P-Valve adhesive

[deg]

I will start by stating that i've been the proud owner of a perfect fitting E.Motion since November! I couldn't be happier with the suit except for one thing, my P-valve is not installed yet. LDS got me a LM Tinkle valve but when I got the suit, he told me that Santi drysuits were meant to use a certain type of glue which is not Aquaseal(can't recall the name). I've been waiting for a few months now and no sign of that "special glue" and was looking for help to see if Aquaseal could be considered as a good adhesive. what have you guys used?

 

[Instructor_Tom]

Not sure what kind of BS your local dive shop is dishing out, but depending on the material of you suit you may not even need to glue youre Pee-Vavle. I dive a bear next gen bi-lam suit. Pretty thin material with no give. I recently installed my pee Valve and instead of glueing it i used 3 concentric o-rings ( make sure they are tight) and crushed them between the suit and the outer cover. This is the same configuration as is used on most suit shoulder dump valves and allows me to replace the pee-valve in the future should it have a failure or wish to remove it and patch the suit.

When you install you pee-valve remember to make the hole no bigger than required and pressure test it to make sure you have an air tight seal. Solo cups work real good on the wrist seals and the appropriate sized tupperware bowl on the neck seal.

As for the use of aqua-seal i have used it on all kind of material and it works great neoprene, bi-lam, wing bladders, etc.

Hope this is helpful


And yes putting a hole in your drysuit with a soldering iron is never racking.


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[deg]

Oh, I'll leave the cutting to LDS since i bought the valve and suit from him. If something happens, it's gonna be on him.

 

[Instructor_Tom]

Putting in a pee-valve is a right of passage.


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[Jim Lapenta]

I have installed a p valve on my own laminated suits and used Aquaseal with no issues. The O ring thing will work as well but I have on intention of removing mine so was not hesitant to glue it. But I was very sparing on the use of it. Just enough to do the job and not look sloppy.

 

[OceanEdge Outfitters]

I will start by stating that i've been the proud owner of a perfect fitting E.Motion since November! I couldn't be happier with the suit except for one thing, my P-valve is not installed yet. LDS got me a LM Tinkle valve but when I got the suit, he told me that Santi drysuits were meant to use a certain type of glue which is not Aquaseal(can't recall the name). I've been waiting for a few months now and no sign of that "special glue" and was looking for help to see if Aquaseal could be considered as a good adhesive. what have you guys used?

Hi deg,

Congratulations on your new SANTI Drysuit!

We use RTV Silicone to install the P-Valves.

Make sure you scuff the portion of the p-valve with sand paper that will seal on the inside of the suit. Once the hole is cut, put a bead (not to much) of RTV Silicone on the portion of the p-valve that you scuffed up, insert it into the suit and screw on the outer portion. Make sure that when you tighten it up that the hose is angled up the leg properly. Let it dry for 24 hours prior to testing/using.

Post some pictures of you in your new suit when you get a chance!

 

[Jack Hammer]

I used black RTV silicone for the Pee valve on my Bare Nex-Gen and for the one on my Pinnacle Evolution 2 suits. No leaks after hundreds of dives on each. Quick, inexpensive, readily available, and if you were to need to you could remove the Pee valve at a later date.

 

[MalibuJerry]

I used aqua seal on my installation 10 years ago, many many dives and many more pees later, it maybe the only place on my drysuit that has not leaked at one time or another. Blow off the dive shop, install it yourself, clamp it down tight with aqua seal as the adhesive and enjoy.

 

[kwinter]

Maybe I'm in the minority. I've installed p-valves from various manufacturers on many suits over the years, from compressed neo to bilam, trilam and vulcanized. I have never used any adhesive of any kind. I am hard on suits and well known for having multiple leaks in my drysuits, but it has never been from the p-valve.

 

[PeterVV]

I installed two p-valves last year, both i Espace suits. One with O-rings and one with Aquaseal and they are both still fine more than 50 dives later.

The Aquaseal, oring, silicone or whatever is only there to create the watertight seal. The valve itself will stay whereever you put it as long as it is not in a very flexible material.