Bicep to Elbow exhaust vent move

[undrwater]

I recently picked up a lightly used drysuit from one of our own members. It's a DUI CNSE. As advertised it was ready to dive right when I got it and has no leaks.

My only beef now with this suit is a beef that others have had...the placement of the exhaust vent. It is located at the bicep of my left arm, and as others have noticed, makes venting difficult. Last night I tried using the "hand behind the head" maneuver mentioned in several threads here at SB, but this was not sufficient to vent enough to keep me from looking like a yo-yo...as a matter of fact, I had to use my right hand to press the vent in order to get some semblance of buoyancy control.

I am considering moving the vent to the outside of arm, and because of the location of the zipper, this would place the vent at the top of my elbow. I've emailed several of the people recommended by the good people here at SB to find out if they could do it, and if in their professional opinion it was a wise thing to do.

Marsella at DUI responded to me stating that they could indeed make the move, and have made this modification in the past.

I'd like to know if any of you have made this modification, or have any opinions about it before I spend the money to have it done.

Gratefully (in advance)

Russell

 

[divad]

I recently picked up a lightly used drysuit from one of our own members. It's a DUI CNSE. As advertised it was ready to dive right when I got it and has no leaks.

My only beef now with this suit is a beef that others have had...the placement of the exhaust vent. It is located at the bicep of my left arm, and as others have noticed, makes venting difficult. Last night I tried using the "hand behind the head" maneuver mentioned in several threads here at SB, but this was not sufficient to vent enough to keep me from looking like a yo-yo...as a matter of fact, I had to use my right hand to press the vent in order to get some semblance of buoyancy control.

I am considering moving the vent to the outside of arm, and because of the location of the zipper, this would place the vent at the top of my elbow. I've emailed several of the people recommended by the good people here at SB to find out if they could do it, and if in their professional opinion it was a wise thing to do.

Marsella at DUI responded to me stating that they could indeed make the move, and have made this modification in the past.

I'd like to know if any of you have made this modification, or have any opinions about it before I spend the money to have it done.

Gratefully (in advance)

Russell

I have a drysuit with the same "innovation" and am also thinking of moving the exhaust valve. It seems to work OK if I flex my forearm and bicep and squeeze them together but it still requires a semi-vertical position to vent. The only way I can get it to vent passively, is to assume the shrimp position (lounge-chair position actually, the shrimp is reserved for depression or not-getting-your-***-kicked). There has to be something better, but I've only done four drysuit dives so I may be wrong. I was thinking of moving it to the side of the upper arm between the bicep and tricep. If it's going to be moved, I'll do it myself.

 

[scuba66]

have you adjusted the exhaust vent so that when you raise it higher than the rest of your body it exhausts and then when you lower it it doesnt?
i have always had my exhaust valve in the forearm location and that works perfectly.

 

[Peter_C]

I have a cuff dump and do not mind it. For me, it is a matter of rolling on my side just a little and lifting my arm. Vent early and all is well.

 

[undrwater]

I have a cuff dump and do not mind it. For me, it is a matter of rolling on my side just a little and lifting my arm. Vent early and all is well.

The point there being that you can actually dump. I don't wish to move the vent to the cuff for various reasons that don't need to be explained here.

Anyone else?

 

[Peter_C]

Whoops, for some reason I was thinking you meant you had a cuff dump and did not like it. My bad
Most people do not like cuff dumps and move them to their shoulder. Since my suit came that way I have left it and deal with it.

 

[undrwater]

That's OK...actually re-reading my post I think I took kind of a harsh tone...I apologize.

No...I think I could deal with a cuff dump if that's how it came. At least I'd be able to dump without strange contortions. With the dump on the bicep it won't auto-dump at all. I'm having to use my right hand to press the vent.

 

[divad]

No...I think I could deal with a cuff dump if that's how it came. At least I'd be able to dump without strange contortions. With the dump on the bicep it won't auto-dump at all. I'm having to use my right hand to press the vent.

I agree the bicep dump seems ridiculous. I'm definately moving mine, or having it moved. It's OK for learning right now ( it'll make me better if it doesn't kill me), but I don't like it.

 

[undrwater]

I was hoping that someone who had actually done this modification would be able to respond here...

I wonder if this is a novel concept? Maybe I'll go ahead and do it so I can report its effectiveness. It may take me about a month to come up with the budget.

 

[CompuDude]

White's had the same problem with early models of they Catalyst suits, IIRC. Horrible place for a valve.

I would have it moved in a heartbeat... or pass on the suit in the first place.