Glue choices

[divezonescuba]

The marine goop is formulated specifically for water and uv. I suspect it is more flexible as well than shoe goo. It is thin enough to paint on with a stiff brush, if you use it immediately from the tube.

The issue I had was using aquaseal on a whites drysuit waterproof shell. Prior to that, aquaseal was my normal glue and I had not encounter any failures. I no longer use pb300 as you need to seal it as well. Between the polyurethane sitech ring and the whites plastic bag, several different types of glue failed. In desperation, I tried the marine goop and it’s still holding more than a year later. The aquaseal lasted one dive.

Another application that I have had trouble with is the ykk plastic drysuit zipper. The zipper substrate is very flexible vinyl. The aquaseal lasted three or four dives before failing. I will probably be doing a bunch of those zippers with marine goop this winter.

I also use Marine goop to glue plastic depth gauges and compasses to kydex plastic for navigation boards. No failures of any kind with that application either.

I think that the marine goop is superior to aquaseal. However, I do not know if you can accelerate it. So we usually give it 24 hours. The large tube is cheaper and it doesn’t dry up as fast.

 

[grf88]

Shoe Goo, Marine Goop and a lot of similar products are made by Eclectic and I think use similar chemistry. With Shoe Goop it is quite thick and I use it more like you would use a caulking. I extrude it out along the seam and then smooth it out with a moistened finger .I also use their E6000 which is somewhat thinner and makes a great contact cement. Here is their range of products:
Products | In The Home & On The Job Products
I believe the chemistry is SBR which is:
Styrene-butadiene - Wikipedia

 

[Addison Snyder]

I'm pretty new into the drysuit repair/modding scene, but is it practical/possible to make glue-based seams for compressed neoprene suits? I've never seen them, but I hear glue-based seams (at least on trilaminate) are much more resilient and more easily repairable (just slap on more layers of glue).

 

[Bald Wookie]

@Addison Snyder sewed, glued and then sealed seams are common on neoprene suits that are commercially made. Edge to edge glued seams are common on neck and wrist seals, so yes, it is common and the bonds hold up well.

 

[Curious_George]

Has anyone tried anything like this: UreCoat™ Product Information?

It looks really interesting as an alternative to the unknown urethane sealer that DUI uses. I have a suit that is almost ready to seal wrists, neck and zipper. Perfect timing if I can do a little testing first . . .

 

[grizwald]

Glue questions.
i have just embarked on my own personal example of the Concord fallacy.
I have replaced all the seals on 2 old drysuits which went well except for one neck seal. For some reason the Dap contact cement will not stick to the old latex on one suit. I have cleaned it with alcohol, lightly sanded it, applied pressure and rolled it. 24 hours later it peels off with minimal pressure. I have been able to remove the glue from the new seal with acetone and vigorous scrubbing. I am waiting for a tube of AguaSeal to arrive for my third try.
Questions: Why is the glue not sticking to the old latex?
1. What can be done to make it adhere?
2. If it fails again is it worth removing the old latex from the nylon and gluing the new seal to the nylon then sewing it, then sealing it?
3. Do I have to sacrifice a virgin to Neptune? This could be tricky as I live in Florida and virgins are hard to come by.
4. Curious-George did you try the UreCoat and if so how did it work?
thanks Griz

 

[Johnoly]

... Why is the glue not sticking to the old latex?

Are you sure that the old latex is not actually a silicone based material adhesive remnant?

YMMV, but I've heard of others heating a piece of red hot metal (ie nail, hanger) and 'burning a small un-important section
Since real latex is a natural material it will smoke with a distinctive smell. Silicone based will leave a white powder aftermath. The burn spot you pick should be non-critical and able to easily sand it back smooth after the test. But I'm guessing there's some silicone in there that someone glued up in a pinch.

 

[grizwald]

Thanks Johnoly, I had the old neck seals that I cut off from both suits and tried the red hot nail test. Both seals melted and smoked with no white residue and it smelled like burning rubber. It would have been pretty strange that one seal was different. I have had both suits since new roughly 25 years ago. We just haven't used them for around 20 years.
I remain puzzled.
For anyone interested Materbond list surface prep methods that I am going to try if the aquaseal fails but I have not read of anyone having to do this. Surface Preparation For Rubbers | MasterBond.com I also do not know enough chemistry to understand why this would be necessary. Any chemists in the crowd?
thanks for your thoughts
Griz

 

[grf88]

Use of Seal Saver on latex seals can make adhesion difficult.

 

[grizwald]

I don't remember ever using seal saver but I guess it is possible. Is there some way of getting it out of the rubber?