Ever replace your own Latex seals?

[dbg40]

I'm sure dbg40 can do anything he puts his mind to. He just doesn't want to bother with seals if he can afford not to so he can concentrate on other aspects of diving. If he can service regs he can do a seal but the tech part of his diving doesn't allow for a lot of error if he springs a leak at 85' at the bottom of a dark quarry or 130-160' on a sub off the cold waters of Rhode Island.

Exactly.

 

[u-boat853]

$2000.00 suit?.........Im paying to have it done.

When i got my first dry suit i felt the same way. After i ripped my first seal and didn't get my suit back for two weeks, my thinking changed. For me it has nothing to do with the money. I dive a couple time's a week and i dont want to wait. So i do it my self. If i can do it anyone can.

 

[Chris Sawallich]

One word................


ZIPS.............

 

[Dectek]

"Another case of "pay and have the job done well, and once. There is no shame in having someone that does it for a living, do it."

..Paying somebody else $130 does not insure it will be done correctly even though the person makes their living doing it. I have seen this in this and the auto industry. Hell..I look at it like putting my life in my own hands and not someone I don't even know that may have been kicked out of the house last night by his wife and then spent the last 6 hours in a bar before installing a $25 seal in my $2000 suit.

I do understand that some tasks are not worth your time or you can be making more money doing something else.


" I have made a lot of money in ther past by redoing jobs for those that should have called me in the first place."
Ain't that the truth.... But we get to charge more when that is the case.

I did not mean to offend your mechanical abilities or self confidence but,
"$2000.00 suit?.........Im paying to have it done." does not say It is not worth my time.
It implies that the suit is too expensive to screw up.

 

[waynne fowler]

$2000.00 suit?.........Im paying to have it done.

chicken uttahere

Joking!!!

Unless your very confident and have a bit of DIY skill this is truly the best course of action. Though with a little patience, and reading you can DIY quite easily. I put about 3 set's on per week and if I can do it, ANY 5 year old can.

Had to do a set of seals for a friend on a dive trip we used a hair dryer for removal, ( be VERY careful not to overheat ) a wine bottle as a jig and then a beer bottle for a roller... that was 3 almost 4 years ago and the seal is still on the suit :06:

Sorry for the dig dbg... well kinda sorry a little bit!

 

[Dive-aholic]

When i got my first dry suit i felt the same way. After i ripped my first seal and didn't get my suit back for two weeks, my thinking changed. For me it has nothing to do with the money. I dive a couple time's a week and i dont want to wait. So i do it my self. If i can do it anyone can.

Exactly my reason for changing my own seals. Except turnaround time for me is closer to a month since no one in Arizona carries dry suits let alone repairs them. I can't go a month without diving and currently I can't justify buying a 2nd dry suit for a back up (the time will come ).

One word................


ZIPS.............

True, but until they improve the design...

I've seen a few divers have to call dives immediately after splashing because the zip popped and the suit flooded. I'll stick with good old fashioned seals for now. :14:

 

[Dean810]

Exactly my reason for changing my own seals. Except turnaround time for me is closer to a month since no one in Arizona carries dry suits let alone repairs them. I can't go a month without diving and currently I can't justify buying a 2nd dry suit for a back up (the time will come ).




True, but until they improve the design...

I've seen a few divers have to call dives immediately after splashing because the zip popped and the suit flooded. I'll stick with good old fashioned seals for now. :14:

I've seen that too, and probably won't put them on my suit right away, but it is still kind of neat to see them get changed so fast.

 

[vioch]

Could anybody advise, how strongly is it required to
"14. Turn the sleeve inside out exposing the junction of the suit for sealing.
15. Seal by mixing one ounce of Aquaseal® and one ounce of Cotol-240® and apply two coats of the mixture around the INSIDE junction of the seal and suit. The coats should be 1/2" wide, 1/4" on the seal and 1/4" on the sleeve. Allow to dry for approximately 20 to 30 minutes" while latex wrist seal repair? That is from "DUI repair and maintenance" manual.

Just do not see those steps here(for example)

 

[dave4868]

I would think it would be better to have a back-up latex seals in dive bag. I have resoled my own Climbing shoes (yes, I've rockclmb for 25years) It was pretty easy to do. Heat guy(Hair dryer) Scrap most of old glue off, then replace. Any kits around? I think it would be faster to do it yourself. No turn around time, shipping etc. My Bare HD drysuit sleves seems a little long at first, but now I like the latex seal around the bottom part of hand (no tunnel effict, that I hear others talk about) instead on wrists.

Back-up seals will probably dry-rot before you'll ever need to use them to save a dive. And, as others have pointed out, changing a seal in the field isn't really practical. It's a last resort.

Alternately, you'll use those unused back-up seals on the next routine seal change and you'll sadly realize they have suffered in storage, won't inspire confidence and won't last as long. Fresh seals will last longer.

If you just take routine care of your seals, occasionally examine them for potential problems and handle them gently when donning, they will probably never tear and cost you a dive. I've never had a seal failure in over 800 drysuit dives.

When they look like they're getting more prone to failure, replace them yourself at your convenience or have someone else do it at their convenience.

Since it's so simple to do and more satisfying and convenient, I do my own seals. Saving a hundred bucks isn't really a factor. (I'm lying about that last one....)

Also, the worry about a sudden, dangerous failure of DIY-replaced seals is unfounded. A typical failure from poor installation technique would likely be a small leak, not a sudden catastrophic failure.

If one has such a worry, prior to the first few uses, give the replaced seals a good looking over and a few pulls to check the glued areas. A potential problem will be obvious even to a newbie DIY'er.

That should be reassuring enough and something any newbie DIY'er would do automatically, IMHO.

Dave C

 

[dave4868]

Could anybody advise, how strongly is it required to
"14. Turn the sleeve inside out exposing the junction of the suit for sealing.
15. Seal by mixing one ounce of Aquaseal® and one ounce of Cotol-240® and apply two coats of the mixture around the INSIDE junction of the seal and suit. The coats should be 1/2" wide, 1/4" on the seal and 1/4" on the sleeve. Allow to dry for approximately 20 to 30 minutes" while latex wrist seal repair? That is from "DUI repair and maintenance" manual.

Just do not see those steps here(for example)

Can you be more specific about which steps you think are not illustrated or mentioned in the link?

Is it the sealing with Aquaseal, in general, you're talking about?

If so, it's possible that sealing with Aquaseal on the inside edge may not be necessary when taping is done on the outside edge. The link shows the use of tape for the final sealing and reinforcement of the outside edge.

The DUI exerpt is for sealing the inside edge.

As to your question, I think the sealing step in the DUI exerpt is worth doing even though there's only a small chance of leaks between the glued mated areas of the suit and the seal. It probably also adds a little reinforcement to that edge, too.

Dave C