Did I screw my new neck seal up?

[mempilot]

I've been waiting for a reason to change out my original neck seal for some time now. I lost some neck weight over the last year and the neck seal was leaking a little during certain contortions. Anyway, I ripped the seal pulling it over my head after the dive today and figured now is the time.

However; I ordered Aquaseal and contact cement. The Aquaseal came in, but the cement did not. The Aquaseal says it is a cement, so I figured it will work for everything. I scuffed the two surfaces lightly and began smearing the Aquaseal on the suit and pressed the seal to it. Right. The seal kept popping up at various spots since the Aquaseal doesn't seat right away. What a PITA. I knew I should have contact the two together first and then sealed with the Aquaseal.

Now, i'm letting the thing set up with some spots bowed. I'll have to reglue them down tomorrow.

Did I muck this up and should I start over? Or will it all turn out fine?

Thanks.

 

[DEEPLOU]

from your description it sounds like u have latex seals. Aquaseal is great. BUT not on latex seals. It will go on and peel off like the skin off an orange. (even faster).
If you have neoprene seals, again aquaseal is not the thing to use. (although It can work) For neooprene seals, the black neoprene cement works wonders.

YOu didn't muck it up, but forget starting over. Get seals replaced. BTW if one went the others are right behind so get all done.

 

[Scuba_Steve]

I've had this discussion with Bob3, our "Friendly Viking Dealer". He said Aquaseal, although maybe not the best, will do the trick. I've just redid a neck seal and put a new dry hood on it. Using Aquaseal and Cotol 240 (as the prep and hardener). It seems to have worked well.

I think there are a few "forms" of Aquaseal. The stuff I have used in the past is NOT up to the task. It came in a can, was black, and had a paint brush type applicator. This seems to be Neoprene only. The stuff that I am currently using (I think it said something to the effect of Eurothane (sp) adhesive), comes in a tube and is white-to-clear in colour (or "color" for you guys). I added a dab of cotol to the aquaseal, as described on the package to set it up quicker.

It seems to have worked, although it does take a few minutes to set, so you'd better want the suit and what-ever set up you have, to be sturdy (for the neck seal), to allow you to press it down with no bumps or air pockets. I test fit the seal to see where it naturally wanted to sit, and then I drew a light line around the edge, so when it came time to seal it for good, I knew exactly where I wanted it to go.

It would be no good having a dry hood that was faced 90 degrees to one side and lumpy as hell!

I used a fair amount of duct-tape just to ensure the edges kept down until things set too. It doesn't look too bad either! A little cotol after the fact cleans the excess stuff right off.

Have fun.


Steve

P.S. Thanks a bunch Bob3! I owe you one.

 

[Paco]

Can you post a pic of what you did?

 

[Scuba_Steve]

Not really. I'm not in the 20th century :-(

I'll have to get a Dig Camera someday soon.

 

[rcontrera]

Never use Aquaseal PU filler anywhere that you may need to do additional repairs in the future. It is a filler (not a glue), cannot be dissolved with the Cotol after it has set, permanent and will take mechanical removal methods to get it off.

We have had suits come to the factory that have had Aquaseal used for either sealing in valves or gluing seals and it takes an additional hour or two to grind off the hardened mess so that we can do a good repair. The customer has to pay for the extra repair time.

When replacing seals, we have some stuff that works on ALL brands of drysuits. It is called PB-300 and is available at ANY dive shop that wants it (as are all of our repair parts).

I have instructions on my site at:
http://www.ossystems.com/repair/repr.htm

Just my $.02


Ray Contreras
========================
http://www.ossystems.com

 

[mempilot]

Thanks Ray. When the seal needs replaced again, I'll relocate this thread for the proper way to do this job.

 

[Scottri]

AquaSeal needs to be mixed with Cotol to work. I've never heard of AquaSeal working on it's own. You also need to clean the suit surface with something like MEK to remove the old glue.


Scott

 

[mempilot]

AquaSeal states in the directions that it can be applied without Cotol, but that Cotol makes it set up quicker. The area was prepped. It actually worked out as far as functionality (doesn't leak), but it looks like crap.

I'll do right next time for sure.