Question Chances of flex seal decently fixing my semidry's zipper seal?

[babgsoe01]

Hi all,

Wanted to get opinions on repairing my old nova scotia semi-dry's zipper seal. The zipper itself is great and I've kept it lubricated so mercifully no issues with the teeth/pulling/etc. However as you can see the issue is the sealing around the zipper is flaking off (probably due to the suit being an older model of the nova scotia semidry). This is making me a cold, cold diver. And this thing kept the water OUT before the seal failed!

I am not super knowledgeable about this type of wetsuit construction, but to me it seems like if the zipper is fine but the material around it is flaking, I could potentially coat the flaking bits with flex seal? I've heard of people having issues with flexseal flaking off on the inside of suits (yechh) however this would be an exterior repair and the back of my shoulders. Which doesn't seem like a high-movement zone so besides the pulling of the fabric from zipping and unzipping, possibly the flex seal would hold up?

1) I am cheap and 2) don't live near a lot of scuba shops so I'm not even sure who I could send this thing to for repair. And I'm salty about needing to potentially ship off for a zipper repair when the teeth and pull are working just fine. Seems like most people's zippers break first before the seals give out.

Is this a bad idea? Or could this potentially buy me some more time?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I tried Flexseal once. After a month it began flaking black dots everywhere. Try Superior Drysuit Repair

 

[buddhasummer]

Not sure it's necessarily a bad idea per se just don't fancy your chances.

 

[happy-diver]

bad idea

 

[Bowers]

I’ve tried flex seal and it was terrible. What has worked great is aquaseal. Mix a bit of MEK in with aquaseal and put a thin layer on. The mek helps it penetrate better and cure faster. Do thin applications, let dry between applications. Usually about 3 coats does the job for me. It takes a couple three days but is easy and works great. I use plastic cups to mix in and cheap art paintbrushes to apply.

Oh ya.. don’t forget to extend coverage a bit beyond the leaky spot.

 

[Jcp2]

So it neither flexes nor seals?

 

[lexvil]

So it neither flexes nor seals?

More of a doesn’t adhere well.

 

[babgsoe01]

I tried Flexseal once. After a month it began flaking black dots everywhere. Try Superior Drysuit Repair

I am a cheapa** so I'm going to try the aquaseal first... Thank you for the Superior Drysuit Repair recommendation! I did reach out to them for a quote.