuit made with a thicker layer of neoprene.

Cut

Like actual clothing, the distinctions of wetsuits lie not just in the material used, but also in their cut. There are several varieties:

• A mono suit. It makes comfortable and reliable overalls, covering the body, arms, and legs, and if it features a built-in helmet, then also the head. Perfect for spearfishing.
• A short monosuit. It’s a discount version of a monosuit. The difference is it features short sleeves and trouser legs, and there’s no helmet. They are suitable for diving in the warm season. 
• A dedicated spearfishing suit. It’s a two-piece wetsuit that resembles a monosuit. It always features a helmet and a detachable inguinal jumper.

There are also other types that don’t quite fit into either type. They may utilize some of the features of the other wetsuits, but not all of them. They are designed for different conditions: diving depths, temperatures, and so on. For instance, it’s not impossible to find a monosuit with short sleeves and without a helmet.

Suits for Spearfishing

Wet diving suits made of neoprene are the most popular among underwater hunters. Many of them feature so-called open pores, tiny bubble-suckers on the inside.

When a user puts such a wetsuit on, it literally sticks to the body. That is why underwater hunters wouldn’t be wrong to call it a second skin.

Some would expect a material like that to be all spongy and not impervious to water, but the difference between open pores and sponges is that the bubbles are all isolated. They do not “touch” each other so that the wetsuit does not actually “absorb” water. The air trapped in those bubbles serves as a heat insulator, but it has a positive buoyancy at the same time, sometimes to the point it to be adjusted with weights.

A spearfishing kit sometimes comes with a dedicated wetsuit that is moderately acceptable. As a rule, it’s going to be two-piece, soft in the upper part. It’s also going to feature a waterproofed zipper. That zipper is the weakest part of the suit, which is why it is crucial to choose the best wetsuit for spearfishing only. The other is the thickness, although it all depends on the temperatures you’re going to be fishing at. 

A poor choice of a wetsuit means the user will risk freezing or, on the contrary, overheating. It doesn’t mean you can err on the safe side, there’s no safe side in this matter. Overheating is no less dangerous for your life and health than hypothermia.

To make sure you’re comfortable, and, most importantly, safe, you can check out the following chart.

These numbers are relative since all people have different levels of cold sensitivity. Some guy maybe comfortable and warm at 70°F in a thin 3 mm wetsuit, but his partner will not last 10 minutes under the same conditions and will freeze at once.