I've had it with silicone seals.

[Rainer]

Wrist = Latex (easy to do yourself, cheap, last a couple of years, no chaffing [vs. latex on neck])

Neck = Neoprene (most comfortable, doesn't fail catastrophically, warmest, no chaffing)

 

[walkonmars]

I don't think so. Si-tech wrist seal at least, appears to be thicker. It feels tougher and less sticky than DUI's. I did some frankenstien mod and put si-tech onto DUI zip seal. So far so good on si-tech.

Hi eelnoraa,

I'm interested on how you worked out your silicone and latex hybrid solution.
I'm interested because I'm about to receive a purchase for a Hollis FX100 with latex seals. On a DUI demo day, I tested a DUI suit with silicone seals and the technicians helping me noticed I had slim/boney wrists. Furthermore, when I made a fist and twisted at the wrist I form a nice channel and rail inside the wrist. The technician told me he highly recommends silicone seals with whatever make of suit I end up with. I would likely just retrofit the wrist seals with the DUI zip seals but interested in other, non-hard ring solutions.
OK, I'm getting ahead of myself since I don't have the suit yet but did get a trickle of water at the wrist with my demo.
Also, the zip seals are $150 a set and are not a terrible price for insurance if a typical boat dive is $160, anyway.
I am a little curious since dipped latex seals are $25 a pair.

Also, I'm curious if all the silicone seal tears people were seeing are caused by improper trimming of the seal. For example, I trimmed a hood and it tore at the point I trimmed it (my bad workmanship).
Any rough notch, nick or rough zone may act as a stress concentrator and tears run starting from that point. We have seen this when trimming seals and gaskets for lab equipment. All corners are radiused and no nicks or gouges allowed. Knives or scissors should be very sharp. Matter of fact, I would recommend wrapping the seal around a cardboard tube or plastic bottle with mild snugness and trim it using an X-acto blade or razor with one cutting motion around the full circumference without stopping. Hope this makes sense.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

It took Sitech a while to figure out how to not have them just fall apart. They pretty much have it dialed in now. I'm not sure who is making the DUI version, but they might have to go thru the same process and I don't think they sell as many as Sitech to really get numbers out and adapt quickly.

Here is an article I did awhile ago on the seals:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/exposure-suits/455899-silicone-seals-they-worth.html

Typically, when used properly, the silicon seals will last a long time. It's usually operator error if they break. Now, that wouldn't be the same tone when they first came out. We had seals chunk apart and fall of a suit that nobody touched. With the Sitech system, you can swap between latex and silicone alot cheaper...DUI is very pricey for theirs due to their proprietary Zip Seal technology.

I would be hard pressed to say that silicone (as a whole) is the problem here, maybe just the DUI seals or version you have. The Sitechs we sell everyday with no complaints anymore (used to be multiple issues a day years ago)

 

[ajduplessis]

My thought exactly after I read the third post on the first page commenting that silicone are easy to replace. I have a Fusion that came with silicone seals and went through way too many seals in too short of time. I use latex now.

Do you just replace the silicone with latex and use the same system? What latex seals do you use?

 

[jscan1]

Do you just replace the silicone with latex and use the same system? What latex seals do you use?

I have sitechs , and just swapped my silicone neck seal with a standard latex one. Works perfect