Ok. It's time to build something again. What will it be... hmmmmmmm? I know, how about a drysuit dryer! I would think these would be mandatory for a neoprene drysuit but I built it for, and use it with, my trilam, as it gets the feet totally dry in short order and keeps the whole suit smelling springtime fresh!

Ok. It's time to build something again. What will it be... hmmmmmmm? I know, how about a drysuit dryer! I would think these would be mandatory for a neoprene drysuit but I built it for, and use it with, my trilam, as it gets the feet totally dry in short order and keeps the whole suit smelling springtime fresh!

Total cost for the project will be about $30. $10 for a blower and $20 or so for PVC pipe, fittings and a can of all-purpose PVC cement. I used 1?" PVC but you could make the unit a bit lighter by using 1?;" which would be plenty strong. You will need two (2), 10 ft lengths of PVC pipe and an assortment of elbows, "Ts", caps and adapters, which ones and how many will depend on how many options you wish to have on this puppy. I am sure the design could be modified a bit and used for wetsuits as well, but since I don't dive wet anymore I'll leave that project to someone else.

One picture is worth 1000 words so here are some shots of the unit along with various "options". Lengths and sizes will depend on you and your drysuit. You can change lengths and sizes as you go. I suggest that you lay out the base and the blower motor and work from there.

Making a rough drawing of your finished product will limit the number of trips to Home Depot or Lowes, but spending a little time there in the plastic plumbing department may stir your creative juices and improve on the end result of the project. I also suggest that you hand fit everything before you start gluing it up, and then think about how you should proceed in the gluing. If you don't you may find that you "glue yourself into a corner" and have to cut things apart to proceed with the assembly. If that occurs, don't despair, a $.50-$1.00 connector will repair the problem - you will notice a "few" of them in my finished project.

I originally glued the unit completely together, but then found that having an almost 8 ft tall fixed unit was a bit of a pain. I cut it in half, which was better but then finally modified it so that the base is quite short with removable legs. This makes it much easier putting the drysuit on and taking it off the dryer and it makes storage of the unit much easier when it is separated into a small base unit and two(2) pipes 6 ft long, rather than one big piece.

Please note it is not necessary to use heated air (like a hair dryer) - that might damage the drysuit. While you could use most any blower, the one I got from C and H Sales seems like it was made for this project. It is a Torin Dual Blower, which has two outlets and puts out 100 cfm from each. It comes pre-wired with a 5' cord w/plug and runs on 115 VAC. It is model #ACB8400 and sells for $9.95 (plus shipping). You can find it on page 25 of their 2002 catalog or order it online at www.candhsales.com.

I found that the exhaust ports of this blower fit nicely into a piece of 1?" PVC pipe so I used a couple of "Ts" with 1?" X 1?" adapters along with short pieces of 1?" pipeto mount the unit between the two legs. The 1?" pieces of pipe were cut with a coping saw to allow the use of SS hose claps to firm up the mounting. Mounting the blower between the two legs adds to the rigidity of the unit. I suggest that you face the blower intake down so that water from your suit doesn't drip into the air intake.

I used "Ts" for the feet, which I modified by cutting off the heel side, and "hogging" out the top to better facilitate the flow of air into the foot area.

You will alsonotice in the pictures that I added the "Deluxe" hood & glove options. To do this you put PVC elbows on the front end of the base and use appropriate adapters to bring the size down to ?" PVC and then make a "circuit" on which you can place your hood and gloves. They can be dried while you are drying your suit or separately by making some caps that will plug the ends when the legs aren't attached. Please note from the pictures. I didn't glue up all of these parts. If you do it will be difficult to put together and take apart.

If all this seems like too much work just get the blower and attach your vacuum cleaner hose to it and stick the hoses down the legs. Works the same but then again, "I like to make stuff".

There ya go.Give it a try, you'll love it.

PS - Trying to use your "lawn and leaf" blower to power this baby is not optimal. The last fellow I know who tried that is still searching for his drysuit, which was launched like an Apollo Moon shot. He felt so disgraced he quit his job and moved from the DC area to Boston. Yes Eric, you can run but you can't hide!