Installing replaceable silicone or latex seals on a wetsuit

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

buff

Contributor
Messages
1,046
Reaction score
0
Location
Minneapolis,Minnesota,USA
I have a dry suit. I miss having the feeling of water on my body while diving AND dry suits are a pain with the extra undergarments. I do like getting on a boat and being dry if it's cold out.

But I doubt I'll ever dive in ice and if I do I WILL use a dry suit.

My wrists and ankles are VERY VERY small. And yet I have BIG thighs, butt and chest from weightlifting. I weigh 220lbs with little fat.

EVERY dive shop owner/salesperson tells me that the ankle and sleeve dams in the arms and legs will keep my suit as dry as a desert. It NEVER goes that way. The suit I have to buy is always so big that, to accomodate my core and thighs, the limbs leak to the point as I might as well dive in a Speedo.

I dont want a custom made suit as they're expensive, NEVER seem to fit correctly and I think my solution is simpler:

Install replaceable seals on a thick(5, 6 ot 7mm) wetsuit.

Compression at depth will make a suit that's big in my calf and forearm area, fit well.

Has anyone tried this?.

Again, I have to stress that ankle and forearm dams DO NOT work......and I dont see why any appreciable amount of water should be allowed to enter the suit at all.

Is it hard to install these replaceable seals on a wetsuit?.

I can see the larger problem being ankleseals, NOT because my ankles are big-my 14yo neices have bigger ankles than me. But because how does one seal the boot to the suit???. Here I could place the wetsuit seal OVER the boot. Even if the boot has a zipper, the wetsuit seal could seal better if liquid silicone is applied to the outside of the boot. Id just have a boot vulcanized to the suit but my brother wants to use the suit too and his feet are 3 sizes bigger than mi
ne.

I plan on using this suit in Minnesota lakes and in Monterey.

I'd lake to use the THINNEST, most flexible neoprene weakness that can keep me warm AND still have the stength to accomodate the bonding of replaceable seals to it.

ALSO!, I plan on wearing a hooded vest over the wetsuit to stay warm, while retaining a mobilty in my limbs.

So, what do you think???.
 
Yes, it has been done, mostly with poor results. It'll take a lot of Frankenstein work to maybe, possibly get it to where you'd be able to dive safely and warm.

Have you tried a whites ( now aqualung) fusion drysuit? The wrists can be fitted with very small silicone seals, and the rest of the suit is just a big bag ( to fit your build) with a heavy duty Lycra skin to keep everything streamlined like a wetsuit.
 
If you want a neoprene drysuit, buy one. Don't try to make your own.
 
Oh, and what Jay alluded to. If you get a drysuit with replaceable seal systems at the neck and wrists, you can get size Small wrist and neck silicone seals to install.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom