drysuit seal repair questions

[slingshot]

Hi, I'm a new owner of a compressed neoprene drysuit with latex seals, and will be doing a liveaboard later in the year. I wonder how many of you travel with your own replacement seals and cement/glue to do repairs? I have been told to use McNett seal cement, which comes in 2 oz tubes and 4 oz cans. I would like to just take a tube as it is easier to pack, but would 2 oz be enough to get the job done if I had to replace both a neck and wrist seal? Should I take sand paper as well? Any other travel tips to throw at me?

Thanks,
Slingshot

 

[ajduplessis]

Dive wet, or take wetsuit as backup. The failure of the latex seals is bigger than the suit, if the seals go you are done, unless you want to dive wet in a drysuit.

 

[Mikko Ilari Laakkonen]

Why would anyone want to dove wet somewhere where they consider taking a drysuit along.

OP I would not try repairing latex seals, only replacing them works. It is not too difficult but for the first time in liveaboard environment it might be a challenge. Spare seals and skill to replace them is always good.

However I would carefully check the seals before leaving and replace before the trip if needed. Just visually check the whole seals by stretching them and observing inch by inch if you see "wrinkles" while stretching.

IF you happen to bust a seal 8th your trip and you do not have the ability for changing a spare seal just bring a lot of duct tape. You can always tape the seal shut but you must repeat the process for every dive .

- Mikko Laakkonen -

I love diving and teaching others to dive.

 

[TSandM]

Having tried it multiple times, you can't really repair latex seals. You can patch them together to save a single dive, but you'll likely end up wet at the end of it, and the repairs won't hold over multiple dives.

This is really the big issue with traveling with a dry suit. I solved it by moving to the SiTech user replaceable seal system. I don't know if that can be mounted on a neoprene suit, but it's hard to imagine why not, because it is glued on.

I have done my own seal replacements, and it isn't that difficult, but you need the right sized obturator to hold the sleeve or neck stretched flat, and you need a roller or something to get all the air out of the contact surface, and the suit must be left undisturbed for about 24 hours if you expect the repair to hold. It would be difficult but perhaps not impossible to do that at a resort; I can't imagine trying it on a boat.

 

[Mikko Ilari Laakkonen]

Sitech replaceable seals are the best yes. And wine bottle is a good mold for wrist seal replacement

- Mikko Laakkonen -

I love diving and teaching others to dive.

 

[slingshot]

To clarify I didn't mean repairing a torn seal, I meant replacing the seal with a new one. I'll look into the Sitech replaceables, but with new seals I think I'll give it a go and take a backup and some duct tape. The trip is to Alaska so I'd prefer a drysuit.

 

[Herb-alaska]

To clarify I didn't mean repairing a torn seal, I meant replacing the seal with a new one. I'll look into the Sitech replaceables, but with new seals I think I'll give it a go and take a backup and some duct tape. The trip is to Alaska so I'd prefer a drysuit.

In Alaska you will not just want a dry suit but you will need a Dry suit. Personally as was already stated above just check the seal and replace if they are on the edge before your trip. If you are really concerned about tearing them go with a zip seal which are field replaceable. I have a mix on my primary suit. On the wrists I have Si Tech which allows me to change from latex seal to dry gloves in the field or simply change a torn wrist seal. On my neck I went with a standard latex seal because I don't like the neck ring that is required for the Si tech system. I also am pretty easy on the neck seal, the wrist seals take more abuse because I put my hands in tight places for work.

In short if your seals are in good condition and you are in anyway careful of them you wont have to worry about them on your trip. Heck if they start to seep a little you may get a little wet but that doe snot have to stop you from diving this time of year.

Enjoy your trip, everything you see in Alaska is just plain bigger.
Herb

 

[Peter_C]

You don't necessarily need a wrist seal if you have dry gloves.

Replacing a seal can be done fairly easily, by cutting the old seal down to the neoprene, and gluing the new seal to the old one. I always carry Cotol to speed up the drying process of Aquaseal. The bigger issue is getting the old seal clean so the glue can stick.

 

[TSandM]

If you depend on dry gloves, a hole in a glove is a flooded suit. I've always preferred the insurance of an intact wrist seal under the glove.

 

[slingshot]

What about McNett Seal Cement vs Aquaseal for glueing latex seals to neoprene? Any good reasons to favor one over the other besides differences in drying time? I presume the seal cement is more elastic when dry, but have worked with neither. I have tubes of both lying around.