Wet Fusion

[DwayneJ]

Ok - Any advice would be great. Diving my Fusion has been a little frustrating recently and a number of dives I have ended up quite wet. I was measured for the suit at the LA Scuba show by the Whites team so I'm assuming they would know the sizing.

Whenever I "stretch" to reach a lobster I get water down the front of my suit. The neck seal is tight.

1. I can only guess there is not enough length in the neck seal?
2. There is not enough length on the body of the suit?
3. There is some magic trick to pull up the top of the suit so that there is room for the neck seal to move?

Any advice would be great.

Regards Dwayne

 

[WHITES Justin]

Ok - Any advice would be great. Diving my Fusion has been a little frustrating recently and a number of dives I have ended up quite wet. I was measured for the suit at the LA Scuba show by the Whites team so I'm assuming they would know the sizing.

Whenever I "stretch" to reach a lobster I get water down the front of my suit. The neck seal is tight.

1. I can only guess there is not enough length in the neck seal?
2. There is not enough length on the body of the suit?
3. There is some magic trick to pull up the top of the suit so that there is room for the neck seal to move?

Any advice would be great.

Regards Dwayne

Hi Dwayne,

No Drysuit will ever be 100% dry if you pull or stretch to much underwater. Most people have fairly pronounced tendons in thier wrists and necks which can create "channels" for water to enter in the Drysuit. For example if you clench your fist tight and look at your wrist you will probably notice these tendons.

Underwater the latex wrist and neck seals are keeping you dry by laying flat on your skin. If a diver overextends in the wrist and neck areas then the channels can open causing water to enter the suit. As an Instructor I have this happen quite often if I have to get controll of a student underwater for example.

Cheers,

Justin

 

[DwayneJ]

No issue with tendons or stuff - Just feels like my neck seal is not long enough. Any option to get a longer neck seal installed or additional collar added to the drysuit extend the neck seal??

Can Whites do this?

Dwayne

 

[TSandM]

I had a neoprene neck seal put on my Fusion. Superior Diving Repair did it.

 

[Rick Inman]

I was doing some out-of-water stretching to my valves the other day and was finding some restriction in my Fusion. So I loosened up the suspenders a bit and it relaxed the suit problem solved. Don't know, but maybe try loosening up the suspenders a little.

Hi Dwayne,

No Drysuit will ever be 100% dry if you pull or stretch to much underwater...

Well, Justin, with all due respect, I disagree, and this response sounds like typical manufacturer's fodder, and I expected a higher road from Whites.

One of the selling points of a proper fitting fusion that I have been saying to my buddies and those who might be perspective customers is that the room in the bag allows you to stretch out at all angles, twist your head around, look up and back behind you, in fact, twist into all the positions that might normally cause a dribble, and NOT get wet in a Fusion.

That has been my experience, but hey, you know better than me. So I will start reversing this and tell the folks that the Whites expert says a Fusion will leak if you stretch out.

I guess I just expected you to say something like, "You should be able to reach for a lobster and not develope a leak, and let us try to discover why this is happening and correct the problem."

 

[DwayneJ]

So I loosened up the suspenders a bit and it relaxed the suit problem solved. Don't know, but maybe try loosening up the suspenders a little.

I was planning on putting the suit on and my BP/W without the tank and playing around with the suit to see what adjustments there were. My suspenders are tight so this may have something to do with the situation. Thanks Rick.

Dwayne

 

[DwayneJ]

I had a neoprene neck seal put on my Fusion. Superior Diving Repair did it.

How well does this work for you and what was your reason for doing it?

Thank you,
Dwayne

 

[jridg]

This is the first time I have heard that the suspenders may be a culprit - I am usually wet down the front with my fusion - it is frustrating and I am glad I am not diving COLD water at the moment. I just got an Apollo bio-seal and plan on trying that as well.

What's the thought behind the suspenders being tight causing the neck seal to allow water in?

 

[TSandM]

I had the neoprene seal put on the suit when the original neck seal needed to be replaced. I don't get along with latex neck seals very well; something in my skin oil seems to make them get flabby and useless in about 75 dives. (This has been true for neck seals on three different suits, so it wasn't any fault of the White's seal.) I've gone to neoprene seals because they last longer and because they are warm. People often say they leak, but I'm bone dry in mine, even when I twist or stretch my neck. I would have ordered the Fusion with a neoprene neck seal in the beginning, had that option been available.

 

[skdvr]

This is the first time I have heard that the suspenders may be a culprit - I am usually wet down the front with my fusion - it is frustrating and I am glad I am not diving COLD water at the moment. I just got an Apollo bio-seal and plan on trying that as well.

What's the thought behind the suspenders being tight causing the neck seal to allow water in?

I think that the thought behind this is that if the suspenders are to tight and you twist, bend, stretch that it will pull on the suit more, causing a distortion that could allow small amounts of water in.

I too have been none dry in my Fusion (except for condensation) with doing LOTS of valve drills, twisting and turning. I honestly never give it a second thought and dive just like I would in a wetsuit.

Phil