Pocket installation on drysuit

[alvaros]

I was wondering about other solvents besides cotol for cleaning the area where a pocket will be installed on my dry suit. Will acetone, MEK or other solvents work just as well. I am very DIY oriented and will be installing my first pocket and will also be doing my own seals. Thanks in advance. Al.

 

[oxyhacker]

Cotol is just toluol with an accelerant added to speed up the cure when used with Aquaseal. Since you won't be using Aquaseal to glue on the pocket the accelerant won't be doing any good, so plain old hardware store toluol will work just fine. MEK is usually OK too but is more aggressive so you have to be a bit careful with it. Some suit techs use acetone, sometimes, but it's too scary for me - use it on the wrong stuff and you really make a mess.

Solvents are bad to breathe (and really bad for children). It's a good idea to do all your solvent cleaning outside, and let them dry off completely before you bring the suit inside.

I was wondering about other solvents besides cotol for cleaning the area where a pocket will be installed on my dry suit. Will acetone, MEK or other solvents work just as well. I am very DIY oriented and will be installing my first pocket and will also be doing my own seals. Thanks in advance. Al.

 

[crpntr133]

Why won't he be using Aquaseal on his pockets?

 

[oxyhacker]

For the same reason he won't be using Elmer's Glue-All.

Why won't he be using Aquaseal on his pockets?

 

[meesier42]

ok, oxyhacker, smart-a$$ answers are not helpful to those of us who are trying to learn!!

I would really like to know why not, and more importantly what the right product is and why it is the best product for the application.

 

[DIR-Atlanta]

Why won't he be using Aquaseal on his pockets?

Because it's the wrong adhesive for the job. The preferred way to glue pockets on is to use McNett black seal cement. It's also a good idea to stitch the outer edge of the pocket to the suit after it's been glued, but most people don't have the right kind of equipment or skill to do that (requires a blind stitch to the outside layer of the suit, using heavy sewing equipment).

The reason why black seal cement is the best choice is because that is what Halcyon recommends. Seriously though, if you are interested in details, there are instructions for attaching a pocket on the Halcyon website.

 

[oxyhacker]

Actually, they just might be, if they teach people to use the search function, rather than post questions that have been answered a zillion times. The nice thing about doing a search is that you get your answer right away, so if you are really trying to learn, you can cover ground a lot faster by reading the old answer, than asking every question anew.

ok, oxyhacker, smart-a$$ answers are not helpful to those of us who are trying to learn!!

I would really like to know why not, and more importantly what the right product is and why it is the best product for the application.

 

[TSandM]

For anybody who is serious considering putting on their own pockets, I'd highly recommend buying Airspeed Press's drysuit book. There's a ton of information there about solvents and adhesives, and procedures for doing pockets AND replacing your own seals and other dry suit maintenance and repair jobs.

Just of note . . . The author says that replacing misapplied pockets is one of the common things he's asked to do these days, and he says it's almost impossible to remove all the adhesive and what-not to replace them, so it's worth getting it right the first time.

I put pockets on my trilam suit twice, being very careful and following all the directions. Both times, the pockets gradually peeled off from the corners in an annoying fashion. Eventually, I gave up and sent the suit in and had them sewn and sealed. It was a GREAT decision, well worth what it cost me.