New TLS350. Major Dampage.

[milbournosphere]

I am the proud owner of a new TLS-350 and am new to dry diving, and I've got a situation that I'd like some input on.

I've got a total of three dives on it so far. After each dive I have been damp. Very damp. The first dive was with an instructor on a drysuit skills dive for the NAUI drysuit course (threw it in as part of the purchase). The instructor commented on how damp I was post-dive and we took the suit back to the shop and did a leak check. The exhaust valve was letting quite a bit through the flapper on the valve, so it was replaced. I took the suit out again for a couple of dives on Sunday and I was just as damp. The inside of the suit was saturated and the undergarment was quite wet.

Both times I double checked my seals pre/post dive; all were nice and flat. Double checked that zipper was fully closed, and torqued the pee valve closed. I felt no leakage from anywhere, and was nice and toasty with my polartec undergarment, but my feet were wet with condensation (no socks yet). Back to the shop! They leak checked it again and found no leaks.

The shop's a bit conflicted. One tech says that it's just condensation from sweat. The other (my instructor for the drysuit course) says that it's quite a bit of moisture for it to be sweat condensation, and thinks there might be some weepage in the material. He recommended doing a dive with sweatpants/sweatshirt to see if the moisture is localized to one spot.

I'm completely new to this so I'm not really sure what the acceptable amount of moisture post-dive should be. There's no water sloshing in my boots, so should I count myself lucky? Or is a sopping wet undergarment (but warm) unacceptable? How much condenstation from sweat would be considered normal?

 

[spectrum]

No socks suggests you are poorly dressed for diving dry. Wicking and aborbent layers are imperrative. Condensation is inevitable it's a matter of managing it.

Pete

 

[rhwestfall]

give this a read (posted today):

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/dui/478719-new-dog-trick-i-swear-i-didnt-pee-my-drysuit.html

 

[bamafan]

Put on a grey shirt and light colored blue jeans. Jump in a pool or do a really short dive. Get out of the water and take the suit off and see where you are wet. It could be leaking around the seals. I know several people who are little and could never get the Duisburg wrist seals to work correctly. They changed them out to switch seals I think and had alot better luck.

 

[Buoy_A]

Like bamafan says, go into a pool w. medium-light colored clothing (but not too light!) for just a few minutes. Be careful when removing the drysuit that you don't drip water on to your clothing. And then look for spots.

Your "general dampness" is something every drysuit diver has at the end of a dive. But I would consider this a very light dampness, not anything close to "sopping wet".

Another thing you can try is to plug the neck and wrist seals, close the exhaust valve, inflate the drysuit and then hose it down w. water. The more pressure you can build in the drysuit, the more likely you are to find a leak. Note that this is a variation on the "soap and water" technique that people use when they have an *idea* of where the leak is coming from. But the soap and water method can be very tedious in this particular situation. (Although you can mix dishwashing liquid w. water in a squirt bottle and spray the suit after you've hosed it down).

 

[milbournosphere]

I read that DUI article this morning, my buddy sent it to me. I expected some form of condensation from sweat and humidity build-up, but what I do not know, because I've only ever dove one dry suit and even then only a few times, is how much would be normal. That's quite a qualitative question, I suppose, but so far more folks than not seem to be under the impression that there's more dampness than there would otherwise be. I'll dive this afternoon with some cotton material on, so we'll see if there's any localized wetness.

Also, do socks really make that huge a difference with regards to condensation build-up? My feet were never cold, just wet.

Thanks for helping out a new drysuit diver.

 

[neonstingray]

As the others said I think it would help to do a pool swim test and see if the dampness is still evenly distributed or if you see just one spot or area of the t-shirt getting wet. Also, how often are you manually venting the suit? Even with a working valve, if you hold it open too long water will seep in through the valve after the air's been let out.

 

[PfcAJ]

A bit of general dampness is normal. It seems alarming at first, but its what happens when you shove a warm, sweating human into a plastic bag, then submerge the entire thing into MUCH cooler water. Dat condensation.

Are your seals too loose? Do you have pronounced wrist tendons? Both of those things can allow a bit of water to seep in. Its usually pretty obvious though.

 

[TSandM]

If you can wring water out of anything you are wearing under the suit, you have a leak. If water sloshes in your feet, you definitely have a leak.

If the undergarment just feels cool and damp on the outside (but the inside is dry) you have condensation.

If the moisture localized to any particular area, it's more likely to be a leak. Localizing may or may not tell you where the leak IS, because the moisture will run to the lowest spot on your body. If you dive in cave trim, almost any leak will give you a wet crotch, even leaking from a neck seal.

The pool test everybody is telling you to do really is the way to get the answer. Get in for only one or two minutes; get out and carefully remove the suit and inspect the clothing you are wearing for wet spots.

 

[eelnoraa]

Condensation on TLS material is very obvious and normal since the material doesn't absorb moisture. I used to have CF200, condensation is less obvious because the material absorb the moisture. If the inside of your undergament is dry, I don't think you have a leak.

It is also not uncommon to have a bit of water coming in in the dump value.