Sports Chalet Drysuit

[TheHuth]

I'm sure everyone knows that Sports Chalet is going under and selling off used equipment for ridicudeals. I picked up some mint condition pony bottles for $8 each. But I just got my best deal yet on a Drysuit. $50 for a DUI TLS. I figure if its in good shape, I got an amazing deal. If it needs a bit of work, I still got an amazing deal. And if its a total loss, then I'm okay with having gambled $50.

So, before I sink money in to this thing, how do I best go over it? The zipper looks good, although I have an untrained eye. The socks also look good. There are no obvious snags or holes. It uses zipper seals, so I'm wondering if there is a way to find some old ripped seals I can use to test it. I just dont want to throw $300 away in new seals to find that the suit is junk.

 

[Gareth J]

I'm not sure how bad your seals are, but the normal way of checking for leaks is bung up the neck and cuffs.

I.e a coke bottle in the wrists and a football in the neck (or similar).
Then inflate the suit, wash it over with soapy water, pay attention to the seams, looking for bubbles. That will give you an idea if the suit is leakproof.

Ultimately you will need to get it in the water (with good seals) to prove its leak proof. Wear something that will show wet stains (eg a grey sweat shirt and trousers ).

Note most drysuits aren't dry!

The TLS drys quickly and is a good travel suit because it drys quickly and is light. The insulation is in your undersuit clothing. With good quality wicking base layers even a leaking suit is warm.

Gareth

 

[Gareth J]

If the seals are very bad, ducktape the bottles into the cuffs etc.

(I have seen a diver ducktapped into a suit for a dive before now!)

Gareth

 

[boulderjohn]

I can't imagine that the suit could be so bad that even a pretty major overhaul would not be worth it.

 

[TheHuth]

The only problem is it doesnt have seals at all. They removed all of the seals from every suit they had for sale. So I'm trying to not buy new seals until I know its worth it. Anyone have an idea of how I could accomplish that? I'm thinking finding some old ripped seals (i.e. ones not usable anymore to dive, but still able to create a seal for testing).

 

[TheHuth]

I can't imagine that the suit could be so bad that even a pretty major overhaul would not be worth it.

That is a consideration. DUI sells an overhaul package for $750. Not bad considering its a $2500 suit. But still I'd like to see if I can get it in to a usable state on my own to minimize costs.

 

[Gareth J]

Putting seals on means gluing them on, so it would be wasted effort to fit bad seals.


Either duck tape the wrists and the neck then see if you can do a pressure test.

Or

Take a gamble and have new seals fitted

Or

Fit the seals your self, you can always have new seals fitted professionally later if you are unhappy with your craftsmanship, once you have tested the suit.

Gareth

 

[TheHuth]

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I very well could be), zip seals dont require glue.

 

[boulderjohn]

I'm going to guess that the suit came without seals for a purpose. That way they could

1. add the correct sized seals when the suit was purchased
2. avoid the problem with seals going bad while they are still in the shop's inventory.

Did you ask if they have some seals in stock?

 

[TheHuth]

I didnt think to ask, but all joking aside, I seriously doubt it. There isnt much of anything at any store. I'd bet were in the last couple of weeks of its existence. And to your point, the employees dont care any more. So even if I asked, I doubt I'd get a useful answer.

I'm seriously regretting not buying a jumpsuit when I had the chance. They were $5 last week, and they had none when I went yesterday.