Do you use anything to assist getting your latex seals on?

[rongoodman]

Spray bottle with a mix of water and Johnson's Baby Shampoo.

 

[JKPAO]

Baby shampoo, for my seals I also use it to wash hands, hair, and it makes for a good mask defogger! One spray bottle, many uses.
See you topside! John

 

[hoopa]

I think the baby shampoo sounds like the best way to go.. Talc would work well for the first don of the day--- but after a few dives and taking the suit down/off then back on-- it might not work as well... Plus for all the reasons jkpao mentioned--One bottle many uses..... JKPAO and or RonGoodman--- what solution do you guys use?

 

[Bubbletrubble]

For multiple dives on a given dive day, it can be helpful to briefly rinse the sealing surface of the latex neck seal with fresh water. If saltwater dries on that surface, it can really irritate the skin. It's one possible cause of a hangman's noose-type neck abrasion.

Drysuit owners observe various lifespans for the latex seals on modern drysuits.
Lots of factors probably affect how long the seals will last: climate/humidity of storage conditions, presence of ozone-generators where the suit is stored, age of latex seal prior to installation, storage of the seals prior to installation, the composition of a person's sweat, exposure to contaminated water, how well the seals are cleaned after diving, UV damage to the seals, whether a "seal saver" solution is used, whether a "seal saver" product actually works, how gentle a diver is when doffing/donning the suit, etc.

I'm still working on the original wrist seals that came with my Bare suit several years ago. I suspect that had I not installed the Viking Bayonet dryglove system a couple of years ago, I probably would have had to change the wrist seals by now. FWIW, I really don't have much of an air-tight seal on my right wrist should the dryglove fail.
I've had a somewhat different experience with latex neck seals. They seem to be much more short-lived than the wrist seals. My original neck seal only lasted about 18 months. Since then, I've had one neck seal that lasted 2 years and another that began disintegrating in 6 months following installation (caused by a several-day exposure to a wall-mounted, old-style gas furnace)...but I stretched another 6 months of life out of it with copious amounts of duct tape. YMMV.

 

[rongoodman]

Half and half, more or less.

 

[JKPAO]

I use an industrial spay bottle(quart size+?), maybe 4 ozs of baby shampoo and fill the rest with water. I just and enough bs to turn the water yellow.

See you topside! John

 

[Doc Harry]

My girlfriend and I use KY jelly to help us get into our dry suit latex seals. KY is water soluble and really slick, there's no stress on the seals.

Plus KY has other fun uses as well.

 

[Aqua-Andy]

For multiple dives on a given dive day, it can be helpful to briefly rinse the sealing surface of the latex neck seal with fresh water. If saltwater dries on that surface, it can really irritate the skin. It's one possible cause of a hangman's noose-type neck abrasion.

Drysuit owners observe various lifespans for the latex seals on modern drysuits.
Lots of factors probably affect how long the seals will last: climate/humidity of storage conditions, presence of ozone-generators where the suit is stored, age of latex seal prior to installation, storage of the seals prior to installation, the composition of a person's sweat, exposure to contaminated water, how well the seals are cleaned after diving, UV damage to the seals, whether a "seal saver" solution is used, whether a "seal saver" product actually works, how gentle a diver is when doffing/donning the suit, etc.

I'm still working on the original wrist seals that came with my Bare suit several years ago. I suspect that had I not installed the Viking Bayonet dryglove system a couple of years ago, I probably would have had to change the wrist seals by now. FWIW, I really don't have much of an air-tight seal on my right wrist should the dryglove fail.
I've had a somewhat different experience with latex neck seals. They seem to be much more short-lived than the wrist seals. My original neck seal only lasted about 18 months. Since then, I've had one neck seal that lasted 2 years and another that began disintegrating in 6 months following installation (caused by a several-day exposure to a wall-mounted, old-style gas furnace)...but I stretched another 6 months of life out of it with copious amounts of duct tape. YMMV.

Not to hijack the thread but have you replaced the neck seal on your suit your self? As I recall you have a Nex-Gen correct? What do you use to glue the new neck seal on with? I was going to install a new seal on my Nex-Gen by cutting the old seal off to the point where it it glued to the suit and use dry adhesave tape to attach the seal to the old seal.

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Not to hijack the thread but have you replaced the neck seal on your suit your self? As I recall you have a Nex-Gen correct? What do you use to glue the new neck seal on with? I was going to install a new seal on my Nex-Gen by cutting the old seal off to the point where it it glued to the suit and use dry adhesave tape to attach the seal to the old seal.

@Aqua-Andy: Yup. I have a Bare Nex-Gen, and I have replaced the latex neck seal (bellows-style like the stock seal) myself. The adhesive to use is called PB-300 made by OS Systems.
I purchased it from Bob3 here on ScubaBoard. Great guy. He runs a dive shop (Triton Marine) in Sacramento, CA. Here's a link to his web page that lists prices.

I highly recommend getting your neck seal from Bob as well. Just send him your neck circumference measurements because the Viking seals come in different sizes. The Viking latex seems to be of higher quality than the stuff that was previously installed on my suit by a local shop. I'm very happy with the product.

You can call, email, or PM him. I think that calling is the best option if you need to get in touch with him quickly.

Here's how I did the replacement...
With a little bit of tugging and patience, I was able to remove the old seal + adhesive with my bare hands.
I made a cardboard ring mold (split into two halves and positioned on the seal with a few strips of double-sided tape) to help support the neck seal while applying coats of adhesive to it (prior to installation).
Clean the surfaces to be bonded with MEK (I got a medium-sized container for $7 from Home Depot).
Gently scuff up the surfaces to be bonded with some sandpaper.
Apply a coat of PB-300 (brush applicator is built into the lid) to both sealing surfaces. Allow to dry for a few minutes. Repeat x3.
Then add one more coat to the suit and quickly/carefully position neck seal onto the suit.
Remove the mold and use an inexpensive wallpaper seam roller to roll out any bubbles and get the two surfaces to adhere properly.
It helps to have a sturdy piece of wood to use as backing while you do this.
Examine your work. You might have to add a little extra adhesive under the edges of the seal in a couple spots.
Sprinkle the outside/inside of seal and the suit (in the vicinity of the neck hole) with unscented talc to help deactivate any stray adhesive. You can also wipe away any excess adhesive (probably very little if any at all) that squishes out. Needless to say, you don't want the adhesive to cause other parts of the seal and suit to stick together.
Allow to cure overnight.

N.B.: Take care not to damage the zipper while you're installing the neck seal. I could see how it might be possible to accidentally get some adhesive on the zipper or mechanically damage the zipper with the wood backing or the roller during the "rolling" process.

If you go the adhesive tape route, let us all know how the process goes.

Good luck!