Question Drysuit leaking when surface swimming, any idea?

[dlao]

TUSA neoprene drysuit. New old stock suit never dived before. Has been sitting in my closet as a backup suit for a while. The suit was doing fine during the entire dive. After surfacing we had a half-hour surface swim back to the shore. This is when my feet started to get wet until my socks were completely soaked in water.

My conjectures,
1) Water leaks from one of the neoprene seals, as they are not as watertight as latex/silicone. In this case probably there's no action required.
2) Water leaks from the exhaust valve. Is it common during the surface swim?
3) The suit developed some seam leaks sitting in the closet. When diving (in trim) air bubbles out from the hole so there was not much water getting in. When surface swimming, with the slight lower body squeeze, water was forced into the suit. I only had experience with membrane drysuits, on which you can use an iron to restore some seams. But I guess using iron on a neoprene drysuit is a bad idea. Is there any simple fix?

 

[Bigbella]

TUSA neoprene drysuit. New old stock suit never dived before. Has been sitting in my closet as a backup suit for a while. The suit was doing fine during the entire dive. After surfacing we had a half-hour surface swim back to the shore. This is when my feet started to get wet until my socks were completely soaked in water.

My conjectures,
1) Water leaks from one of the neoprene seals, as they are not as watertight as latex/silicone. In this case probably there's no action required.
2) Water leaks from the exhaust valve. Is it common during the surface swim?
3) The suit developed some seam leaks sitting in the closet. When diving (in trim) air bubbles out from the hole so there was not much water getting in. When surface swimming, with the slight lower body squeeze, water was forced into the suit. I only had experience with membrane drysuits, on which you can use an iron to restore some seams. But I guess using iron on a neoprene drysuit is a bad idea. Is there any simple fix?

Perhaps your wrist seals? That's a common spot for leakage, since that waterproof seal can be easily breached, just by the casual flexing of the FCU tendon of the hand, while making a fist or even gripping an object . . .

 

[dlao]

How are the wrist seals? That's a common spot for leakage, since the seal is easily breached, just by the casual flexing of the hand . . .

They feel fine. No obvious rip or aging. But again, the seals are neoprene so hmm.

 

[lexvil]

Try adding 2 pounds so you have a little more air in your suit at the end of the dive.

 

[GJC]

You're not going to know until you leak test it. You can test it yourself or have a shop do it.

Use a gallon jug to seal neck and appropriate size plastic bottles at wrists. Inflate suit and spray suit with soapy water. It doesn't need a lot of pressure. Just fill suit with air and kneel on it a little as you spray.

If you can't find any leaks then it's probably your wrist or neck seals against your skin.

 

[Bigbella]

They feel fine. No obvious rip or aging. But again, the seals are neoprene so hmm.

No, not the integrity of the seals themselves; but what the folks at DUI had mentioned, years ago:

"Two common places for drysuits to leak are at the wrist and neck seals. For some divers prominent tendons can cause leakage through the seals EVEN when seals are trimmed correctly . . ."

 

[happy-diver]

Perspiration!

 

[rob.mwpropane]

TUSA neoprene drysuit. New old stock suit never dived before. Has been sitting in my closet as a backup suit for a while. The suit was doing fine during the entire dive. After surfacing we had a half-hour surface swim back to the shore. This is when my feet started to get wet until my socks were completely soaked in water.

My conjectures,
1) Water leaks from one of the neoprene seals, as they are not as watertight as latex/silicone. In this case probably there's no action required.
2) Water leaks from the exhaust valve. Is it common during the surface swim?
3) The suit developed some seam leaks sitting in the closet. When diving (in trim) air bubbles out from the hole so there was not much water getting in. When surface swimming, with the slight lower body squeeze, water was forced into the suit. I only had experience with membrane drysuits, on which you can use an iron to restore some seams. But I guess using iron on a neoprene drysuit is a bad idea. Is there any simple fix?

Was it just the feet? Or were there other parts that were wet also? It's hard for me to visualize how leaky seals can get your feet soaked but nothing else.

On my neo suit sometimes it'll burp from the neck at the surface. This can cause maybe some dampness on the chest, but I've never had my feet fill with water.

And both feet filled at the same time?

I 2nd to do a leak test.

 

[Zef]

It does not take much for water seepage ingress to occur when the issue is with a seem but it can be difficult to diagnose with a leak test as the amount of air pressure in the suit during the test is often not enough to cause bubbling out of the effective area.

If you suspect a seam issue in the feet of your suit, then I recommend you suspend your suit. Use a mooring ball with an eye to block the neck opening and suspend from the eye. Put each foot of the soot individually in a bucket and twist the fabric to isolate air in the foot and then squeeze while carefully examining for bubbles…if the seam is compromised the stream of bubble could be very apparent or extremely small in size and easy to miss.

Good luck.

-Z

 

[dlao]

Was it just the feet? Or were there other parts that were wet also? It's hard for me to visualize how leaky seals can get your feet soaked but nothing else.

On my neo suit sometimes it'll burp from the neck at the surface. This can cause maybe some dampness on the chest, but I've never had my feet fill with water.

And both feet filled at the same time?

I 2nd to do a leak test.

I believe the whole undergarment felt quite wet, but of different levels. The upper body was humid wet, the feet were soaking wet.