Why do wetsuits have zippers up the back vs up the front which would make them easier to put on?
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I don’t know for certain, but my diving wetsuit had the zipper in front and it would have been uncomfortable lying on my stomach and might damage the board. Similarly, if I wore my scuba gear with a back zipper, it might be uncomfortable on the spine
At least in the context of wetsuits for open-water swimming, having the zipper at the back better distributes your buoyancy (neoprene is slightly buoyant) and it doesn’t leak or break your streamline.
When I swim backstroke in my wetsuit, for example, water will sometimes leak in through the zipper and this doesn’t happen when I’m swimming crawl. It will still keep me warm when it leaks but the initial trickle of cold water is unpleasant.
It definitely doesn’t. You can lean forward to stretch out the back so the zipper can easily slide up. If it was infront of you, it would be a pain trying to get it zipped up when the wetsuit bunches up
Only Surf wetsuit have it behind. Because if it was in the front you would harm your chest while paddling, and potentially ruin the board too. Consider that even a proper suit with soft padding inside will burn your skin just by rubbing it while paddling. Imagine a zip, you will have scars by the end of the day.
Of course, it comes at the cost of having a hard time putting it on.
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Surfing wetsuits put the zipper on the back because you lay down on the board on your stomach
They don’t all have zippers up the back, they have to place the zipper in different locations based on the activity. You’ll see [this](https://www.wholesalemarine.com/barefoot-international-short-sleeve-neoprene-wetsuits-closeout/) style has the zipper on the front, since the person using this wetsuit will spend more time on their back than on their stomach. Whereas a diver’s wetsuit can put the zipper on the back because it will be covered by scuba gear, so it reduces the chance the zipper will come undone.
You’ll also find that full length sleeve wetsuits have the zipper in the back where as short sleeves or no sleeved wetsuits will generally have the zipper in the front. This get’s to ease of access. Putting a full sleeve on with a front zipper is very hard because it doesn’t flex or slide across your skin like a normal button up shirt, you need to really have flexible shoulders to put the sleeves on as you are reaching back to then pull the top of the wet suit forward, rather than a rear zipper entry which you can just stick your arms forward to put the sleeves on. Short sleeves or no sleeved wetsuits don’t suffer from this difficultly so the zipper placement can be more dictated by the activity rather than just putting the gear on.
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