Post by Aquala1 on Feb 26, 2019 20:53:11 GMT -8
Thanks SL for the pricing info. I also hope you guys are having a good time in Florida, getting ready for the Seahunt event. As a side note, I built a prototype waist-entry suit for Rob which he’ll have with him. Aquala hasn’t built one of those since the early ‘60s, so we’ll see.
From what I can tell, the price of my suit would be right there with Otterbay and JMJ. The Elios suit, if I ran the currency conversion correctly, was around $250. Mine would be in the $500 range and would be custom cut and sized suits.
I would start off with black, and then eventually offer blue for men’s suits. For ladies suits, I might get into other colors, but that will have to come later. All would be two-piece, beaver tail suits with metal twist locks and nylon zippers. Aquala was using nylon zippers as early as 1960. If the demand is there for nickel plated brass zippers, then I can source those later.
I also have a prototype one-piece front zip suit for someone who absolutely doesn’t want a beaver tail. It’s like a hybrid of a beaver tail, and a back-zip steamer. You have the convenience of front-zip without the awkwardness of the back-zip. I don’t know how popular those would be, because once someone dives a two-piece beaver tail, the convenience outweighs anything else.
I can do them two ways. Nylon in (for ease of donning), and skin out (for a smooth-skin vintage look)...or skin in (for fast drying), and nylon out for maximum durability and abrasion resistance).
The look would be clean and classic with an embroidered Aquala patch on the sleeve for the nylon out suits, and no logo for the smooth skin suits. These would be legit suits that you could dive all of the time, not just for vintage dive events.
So what do you all think?
From what I can tell, the price of my suit would be right there with Otterbay and JMJ. The Elios suit, if I ran the currency conversion correctly, was around $250. Mine would be in the $500 range and would be custom cut and sized suits.
I would start off with black, and then eventually offer blue for men’s suits. For ladies suits, I might get into other colors, but that will have to come later. All would be two-piece, beaver tail suits with metal twist locks and nylon zippers. Aquala was using nylon zippers as early as 1960. If the demand is there for nickel plated brass zippers, then I can source those later.
I also have a prototype one-piece front zip suit for someone who absolutely doesn’t want a beaver tail. It’s like a hybrid of a beaver tail, and a back-zip steamer. You have the convenience of front-zip without the awkwardness of the back-zip. I don’t know how popular those would be, because once someone dives a two-piece beaver tail, the convenience outweighs anything else.
I can do them two ways. Nylon in (for ease of donning), and skin out (for a smooth-skin vintage look)...or skin in (for fast drying), and nylon out for maximum durability and abrasion resistance).
The look would be clean and classic with an embroidered Aquala patch on the sleeve for the nylon out suits, and no logo for the smooth skin suits. These would be legit suits that you could dive all of the time, not just for vintage dive events.
So what do you all think?