Drysuit Diving

[Jim Lapenta]

I do use a toothbrush on my suit. About every 1/2 dozen dives or so. And wash, dry, and condition the seals after every outing. Sounds like you are using too much wax and it may be a little on the soft side.
There is a beeswax that you can use. It is not the cheap yellow stuff that may have pollen, dirt, bee innards and poop in it. What I have been using is a block of pure pharmaceutical grade beeswax. Got mine at a Fabric and craft store. It is hard, does not gum up, and yet cleans off easily. Been using that on my suits and the zippers on my motorcycle chaps since 2006. Have never had to replace a zipper.
When I bought it the price was $14.00. For a one pound slab. After nearly 7 years of using it, giving some away, and even losing a chunk I still have about 1/2 of it left. Compare that to a tube of "zipper wax" that shops get as much as ten bucks for.

 

[mick allein III]

My Drysuit was a major investment. I clean the zipper with a tootbrush following each dive before I wax the zipper. It takes about 1 min. I wax the zipper before each dive. Go lightly with the wax. The zipper doesn't need a lot. Too much wax will attract dust and dirt- not good for the zipper. I also treat the seals with latex preservant available at your LDS. Finally powder seals with talc and store according to manufacturers instruction. All told this takes 15 min. Time well spent after a day of diving in a suit that costs 2K.


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[spectrum]

The wad of gunk at the end sounds like the pinch of grease sometimes added to seal the slider when it docks at the end.

 

[Subcooled]

I have dived down head first (even from the surface) and I have stood on my head on the bottom. No problem.

If you are neutrally buoyant at shallow depth and then lift your feet, then air rushes there and (rises ans thus) expands and soon you will find yourself on the surface. If you on the other hand put your head down, and keep the feets level, then the air will not rise and you won't have a problem. It gets easier deeper. Diving head down obviously requires some care and experience and skill and not too much extra air in the suit.

But yes, standing on ones head on the bottom, and then doing some somersaults, is perfectly doable. Even without fins.

All the divers I know dive using frogkicks and bent knees and the fins are a bit higher that the head. It just takes a little practice to learn the balance.

The PADI dvd offers advice for those that are learning the basics of diving.

---------- Post added January 5th, 2014 at 03:32 PM ----------

Also it says ascend head up

because very inexperience divers may have difficulty emptying the suit, and ascend too fast, and if they end up upside down, bad things may happen, and they may not look where they are going and hit the bottom of a ship, and...

An experienced diver that is in control of his/her suit and understands to look up, (probably) wishes to stay horizontal during ascent. It is not a pleasant feeling when the air packs up around the neck and one feels getting strangled. The ascent speed is actually easier to control when the whole back is breaking.

 

[j2s]

Try Tribolube #71 on the zipper....Doesn't build up/adheres well and is very slippery.....Has multiple uses; 'O' rings, threads etc. and is relatively inexpensive....Don't need a lot, small amounts work well......