My Drysuit's melting!!!!!!!!!!!

[ohmdiver]

I had the same thing happen on my Bare Nex-Gen 1st the wrist seals then the neck. The only explanation I was given was age. The suit was 6 years old when I bought it, replaced all the seals and dove with it for another four years before buying a new suit.

 

[rhwestfall]

it's been hanging up in a climate controlled closet inside the house; (low humidity, mid 70's avg temp).

Room AC Unit near by? Ozone (from electric motors) is a killer to latex..... My DS manufacturer recommends storage rolled, and in the bag (possiblt double bagged), not hanging (except to dry).

Body oils will also spell failire. Cleaned down after use, and talc on them will help prolong them. Each of our body chemistry is uniquie, so it is possible your buddies survived and yours did not. I just unpacked one from 8 years of storage, and I couldn't believe thet they are perfect....

Bummer, and hope you can get it set for diving quickly.

 

[Gilldiver]

Body oils will also spell failire.

Well I spell it failure, but be that as it may, body oils and any lubricant you may have used to help get the seals on or off can start the process. I had a Viking volcanized rubber suit melt in its bad, but it was about 12 years old.

If you are going to store a suit for a while, wash the seals with mild soap and water, dry, and coat with a non-purfumed talc. I find that the talc found at Billiards/pool hall stores to work excelent

Ozone is a killer, but so can be the volatiles coming off of many cheaper plastics like Wal-Mart plastic tubs.

 

[rhwestfall]

I had a Viking volcanized rubber suit melt in its bad, but it was about 12 years old.

okay, there is the pot calling the kettle black ...so you keep things in a bad? I suppose you mean "bag"? :mooner:

 

[lsorensen]

When you say it is in the closet of your office, what is in that office? Remember ozone is bad for latex. Photo copiers and laser printers generate a lot of ozone. If you have either of those in your office, then find another place for your drysuit.

 

[Akimbo]

Latex is notorious for deterioration like this. I recently received a new dry suit and ordered Si-Tech neck and wrist seal rings; primarily to allow rapid field replacement. At the same time I gave silicon wrist and neck seals a try. They are far more comfortable, less delicate, stretchy, and chemically/age resistant. I will never go back to Latex. Note that you must have rings installed for Silicon seals since adhesives won’t stick.

I figure they are initially more expensive than replacing Latex (material cost plus rings), but the cost of killing at least one day of a dive trip due to a torn seal or sending the whole suit somewhere for replacement is easily offset. Comfort and longer life is a bonus

 

[Belmont]

You have to think that latex is coagulated tree sap. Uncured latex, that has received no or little heat treatment and chemical additives to help preserve it, will deteriorate.

To obtain a very flexible resilient and stretchy products latex has to be kept closest to it's natural state. Since there are fewer chemicals and vulcanizing applied to it it will not keep as long as other latex based products.

Think of the difference in durability between rubber bands, condoms and surgical rubber hoses compared to car tires, rubber overshoes and rubber tarps.

Neoprene is an artificial kind of rubber and does not have the same physical properties.

 

[Ghost.Diver]

Hey, that's one that I didnt think of analogy I didnt think of....tree sap...was thinking cookies instead of tree sap, guess I was looking for a midnite snack!

 

[Ghost.Diver]

Thanks for all the good advice, I'll look into the silicon seals and such. AC was from central HVAC, no widow units, although the closet is directly across from my desk with a computer,three printers including a laser printer, vcr and dvd player. Only thing running 24/7 is the DSL modem and wifi.

But hey if all those cans of freon and hairspray caused the huge hole in the ozone, I'm suprised that all that computer equipment didn't turn that room into a tar pit!

 

[bygolly]

@bygolly:
Approximately how many dives have you done with the Neck Tite system?
Any issues with the hard ring getting in the way or irritating your neck?
Did you install it yourself or did you pay a shop to do it for you?
If you did it yourself, what adhesive did you use on your Fusion?

I've seen the system, but don't know anyone who's actually given it some good use (100+ dives).

Only a few dives so far and there is one issue. The ring does lie over the buckles on the suspenders and presses them into my collar bones. I will be making a mod to move the buckles either further down or up my chest. The ring does not lie under my BC shoulder straps nor does it touch the back of my neck. If you want to walk around with the suit open you have to make one extra flip with the neck ring so that the flap does not stand up behind your head. So all that is a bit of a relief since this was a "trust me" mod. My wife and I thought we had no choice as the latex seals were not working for us and we ended up looking like we had been hanged due to the irritation on our necks. So we hope this thing will work. If not then our only other option is to go with a neoprene fold over seal but so far so good.

I had Dive Right In Scuba do the first mod and once I saw how it was done I attempted the second install myself. BTW, DRIS offers good service and the turnaround even when shipped from Canada was quite quick. The mod is surprisingly easy to do with a little coaching from Mike Pederson at DRIS. This is the adhesive to use:

Dry Adhesive Drysuit Tape - Dive Right In Scuba - Plainfield, IL

Basically, use a heat gun to apply the ring of glue to the top of the ring. Insert the ring from the inside into the neck hole and use heat to progressively seal it around. I used a steam iron for some of the process and heat gun for the rest. The nice thing about this adhesive is that the process is reversible by reheating the glue if you make a mistake or change your mind.

Highjack over....back to our regularly scheduled programming.