The way to find out how much water a dry suit can hold . . .

[JimC]

The inflate method works great for big leaks. But this method will find every single tinny pinhole.

- Crank down or remove dump valve and replace it in inside out
- Turn suit inside out
- Clamp 1 arm and neck closed, use good, solid clamps and boards
- Prop drysuit on its side so that unclamped arm is elevated.
- Fill drysuit with water.
- Let sit for 20 minutes.
- Circle all damn spots.

 

[Peter Guy]

MY vote: Take it back to LDS which has been very good. Owner has already said that the next time it comes back, the shop will do a pressure test and find and fix all the leaks.

Sometimes you just have to go with the flow. And for now, she'll either have to beg, borrow, rent or steal -- or dive wet!

 

[TSandM]

Thank you all for the leak-finding ideas. This morning will start with a good visual inspection, then I'll do the inflate test -- whatever this leak is, it is BIG -- and if that doesn't localize it, I'll grab the hose.

I'm beginning to think that either I, or this suit, has very bad karma.

Edited to add that what my husband says is true. The shop where I bought the suit has been very good about everything that has gone wrong. The suit has been promptly shipped to the repair place, and I've paid nothing for any of the repairs. I'm just tired of being without a suit. Santa?

 

[jeckyll]

Good luck getting the suit fixed.

It seems that lately everyone I've gone diving with (myself included) has been getting out of the water not nearly as dry as they'd like to be.

Bjorn

 

[TSandM]

I think maybe I should go back to my quotation from NW Grateful Diver for my signature line: "All dry suits eventually become wetsuits, and then you get them fixed."

 

[roakey]

Lynne,
Superior Diving Repair
http://www.drysuitrepair.com/

I've had them do alot of work to my suit in the past and have been very happy with them.

I'll second superior. Replaced my original DUI latex seals with far superior (no pun intended) seals. Fantastic turnaround time too. I'm a very happy camper.

Roak

 

[Shadow]

You mentioned that your chest was wet on one dive. When I had that problem, it turned out that my valve was not screwed in tight enough. Same with getting a wet right arm. Valves just needed to be tightened, that is, screwed in tighter from the inside. (Suit was new, and this hadn't been done.)

Having enough water to actually pour out of your suit sounds like a lot more than a pinhole leak. I have a trilaminate suit, and normally am completely dry - not a drop of water gets in.

As far as checking your suit for leaks yourself, that doesn't sound like the kind of effort you should have to put in on a new suit. Do-it-yourself repairs should be for stuff that's past the warranty period!

 

[JeffG]

The other way to find leaks is too stick a hid light in the suit, fill it with air (after zipping it up and plugging the wrists and tying off the neck) and turn on the hid and off with the lights.

 

[TSandM]

Well, this one may turn out to be user error. I blew the suit up per Doc Intrepid's instructions and it held AIR for five hours. I may have had a disarranged neck seal, or a fold of fabric trapped in it. Whatever, it was good and wet.

We'll find out Monday. I was going to try to get in our pool prior to the boat charter then, but there's still ICE on the top of our pool.

 

[DementialFaith]

I've been using the same DUI suit for 2 years, and the suit was already a year old when I first got it, and other than the regular rinsing after each dive and zip waxing, I've never had any work done on it. So just so you know not all dry suits leak.