Question for the she-p users...

[jenth]

Good thread...I'm glad you posted this, Nicole! I'm in the same boat. I've had the she-p since the beginning of the year and have used it on maybe 20+ days. This last weekend was my "breakthrough" day...I managed to wear the she-p from 6am until 4pm, through 4 dives, climb ladders, scooter and ended up with a little dampness. Great part was that I didn't really notice I was damp until the end of the day.

I have had noticeable failures in the past and I've learned a few tricks along the way. I'd rather "waste" glue than have a failure, so I now put two layers of Urobond on the she-p and one layer on me. I've also found the "location" that works for my body...I put the she-p as far forward as possible (it seemed like my previous failures were coming from the back. I think my butt cheeks were "pushing" the she-p off). And like Lynne said, I think it's important to wait until the glue dries.

I've yet to master the she-p, but I think I'm at a point where it's paying off. Actually, the hardest part for me right now is getting myself to pee during a dive. I really have to focus, hold a rock and sometimes even get myself a little vertical before anything comes out.

 

[ligersandtions]

Finally figured it out!!!!

You know how I mentioned that my tube seems to slip out of the she-p? Well, it turns out that even if it doesn't slide all the way out, it slides out enough that liquid can seep through the fitting. After having the same issue yesterday, I was removing my she-p and thinking about the location of the leakage....it was at the top of my pants, nowhere near where it would be if it were leaking from not sealing it well. It hit me that maybe the issue was the stupid tube.

So this morning, I taped the tube into the she-p so it wouldn't have the opportunity to slide at all. I did two dives this morning, in warm weather, with some very long walks up and down stairs....bone dry!!!

So excited

 

[BabyDuck]

oh, yayayayayayay! so exciting to figure something like that out!

 

[TSandM]

Good job! Nothing like a "dry" dive!

 

[tstormdiver]

I'm hoping I can soon be able to use mine. I do not yet have a P- valve installed in my drysuit. Hoping I can getthrough the learning curve quickly, but knowing my luck,... likely not.....

 

[ligersandtions]

Mildly catastrophic failure today

Stupid hose, even though taped to the she-p, managed to slide out again during the dive. I didn't know until I attempted to use it....unfortunately, I was wet down to my knee after that little stunt.

Thinking of epoxy-ing the tube into the she-p. I don't know why mine seems to have this issue and no one else does. I never take the damn thing out (at least not on purpose). Such a bummer to have to fight issue after issue with this thing.

 

[Chaela]

it's good to read all these posts...I just got the she-pee with halcyon valve. My first go at using the valve was a total bust. The valve worked great in the morning, at home, but flowed freely down the sides of my legs at the dive site. I was not using the thong system at the time. Next dive had measured success - bought thongs and one of those "butt shaping" kind of form-fitting underpants, and volia! only a little dampness on the left. Yesterday I applied more urobond than previously, used thongs + butt shaper, and kept pressing the valve into postion while topside ( not continuously, just everyonce in a while when I remembered! lol). Drove 1.5 hours to get to the boat, 1 hour to get to the dive site, 2 dives, long day - completely dry! Yea!

It does take some getting used to - that little reservoir holds a bit of pee that sloshes about and made me feel that I was completely wet. Since my tube goes up and over my pants, then down to my inner left leg, I imagine I'll have to hang upside down under the water before coming topside. Only my dive partner will know what I am doing!

 

[piikki]

iSince my tube goes up and over my pants, then down to my inner left leg, I imagine I'll have to hang upside down under the water before coming topside.

I do not like the sloshy feeling and possible dribble from p-valve either. When I come up from water I usually stop on ladder or shallow water, and squeeze the She-P (gently of course) against my body and try to empty most of the reservoir. Then I close the bolt on my p-valve so pee does not run down my leg when I sit down etc.



Btw, one piece of news from my experience. I just finished my first Uro-Bond jar. It appears that the last two applications of the jar were particularly successful. I nearly threw it away as the glue was getting very stiff and hard to brush on. At first it felt like the She-P was not so stuck on properly but boy did it hold on well those days. It was a job to rub it off though because it dried on the She-P in beads nearly. I am thinking maybe for my body cooties I need to put a thicker layer of Uro-Bond and really let it goo up in future too since this seemed to work better - removal from skin was a bit more painful too though...

 

[BabyDuck]

hmm, interesting thought, piikki...thanks!

 

[ligersandtions]

Well, I've pretty much given up the hope that I will ever be truly dry. Every time I've used it (except the one time, which seems to have been a total fluke....maybe I didn't actually go!), I've ended up with at least a little bit of urine on my base layer pants.

It's up at the top, where the QD is. I thought maybe that was the issue, so Laura sent me a new QD....same problem, so I'm pretty sure I didn't happen to get the only two QD's straight from the factory that don't work properly. I initially thought it was the tube sliding out of the she-p, but I have that zip tied in place now, so I'm pretty sure nothing should be able to get out that way.

The only other thing I can think of is that I'm not getting good adhesion on the front/top part of the she-p, but that's the easiest part to glue on as it's flat. So I really don't know....I don't think that could possible be the issue (not to mention, I do a double layer of glue on that part anyways).

I've pretty well run out of failure points (almost every connection between the leg of my drysuit and my she-p is zip tied together....gonna finish it off by zip tying the QD pieces into place before I take it out next time), but still haven't been able to fix the failure. I guess I should be happy that the majority of my pee is going outside of the suit, and it's just a little bit that's getting on me. I try to take that as a victory (hell, it's better than where I started!), but it really does get old being the only person who can't figure out how to stop peeing on herself...