Damp crotch and thighs

[BEVANJ]

I just spent quite a while looking for a leak in my drysuit crotch area that was making my fwd thighs, crotch, and lower belly wet with no luck what so ever.

Had a read of an ancient post on here by TSandM (who I understand is no long with us) that the symptoms could be neck seal related if diving in trim. Figured what the heck - I'll check. What do you know! Tiny pinhole through my sitech silicone neck seal that I needed to stretch the seal to find.

Unbelievable!

 

[Stoo]

I have a year old SANTI eMoton... It's had a bum zipper replaced already and I still get wet on every dive. I found a leak at a seam in the small of my back and patched it up. But I still get wet. Most of my friends dive DUIs and many of them have two suits since they never stay dry and one suit or the other is always away being "repaired".

My suit is still under warranty, and I am trying to get a response from the distributor about how to proceed, but I am slowly accepting that most drysuits these days are actually dampsuits.

I have been diving in Viking Pro suits for the past 35 - 40 years. I am used to be completely dry following a dive, so I may just unload this lemon SANTI and go back to my Viking.

 

[Bric Martin]

Lynne's legacy lives on! RIP LCF.

 

[tbone1004]

is it biased to one side or is it uniform? if it's biased, then it could very well be a leak on the docking end of the Ti-Zip if you have one, not posting which suit you use is prohibitive in diagnosis btw, or if you have a p-valve it could be leaking. If it isn't biased, then it is likely a pinhole. Pressurize the suit and spray with soapy water to check for leaks

 

[dead dog]

Get a wet-suit and you won't have to worry about a leak. lol

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

I guess there is a downside to having good trim while diving a drysuit, since most leaks will end up soaking you at the lowest point on your body. We regularly get customers asking about that area getting wet and our answer is always to do a leak test.

 

[BEVANJ]

Yeah. The bit that amazed me was that it originated from my neck seal. Upper chest was still pretty dry (normal condensation dampness). I think it was wicking down the front zip line to the lowest point in the suit (my thighs and crotch) and accumulating there, making it the most damp.

tbone1004 - leak was already solved when I made my original post - I was just thinking the info might be useful for anyone else out there. Lynne certainly got it right. FYI, my suit is a foruth element Argonaut.

Bevan

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

Yeah. The bit that amazed me was that it originated from my neck seal. Upper chest was still pretty dry (normal condensation dampness). I think it was wicking down the front zip line to the lowest point in the suit (my thighs and crotch) and accumulating there, making it the most damp.

tbone1004 - leak was already solved when I made my original post - I was just thinking the info might be useful for anyone else out there. Lynne certainly got it right. FYI, my suit is a foruth element Argonaut.

Bevan

Usually if there's a leak from the extremities, the water will run down the "channel" created by the zipper on the inside of the suit...pooling right at the stomach/crotch area.

 

[ajduplessis]

I have a year old SANTI eMoton... It's had a bum zipper replaced already and I still get wet on every dive. I found a leak at a seam in the small of my back and patched it up. But I still get wet. Most of my friends dive DUIs and many of them have two suits since they never stay dry and one suit or the other is always away being "repaired".

My suit is still under warranty, and I am trying to get a response from the distributor about how to proceed, but I am slowly accepting that most drysuits these days are actually dampsuits.

I have been diving in Viking Pro suits for the past 35 - 40 years. I am used to be completely dry following a dive, so I may just unload this lemon SANTI and go back to my Viking.

Interesting about the DUI suits that leak. Struggle to unserstand that such a well know and extremely expensive brand is not dry.

 

[Stoo]

Interesting about the DUI suits that leak. Struggle to unserstand that such a well know and extremely expensive brand is not dry.

It's strictly an observation and even though they always get wet, my friends love them. The neoprene suits seem to be better. Mostly it's the laminate suits. In exchanging emails with the SANTI rep here in Canada, he has a suit like mine and raves about the fit and comfort (as do I) but then said right out that he accepts that it will need some patching from time to time. (WTF?) I pointed out that in my Vikings (I have had 5 or 6 of them over 35 years) I come out of the water completely dry. Everytime. If I do ever put a hole in it, I can see the hole and patch it on site in 5 minutes. He dismissed my comments by simply saying that Vikings are "a whole different thing".

I think that we have just become accustomed to being damp and that's just the way that suits are. It's kind of the same mentality that "The Big 3" car makers had... their cars were "good enough". And suddenly they were going bankrupt because others built far better products.

It's not like these suits are inexpensive. I think the retail price on my SANTI is about $3300 in Canada. I can't imagine this thing lasting, but perhaps I will be surprised.

I still have my 3 year old Viking. I am going back to it and will try to get the SANTI dry and keep it for travel where the water isn't so cold and weight is an issue for flying.