Install of Si Tech Trigon P Valve

[rob.mwpropane]

So I figured I should post to help other people if needed, or at least give some ideas.

I did a lot of reading, for most it seems to come down to Halcyon, Light Monkey Tinkle, and the Si Tech Trigon. Halcyon is too rich for my blood, so it was down to the other 2. The Trigon is slightly cheaper and a little lower profile so I opted for that.

The difference between the 2 is the tinkle can be manually shut externally in the middle of a dive, the Trigon can not. Even though the Trigon can't, it would be almost impossible (let's call it highly improbable) for it to fail. There's the check valve inside the valve, and if equipped with a quick disconnect, another check valve inside it. So you'd have to have both check valves fail, or if in use the 1st check valve fail, and the catheter come of in the same dive...it "could" happen so I'm sure that's the reason why most opt for the Tinkle. In real life, highly improbable...

Hindsight being 20/20 if I had to do the install again, I think I'd opt for the Tinkle. The Trigon comes with a port to be glued into the suit, and there's an overlap that has to come through and slightly attach to the outside of the suit. The Tinkle just gets a washer glued to the inside of the suit. Either option is doable, but I believe the Tinkle to be an easier install (but I've only installed the Trigon, so take that with a grain of salt).

Attached are pictures of everything I have of the install of the Trigon, along with Si Techs instructions. I made the mistake of cutting the hole in my neoprene suit the size of what should have been made in a trilam, which meant that the neoprene didn't want to constrict around the port and I had to push and pull to get in in place.

The neo requires a 35mm hole, the trilam requires a 43mm hole. I made a 42mm hole. I believe this contributed to the fail of my first and slightly to my 2nd attempt. If I had done this right, maybe it's just as easy as the Tinkle, but there's still the ridge to glue to the outside of the suit, and that's not required in the Tinkle.

All in, I gained experience gluing, and I'm happy with the result. It looks good (I think).....let's just hope it doesn't leak!

Edit: Should have added the cost. It was about $75-$80 for the install ordering from Seaskin. I already had the glue and the punch. I also spent another $17 on quick disconnects from McMaster Carr. 1 female end to stay on the suit, and a few extra males end because they're cheap and someone said to do so.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Should of added the quick disconnects that I got. Not my idea as I stole them from @stuartv thread.
I bought 1 - McMaster-Carr
I bought 5 - McMaster-Carr

As for catheters I just got a 10 pack from Amazon to see if their size chart works for me, can always adjust.
https://www.amazon.com/Rochester-Wi...rds=external+catheters&qid=1593472352&sr=8-18

 

[stuartv]

The first time is always the hardest. It looks like some good work you did there. Congrats.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

The first time is always the hardest. It looks like some good work you did there. Congrats.

Thanks @stuartv. I'm really happy with it. To me it looks like it belongs / came from the factory that way. Hopefully I can test this weekend and it doesn't leak. Aesthetics are nice, but if the damn things leaks....well then they don't really matter, lol.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Just wanted to say I did get a chance to give this a shot on 7/5. It went really well. The first time I really thought I just peed in my suit, but when the "warmth" went away and didn't spread it put my mind at ease. I was able to "go" a total of 4 times in the 2 hours in the water (I drank a lot before the dive just to test it out ....go big or go home I guess, lol). The 1st 3 times worked flawless, but the 3rd time was different. Something wasn't right. There was what felt like a buildup of pressure and it was slightly uncomfortable. Thankfully it did release and all felt fine. What ended up happening is for some reason I routed the catheter through my boxers hole as opposed to over the top, why I don't know, but this allowed my "member" to change directions during the dive and put a slight kink at the end of the catheter. It would be much better to use the waistband of the boxers next time

Thank goodness it didn't come off and all was well. All in all it was a good first experience. No liquid in the suit from either the valve itself, or from a blowout.

The shaving the night before might have been the worst part!

