The lake that I ski in is a little stinky. My friends diligently dry off their boat after every time, or else they’ll get slime. (As opposed to their friends on Lake Winnipesaukee, who only dry their boat off at the end of the season when they’re putting it away). You don’t notice it when you’re skiing; it smells just like a regular lake. But after a month or so, my bathing suit really started to smell weird. Even washing it in a regular washer didn’t take the smell out completely. And my wet suit was starting to smell bad too. I got the idea of soaking it in baking soda because that’s how I got the moldy smell out of a load of clothes that were trapped in my wet washer for a few weeks (washer broke and the door wouldn’t open). It worked like a charm then. So, after Googling to make sure that others use baking soda to clean their wet suits, here’s what I did: I filled my tub with lukewarm water. You do NOT want it hot; neoprene doesn’t like hot water. But lukewarm is ok; it’s better than cold because the baking soda will dissolve easier. Then I put in a full box of baking soda and swished it around with my hand to dissolve it.
I put my wetsuit in first so that it had the most contact with the water. Make sure you press all the velcro parts together with their counterparts or else the tabs will chew up your bathing suit and other neoprene stuff if it comes into contact with it.
Next everything else that I wear for skiing went in: my bathing suits, board shorts, gloves, glove liners, lifejacket, and heat shirt.
Everything tries to float, so you have to squash it down to get water on it. I left it in for a couple of hours, but every once in a while, I swished it around more so that the floating parts would make better contact. I rearranged once and flipped my wetsuit and life jacket over so that a different side was facing up. When you’re done, rinse it thoroughly. I did this by letting out the water with my stuff still in the tub, then filling it up with clear water and swishing it around. I left it for another 30 minutes, then did the same thing twice more–3 tubs of clean water in all. You can tell when the water is good because it doesn’t feel slippery to the touch (one of the effects of baking soda in water). Then I hung it all up to dry. Worked like a charm; no smell at all! It’s ready to store away until next season.