How nylon-in neoprene drysuit seals work?

[spoolin01]

I just got my first drysuit - the end of short, tense, shivering dives I hope! - a second-hand Oneill 7000X 7mm neoprene. The neoprene neck and wrist seals have the nylon fabric on the inside - how do these seals work? Won't the nylon layer wick water? Should I fold the ends back under to put the skin in? That seems odd... I've got gloves with an inner wrist seal that keeps water out of my wetsuit, as best I can tell, when I sandwich the suit wrist between the two glove wrists - is that the way to go? That still leaves the neck...

Mike

 

[karstdvr]

Your seals are probably the fold under type. I dislike fold under wrist seals,and opt for reversing them so I can just slide my arm in and be done with it.

 

[SubMariner]

I just got my first drysuit - the end of short, tense, shivering dives I hope! - a second-hand Oneill 7000X 7mm neoprene. The neoprene neck and wrist seals have the nylon fabric on the inside - how do these seals work? Won't the nylon layer wick water? Should I fold the ends back under to put the skin in? That seems odd... I've got gloves with an inner wrist seal that keeps water out of my wetsuit, as best I can tell, when I sandwich the suit wrist between the two glove wrists - is that the way to go? That still leaves the neck...

Mike

The neck seal needs to be rolled, where you turn about 1/4" of the seal inward to your skin. Then you run your fingers around the top to make sure it is flat.

Depending on how well the wrists already seal, they can be left alone or rolled.

Hope this helped,

 

[ClevelandDiver]

The smoothskin surface needs to rolled in on both, the nylon will not keep out the water.

My Bare drysuit has a neoprene neck seal at least 10" long. I fold in about 3" of it for a great seal. I believe the 1/4" recommendation above is for latex, not neoprene, as you need to maximize the smoothskin to your skin contact for a good seal with neoprene.

My backup drysuit is an older On'Neill 7mil with neoprene neck and wrist seals. The neck seal is not as long as the Bare suit, but I can still fold in at least a couple of inches to get a good seal. The wrist seals were damaged on mine and I replaced them with latex (cheaper and easier than getting new neoprene seals installed).

I would try rolling both seals in a few inches and testing out the suit. If it works don't mess with it.

If you want to switch to latex wrist seals, call John at Northeastscubasupply.com he can sell you the seals, cement and aquaseal and give you an easy step by step instructions for doing it yourself. Total cost around $65 with shipping + the cost of a big gulp (ask John for details).

I haven't replaced a neck seal yet, but I can tell you it would be cheaper to convert it to latex than to have a new neoprene neck seal installed.

For the record, I prefer the neoprene neck seals to latex.

 

[Thalassamania]

The old O'Neill suits came with skin-two-side tubes. Once you put the suit on you rolled the sleeve back and pulled the tube onto your wrist. Then You folded the suit back down over half the tube and folded the remaing half of the tube up and over the sleeve. So from your skin out you had, skin, tube, sleeve, tube. The tube could then seal to something like the old UniSuit mitts.

 

[ClevelandDiver]

The old O'Neill suits came with skin-two-side tubes. Once you put the suit on you rolled the sleeve back and pulled the tube onto your wrist. Then You folded the suit back down over half the tube and folded the remaing half of the tube up and over the sleeve. So from your skin out you had, skin, tube, sleeve, tube. The tube could then seal to something like the old UniSuit mitts.

Was the tube completely detached from the suit? I haven't seen one of those yet. How well did it work? Can you still get the tubes? Did they create a dry seal to the Unisuit mitts?

 

[Thalassamania]

Yes the tubes were separate. The seal worked fine, the seal to the UNIMITT was as good as it was using a UNISUIT. BTW: the seals were made from like 3 mil, skin-2-side.

 

[spoolin01]

Thanks all. So the seals have to be rolled in - why do you suppose the skin isn't already on the inside? Maybe air pressure inside works to hold the curled in section against the skin... Both wrist and neck seals seem plenty long - I tried the suit on yesterday. The wrist seals seem tight enough, but I have a skinny neck so rolling it under may help tighten it up a bit. Can't wait to try it out.

Mike

 

[blatter]

Yes seals need to be rolled in so the smooth neoprene is against you skin - they won't seal unless you do that. Folding under as much of the seal as feels comfortable is probably OK - but the more you can fold in the better - I guess ost neck seals I have seen probably fold about 6 to 8 cm - wrists about 4 to 6 cm.

As far as I know all neoprene neck seals are of this design - I find them warm and comfortable compared to latex and less prone to catastophic failure but prob not as water proof.

I actually like the fold under wrist seals as well for the above reasons and you can put them fairly easily on without talc etc. but many people think they are more of a hassle to put on. Some suggest that they are more secure in that they are less likely to release air if you lift your arm above your body, but I am not convinced that is the case, especially if you have a normal amount of air in the suit.

 

[karstdvr]

If you want to switch to latex wrist seals, call John at Northeastscubasupply.com he can sell you the seals, cement and aquaseal and give you an easy step by step instructions for doing it yourself. Total cost around $65 with shipping + the cost of a big gulp (ask John for details).

.

That's pretty expensive. I can ship my suit to Gamblescuba.com,have new seals professionally installed,and shipped back for less.