A few things to note, while I did wipe down with alcohol pads and donned the catheter at the house after a few hours in the sun with the drysuit on and mild undergarments the sweat alone made it super easy to pull it off. I think I had it on for a total of 6 or 7 hours. When I first put it on it wasn't uncomfortable at all, but it was ON, like in a way I was a little worried about what it might look / feel like later. I don't usually sweat all that much, so only time will tell what the winter does.

The check valve worked perfect, having a few extra male ends to slip in and use something to rinse worked great.

I know I'm not the 1st person to walk down this road, but it's nice to feel like I try to give back my experience for the next guy in line. 3 years ago I didn't know what a drysuit was, and NEVER planned on using a p-valve....I thought you've got to be pretty weird to want to go through all that.....little did I know

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Figured I would add to this thread since I've gained some more experience with the P valve (I wouldn't call it wisdom just yet). I really like it, by far one of my best additions to diving, I'd put it right up there with dry gloves.

I bought a very cheap condiment bottle from Walmart (.99) and use a 50/50 mix water and alcohol to clean my nether parts in the morning of dive day and also to flush the valve when done. It all stays in my kit. Very compact.

When I first started diving I would put the catheter on and use it the way it is. For the Rochester wideband catheters I use, the "tip" is kind of long so I now cut off some because the barb that I would insert tended to bend at that point during a dive. Now without any excess tube after the barb I seem to get better results. I also use to route the tube like a candkane but it would get squeezed under my crotch strap. This didn't work for me. It would get pinched or maybe the tube would get kinked. I still go up like a canykane, but I make sure it's all more over to the left hip now, away from the crotch strap. Coupled with trimming the end of the catheter has avoided any discomfort at all.

Everytime I pee I still have a feeling that I'm going in my suit, but that parts getting better every dive. The absolute worse that can happen is I pee my suit...and that's not really the end of the world. To date I've had no issues. I thought taking the catheter off would be a pain, but it's really not THAT sticky. I can see where if a hair gets stuck that would be painful but I haven't had that yet. It's not like that would prevent me from doing anything anyway....small pain and then over. It's more like bandaid on steroids, it has yet to bother me...but YMMV.

Just sharing my experience....it's been a lot of fun so far.

 

[AustinV]

I probably have 30 or so dives in my new drysuit since getting it, still haven't worked up the nerve to pee out of it...

I keep telling myself as I'm unzipping to pee between dives "next dive day for sure I am hooking this thing up..."

 

[lexvil]

I probably have 30 or so dives in my new drysuit since getting it, still haven't worked up the nerve to pee out of it...

I keep telling myself as I'm unzipping to pee between dives "next dive day for sure I am hooking this thing up..."

Just do it, it’s the most pleasant thing you can do for yourself in a dry suit!

 

[AustinV]

Just do it, it’s the most pleasant thing you can do for yourself in a dry suit!

Next dive for sure! Last one went longer than expected and cut it too close for comfort...

 

[rob.mwpropane]

I probably have 30 or so dives in my new drysuit since getting it, still haven't worked up the nerve to pee out of it...

I keep telling myself as I'm unzipping to pee between dives "next dive day for sure I am hooking this thing up..."

It's awkward at 1st because it's new, but at this point for me it's almost 2nd nature, getting better each dive. My last dive was 3 hours away, I put the catheter on in the morning and didn't get in the water for at least 4 hours or more. It stayed on all day which included 2 70+ minute dives. All I can say is just do it, it's not that bad. It's SOOOOOO nice not having to take my suit off when I have to go, lol.

At Dutch it would be have to pee, wait to get out, still have to pee, walk up the hill, still have to pee, get to a picnic table, still have to pee, drop tanks off and get out of gear, REALLY have to pee, ask someone "please for the love of god unzip my back", back teeth are floating, sprint to the bathroom, barely make it and wonder why the hell I don't install a p valve...and hence here we are. Pure bliss when floating and peeing just waiting waiting to get out. So much more comfortable, relaxed, enjoyable all around.