I need to buy a 3/2 fullsuit for Fall and late Spring. Anyone familiar with BOZ wetsuits? Their website expounds the high quality neoprene and fabrication. How do they compare to a Ripcurl or Xcel (my top choices)? Thanks, John
Dang! I was just thinking posting the same question…I have only seen one person wearing a boz suit…I think they are made in SD somewhere…I am also thinking of getting one …
South Dakota??
Made in Peru.
I just sent them an e-mail asking for some details on their long leg spring (I was just about to purchase for the fall)… I also asked if they are made in SD - I’ll post back.
Seems like a great suit, and inexpensive.
HerbB
The company is based in Peru - outsourced to Thailand. I have a couple “Maxum” models. I think they were less than 100 bucks on E-Bay brand new. Rubber quality and construction seems to be on par with anything out there. Maxum model had taped seams that started to peel after awhile - just like all the other brands I’ve had. With a little glue here and there, mine are still serviceable after several seasons of moderate use. None of the suits made with super stretchy neoprene seem to hold up like the old ones.
The crap that was on e-bay was a model that was 5+ years old. That SHi& was in a warehouse all folded up, and cooking getting all brittle and cracked. Thats the reason the seams and stitching blew out…I bought the same thing on e-bay, paid $89.00 for the Maxium. Worst $89.00 I ever spent, but it had nothing to do with the BOZ guys. That stuff was some guy that bought them from some guy deal. So I see the BOZ guys out at BirdRock and Scripps all the time and gave them a bunch of crap about the quality, they set me straight.
If you buy a new suit, the quality is good, and the life expectency is good/fair. Heck I bought a Body Maxtix 3/2 $320.00 thinking it would last 2 years, I barely got a full season out of it, it’s not like i get to surf every day also, I maybe get 3 days a week. Anyhow BOZ is a good suit for the price.
-Jay
Yeah, I figured at that price, they were demos or irregulars. They still have held up pretty good - as good as any other brands I’ve tried. Are they still outsourced in Thailand? I heard somewhere about some bad batches of suits from there but not sure on brand. Baja Bob in SLO (custom suit maker and authorized repair guy for most brands) says all the new neoprene deteriorates rapidly compared to material used in the past. He doesn’t think much of taped seams in general. Any opinions on taped seams out there?
Baja Bob says to add some hair conditioner/cream rinse to water and soak your suit once in awhile - makes 'em last longer. Also - fold 'em over the rod at the bottom of a wood or plastic coat hanger, don’t hang by shoulders.
I rec’d a response/confirmation back from Harold Yearwood, a representative from Boz, that “the suits are Made By BOZ in their factory in Lima Peru”.
Best,
HerbB
Sorry for bad Thailand info… that’s what the tag in my suit says but it is an older suit. Your information is much more current.
This could be a bad info, but i remember reading somewhere that those wetsuits are made in Peru, but they tried to made them in Thailand (i can suppose why…) for some time, but as the quality and fit wasn’t the same, they quit the Thailand idea and came back to made them again in Peru.
As far as i know they are really good and comfortable wetsuits.
I have two of them. The longsleve spring and the most expensive 3/2 full. They seem good. I got the full toward the end of the winter and it wasn’t as warm as my previous suit(a Japanese breakers out) but it was good enough for So Cal. temperatures. They are definitely really stretchy. I’ll let you know in a year how they hold up.