Neck seal replacement, gluing onto the neoprene's fabric side

[jvanostrand]

HI,


I need to replace the latex neck seal on my son's Mares neoprene suit. And for the reasons below it would be easiest to glue the seal to the inside of the suit, except it's neoprene and the fabric covered side is inside. If I were to use contact cement on the fabric side of the suit would it create an air-tight seal? Would the glue penetrate the fabric to seal it or would air still be able to leak through?

The existing seal is glued to the outside of the suit, to the smooth neoprene surface. I'd glue the neck seal directly only to the original seal but the suit has a neoprene collar in the way and it looks like trying to position a glued neck seal onto the old one is going to too cumbersome and I expect I'd end up with sections stuck where they aren't supposed to be.

 

[Buoy_A]

HI,


I need to replace the latex neck seal on my son's Mares neoprene suit. And for the reasons below it would be easiest to glue the seal to the inside of the suit, except it's neoprene and the fabric covered side is inside. If I were to use contact cement on the fabric side of the suit would it create an air-tight seal? Would the glue penetrate the fabric to seal it or would air still be able to leak through?

The existing seal is glued to the outside of the suit, to the smooth neoprene surface. I'd glue the neck seal directly only to the original seal but the suit has a neoprene collar in the way and it looks like trying to position a glued neck seal onto the old one is going to too cumbersome and I expect I'd end up with sections stuck where they aren't supposed to be.

Not sure I understand *exactly* what you're doing, but here are a couple of tips and tricks that might help. Whenever you have doubts about material 1 bonding to material 2, such as when you might glue a new latex seal and use the old neoprene seals as a "base" to attach to, a common trick is to apply a generous base layer of Neoprene cement (such as McNett or Trident) and use that as the "base" instead of, in this case, the old neoprene seal. This gives you an "intermediate" layer that seems to bond well with many different materials. And because it dries quite thick and rubbery it gives you the added bonus of "flattening" the layer into a smooth, non-porous base that seems to improve the success rate of creating a waterproof mating of materials.

So for the example I just mentioned, you would paint a layer of neoprene cement on to the old neoprene seal over the area you are planning glue the latex seal to. Then you'd let it dry for about 1/2 hour. Then you'd apply another layer of neoprene glue, then let it dry for a 1/2 hour. I like to do three of these layers, then let it cure for a day. Now you have a new base to which to glue your latex seals to; and certainly a better base than the old neoprene seal. Now you're ready to use the drysuit glue to attach the latex seal to the new neoprene cement base.

Another tip would be for you to make sure you use a heat-sensitive Dry Suit glue such as the one sold at Dive Right In Scuba (4 oz can) or PB300 glue sold by OS Systems Drysuits in Oregon. You mentioned how you were afraid that you'd screw up the project by applying the seal incorrectly. This is a very real possibility. With regular contact cements, you'd only get one shot to do it right; otherwise you're screwed. But the glues I mentioned will "melt" if you apply heat to them, and you effectively get a "do over" as many times as you need. (BTW- I had the same situation just this week where there was one of those annoying collars around the neck and just like you I elected to glue to the inside of the suit instead of where the old seal was.)

Hope that helps and Good Luck!

 

[Mick Crowley]

Hi, I am looking at doing the same thing, latex to neoprene, except to the smooth outer side of the neoprene seal. Do I need to follow the same procedure as above or just use bostik 2 part impact adhesive as you would if you were replacing a latex seal on a membrane suit?
Cheers.
Mick