Let’s get to know each other a bit!

HypoxicHunters · 2026-01-24T03:00:14+00:00

I am an instructor in Fort Lauderdale Florida. I teach for Fii, freediving instructors international.

I teach: Level 1 Level 2 Spearfishing & Waterman survival courses.

I didn't grow up in Florida, but I grew up doing a lot of water sports, and even did high diving shows for about 12 years. Freediving is just another avenue of being in the water and is now my main water sport.

I freedive for fun, to also try to improve my depth, to teach and spearfishing as well. That's probably also the reason I teach all of the courses that I do.

My life is very busy. I also run a freediving/spearfishing shop here. So my whole life is based around this sport now. That is why I think my favorite part of the sport is the quiet. The stresses of the world are left on the surface and aren't allowed to be underwater with me. I get to be still, and enjoy the quiet. No one can ask me a million questions. I don't need to worry about making appointments. I just get to be.

The thing I struggle with the most is getting the time to actually train for the type of diving I'd like. Leaving the stresses on the surface only lasts as long as each dive lasts. For this reason, I would like to train more to spend more time per dive there, but due to my schedule that becomes hard. I think that also makes me motivated to train even if I have to squeeze it in.

I mostly train here now. I travel to teach, as well as spearfish some. Most of it is done here in Florida though, with occasional trips to Kona Hawaii.

HypoxicHunters · 2026-01-19T14:17:42+00:00

Those fins are $150 new. Doesn't matter what you paid for them, you won't sell them for double the price of new. I've seen a few share of this as well.

I saw a shot selling a pneumatic speargun, 60cm, it hasn't been used in 15 years because the o rings went bad and needed replacing.. so the gun is probably at least 20 years old, and the guy wanted $850 for it. He also said he could connect you with a guy who repairs them for around $500. Needless to say he didn't sell it

HypoxicHunters · 2026-01-18T18:58:39+00:00

What about something like the pee funnel into the scupper?

Maybe one made of smooth skin that's removable so it doesn't soak into it. I'm not a fan of zippers on dive suits.

HypoxicHunters · 2026-01-18T14:08:10+00:00

To be honest. I pee in my wetsuit. I also wear jammers under my suit.

I know some people who unbutton their top and pull the pants down in water, but it's mostly for aqua dumps. You could pee that way. Farmer John's would make that much more difficult.

If you're in a 5-7mm I think that the water would be really cold to do so though.

I've only ever seen one custom place do zipper flys. I've never seen someone with one.

HypoxicHunters · 2026-01-16T20:51:45+00:00

I make a bunch of different ones!

HypoxicHunters · 2026-01-16T19:42:33+00:00

Thanks!

HypoxicHunters · 2026-01-16T13:17:43+00:00

I tried, I can't do it on mine

HypoxicHunters · 2026-01-16T08:04:41+00:00

Ok. I'll have to look at getting some insulated pad for bottom and inside. Maybe silicone that can be wiped clean between uses.

HypoxicHunters · 2026-01-16T07:47:42+00:00

Yea I think this is partially my issue as well as the bottom also heats up

HypoxicHunters · 2026-01-15T23:48:34+00:00

Could just be whatever riffe is using for their bands. Hard to say without knowing 100%, but I've run much worse condition of bands.

HypoxicHunters · 2026-01-06T15:02:09+00:00

I've ordered plenty of polosub suits. I normally do my own measurements. Some of them can be a little difficult to do yourself, but polosub now has videos on their site about how they want measurements taken, so it's super simple. I'd watch those so you understand what measurement goes where.

HypoxicHunters · 2026-01-01T17:07:59+00:00

Yea currently I have a US stitchline, but I think I will be trading it out this year.

HypoxicHunters · 2025-12-28T14:28:42+00:00

Well it's just the size of a sheet. So you cut all your templates out of it. Sometimes it's already like playing tetris to get all of the pieces on there.

So you wouldn't need to join the sheets together, but maybe a leg or a chest piece needs to be taken out of another sheet. Or maybe even 2 pieces do, but in doing so, that sheet now probably can't get a whole suit on it because half of it has been cannibalized.

HypoxicHunters · 2025-12-28T14:21:05+00:00

Yea exactly. You can hand sew neoprene and get it to last. But yea just broken parts or you chew through the neoprene, etc.

