A leaking dry suit question ?

[DanBMW]

I tried out a DUI dry suit yesterday, (light DUI undergarments) in the Gulf of Mexico, in 64 degree water and it leaked in the arms and neck. The latex sleeves and neck seals seemed fine, it's just that I have thin wrists. The tendons on my wrist stick out when I bend my wrist and my guess is that the latex sleeve needed to be pulled further up my arm to make a good seal? The neck leak is not understood.

This was my first open water dive with the suit and I felt OK with the buoyancy, adding air and overall trim. Weights for good. I did try it out my first dry suit in a pool a week ago and learned the different techniques. The Gulf dive was no deeper than 28 feet and in relatively calm seas.

Any suggestions or ideas on the leaks? All seals were checked several time on the boat by me and others before I jumped in and there were no leaks on the surface that were obvious. By the way, what a cold dive..........

 

[dannobee]

Well, the trick of pulling the wrist seals further up your forearm works. It could be that the seals were trimmed for someone with bigger wrists and neck and are too big for yours.

As for neck seal, you can do the same trick on that; pull the seal down as close to your collarbone as possible.

Otherwise you'll need to replace the seals or buy bio-seals.


.

 

[DanBMW]

From the Bio-Seal web site:


"Not only divers, but surfers and other watersport enthusiasts will also find this a useful addition to their equipment. While the Bio-Seal was originally designed for use for neoprene seals, it will also make a latex type seal more comfortable and less restrictive. This product does contain oils which can cause early wear in latex type seals. Cleaning the neck seal of your suit thoroughly after each use can help delay this effect. Each seal includes a dry storage container.

Might help, but looks like it will cause down the road problems with the latex seals. The latex seals that I used were trimmed for me before I used the suit. I really do think the shop that I rented the suit from did a good job setting the suit up for me. All seals were checked and trimmed to fit.

 

[Jang]

I'm still a bit of noob, but one thing I've figured out with rental drysuits is....buy your own. I was renting drysuits and never stayed completely dry. I would always get neck seal leaks and have linked them to two factors. First, rental drysuits get their seals stretched by lots of people and noobs can be a little rough on them. As previously mentioned, pull the seal as far down your neck as possible. Second, I was a major head turner when looking for critters, I have since adopted the full body turn when looking to the side or up/down. Both of these have resulted in much dryer experiences. A Whites Fusion drysuit in my future should a put an end (hopefully) to my leaks.

 

[TSandM]

There may be two different issues here.

Latex neck seals HAVE to fit to seal properly. If they are even a little bit too big, they will admit water every time you move your head. I have not found the BioSeal useful in this circumstance, although it seals overly large neoprene seals beautifully.

Wrist seals, on the other hand, can be cut perfectly and still leak. This is because some of us have very prominent tendons in our wrists, and when we flex the wrist and hand, the seal is pushed away from the cylindrical portion of the wrist, and water gets in. This is something that is unavoidable, if you have that sort of anatomy, unless you use dry gloves. If the seals are perfectly fitted, it will be minimized (damp to mid-forearm or so) but one will never be perfectly dry.