Ever replace your own Latex seals?

[vioch]

Dave4868 i have caught it. Either taping on the outside edge or sealing the inside edge is worth to be done.

 

[TSandM]

I learned to replace wrist seals, and did one on my husband's suit. It's not something you can do in the field, but substantial repairs CAN. We nursed a neck seal on my trilaminate suit through two days of diving with tire patches and duct tape -- It leaked some, but it was diveable.

Replacing the wrist seal was amazingly easy.

I still think I'll let somebody else do the neck seals, but I'm going over to neoprene on both suits, so that shouldn't be an issue very often.

 

[vioch]

One question more.
Which side of a seal is inner and which is outer (glossy or matte)? My DUI seals, which were replaced, have matte outer side, but i ordered for replacing DiveRite seals, glued them and then found in "905 Drysuit Owner's Manual" that those seals should have glossy outer side wrist seals (opposite to DUI) and also according to that manual DR neck seal outer side should be mate.
"Figure 4 Guide rings are located on the inside of the wrist seals, and on the outside of the neck seal." - but my DUI had guide rings outside the seals (matte side)
So i'm in frustration.
Is it critical to have seals glued vice versa ( i mean inner and outer sides)?

 

[waterpirate]

I had the pleasure of diving with a "limey" 2 years ago and was smitten with his apron front, hard kneck ring, and wrist seals with o-rings.
I was so impressed after diving with him, and seeing him change the kneck seal on a boat in seas in about 5 minutes, I started my quest.
The search took 1.5 years to find a Typhoon in good condition in my size. 50 plus dives later I could not be happier. I also carry spair kneck and wrist seals on every dive.
Eric

 

[dave4868]

One question more.
Which side of a seal is inner and which is outer (glossy or matte)? My DUI seals, which were replaced, have matte outer side, but i ordered for replacing DiveRite seals, glued them and then found in "905 Drysuit Owner's Manual" that those seals should have glossy outer side wrist seals (opposite to DUI) and also according to that manual DR neck seal outer side should be mate.
"Figure 4 Guide rings are located on the inside of the wrist seals, and on the outside of the neck seal." - but my DUI had guide rings outside the seals (matte side)
So i'm in frustration.
Is it critical to have seals glued vice versa ( i mean inner and outer sides)?

Why the two companies do it differently is confusing to me also.

My only concern is that your seal is turned inside out compared to how it came out of the mold, so it might have a tendency to not lay flat in contact with the skin. This may be especially true if those guide rings on the DR seals are as thick as they appear to be in the pdf image.

Hey, this may be a perfect opportunity to get a little more practice removing and replacing seals!

The recently-applied seals can be removed without damage pretty easily, perhaps requiring the aid of a judicious amount of heat from a heat gun. You'll have to get the Aquaseal to separate at the edge to completely free the seal, of course. Once you get an inch of seal free of the suit, you can gradually work your way around to finish the job, applying a little heat, if needed.

Then you could re-apply them as DR intended.

On one of my early attempts, I didn't like the result and removed my recently installed seals very easily in just a minute or two.

Then I just prepped the surface again, reglued and re-installed the seals.

Twice the experience!

Dave C