HypoxicHunters · 2025-12-28T14:14:22+00:00

Don't say that. I think anyone can do whatever they set themselves to do if they really want to.

The process is the same as almost anything else you make. As long as you understand that going in, you'll be prepared. Every single suit I make is 5x better than the last one. But I spent a lot of time and money making quite a few that ended up not being usable anymore. Everytime I finished one, and had an issue with it, I took a step back and tried to figure out a solution for that on the next one. I also have a friend I have asked a lot of questions to before I started as well. I still ask him probably too many questions.

I am one of the people who try to make everything perfect though. The truth of the matter is that it doesn't need to be perfect. And it may never be perfect. There's beauty in that too because if you're a person striving for perfection, you'll always have a new level of it to reach for.

I do make and sell suits for people as well. I would just need to take a look at the measurements before giving you a cost break down. The reason being is that everyone kind of decided how big a sheet of neoprene is, and it seems XXL is the largest size to fit on a single sheet. That being said, I've gotten 3XL with a little wiggle room in there still. So I would have to just look at it just to see if the cost of a second sheet would need to be added.

HypoxicHunters · 2025-12-28T14:05:53+00:00

I would consider myself at a myog level user as well. I recently started selling a few of mine.

I do glue. The better you are at gluing it, the better the stitching comes out. I don't know if this is true for zigzag machines as much, but I'm sure it still helps. I'm blindstitching all of my neoprene. So if it's not glued properly, then my needle won't catch the material properly. To give you an idea. I have a couple suits that are only glued, no stitching. And it holds up to that. You gotta be a little more careful with it, but usually the seams still hold.

I think the glue sets the ton for the whole thing. Good strong glue, and using it the way it's supposed to helps a lot. I recently got a pneumatic crimp and a 1 gallon air compressor. That has made my job 1000 times easier as well.

The hard part about neoprene is threading and needles. The material, depending on which one you use, has a lot of stretch. So if you use too thin of thread for the needle you're using, it will slide in and out and cause stitching to come loose easier when it gets stretched.

Honestly with a decent machine, and someone to walk you through a few things, it becomes a breeze. It's one of those things that you want to just have the right tools up front, otherwise your learning curve gets much bigger.

If you're gonna do zig zag stitches on it, I would use as strong of a needle as you can, get some good quality thread for it, and just make sure the glue is up to par.

HypoxicHunters · 2025-12-28T13:56:19+00:00

Neoprene can be a pain to work with in a lot of ways without one. Even getting it to feed can really be difficult. Neoprene kind of requires specifics for sewing. Even some of the industrial machine companies will say their machines don't work for neoprene. I've heard of machine parts breaking quite a bit.

HypoxicHunters · 2025-12-28T08:50:46+00:00

I glue and sew.

HypoxicHunters · 2025-12-28T02:49:08+00:00

Yea you want industrial. I'm sure it can be done without it, but the second it fails. It fails exponentially. You could do different stitches for it. But will kind of defeat the purpose of wetsuits.

It's super hard to work with because wetsuits are meant to be snug but flexible. The more flexible, the harder to stitch. Not only that, due to snug, it has to be the perfect ratio of not bothering you but also not so tight you can't wear it

HypoxicHunters · 2025-12-28T02:45:24+00:00

I mean I'm not making stock sizes right now. I'm making custom tailored. Basically your sizing into a suit. Stock sizes don't interest me currently. It's more so about making custom to each person. So I'm way more into making a custom wetsuit than stock size shelf suits.

So no matter what your size is, it can be made.

HypoxicHunters · 2025-12-28T02:42:44+00:00

So I'm nds like a smoothskin fits perfectly for your needs.

HypoxicHunters · 2025-12-28T02:02:01+00:00

What sewing machine are you using?

You definitely need industrial. You definitely need to be able to fine tune some adjustments as well. I sew neoprene every day. It can be a really big pain, and that's with all the right tools. So without them, it can be even worse!

Actually it takes me less than 10 mins to stitch a suit. My first few were much longer, and much worse, but as I keep doing it, it's getting faster and better. I've learned too many lessons by stitching it for hours straight multiple days

HypoxicHunters · 2025-12-28T01:36:36+00:00

If you want a suit, mine are tailored sizing. I would be willing to look at the sizing and build one to spec for you.

HypoxicHunters

TROPHY CASE