Is your basis for that statement that you're looking at it and see glue over the tape? Or did they tell you the Tech seams are done the same as the Armor seams? Just curious on that. Clearly, your picture shows that the tape has glue over it.
Below are pictures of my Seaskin Nova. I was looking at it, comparing it to the pictures of the Frogman.
From what I can see, the Seaskin does not have glue over the internal tape. But, the tape also looks different. The Seaskin tape feels rubberized(?). Do you know something about their tape versus Frogman tape that suggests to you that Frogman tape plus Aquasure is better in some way than the tape Seaskin uses?
I also noticed that it seems all the Seaskin seams are double stitched. From your pictures, it looks like the Frogman seams are all single stitched. Do you think single stitching plus the layers of Aquasure results in a stronger seam or better seam than double stitching without the Aquasure? Just by looks I would think the Seaskin seam is less likely to rip open for any reason. But, maybe the Frogman layers of Aquasure make their seam less likely to leak?
I found 2 spots on my Seaskin that have the 4-way meeting of stitching that you talked about. One is on each side of the waist, where the front/back and top/bottom all intersects. I can see on the inside (didn't photo) that the inside has 2 layers of the tape over it. One going up/down and one going right/left. It is interesting that you said your Seaskin leaked there(?). I will have to keep an eye on that. I've had my Seaskin for almost 2 1/2 years now, but I checked my log and I only have 55 dives on it. So, no surprise that those spots still look good on my suit. 55 isn't very many dives.
They avoided a 4-way seam intersection in the crotch by using a gusset, so it has 4 x 3-way seam intersections instead. Speaking of, any idea why a 4-way seam intersection is more likely to be problematic than a 3-way? It seems like a reliable way to seal up a 3-way intersection would also work reliably for a 4-way.
Thanks for this thread and all the details. I think it's really cool to learn more about the details of these suits and how they compare. Especially for more affordable options. I meet a lot of divers who only dive part of the year because they live where the water is too cold and they feel like a drysuit is too expensive. Being able to share info on high quality suits that are also much more affordable than most people think is great! It gets more people diving more often.
