captndale:
I have found that the best waxes are beeswax or a combination of beeswax and parafin. You can easily combine or mix waxes by simply melting and mixing them. I have not tried it, but I suspect that a combination of beeswax and a small amount of petroleum jelly would work well also. If you want to experiment, I would try a mix of about 90% beeswax to 10% petroleum jelly to start.
Just be careful melting wax, it's quite flammable. There's tons of information out there for melting wax, so check it out to be safe (most suggest that doing it without a double-boiler and a fire extinguisher is foolish).
Cheekymonkey:
but if it gets anywhere near the seals it will degrade it incredibly fast, like non water based lube on a condom ... not sure if thats appropriate but it gets the point across
Petroleum Jelly is an oil. Oil and latex are a very bad combination, oil degrades latex. However silicon lube and latex seals/condoms are a perfectly friendly combination. The reason a lot of manufacturers suggest never getting silicon on a latex seal is that it can make replacing the seal harder. However, warm soapy water will get rid of silicon lube very nicely.
Incidentally, if you go to your friendly neighbourhood sex shop (or better pharmacy), you can get the identical silicon lube as Seal Saver for a fraction the price. I happen to prefer a product called Eros Bodyglide, but it's a more expensive brand (still much cheaper than Seal Saver, for the same ingredients). Though you don't really need any special type of silicon lube for your seals, so you can save even more by getting the silicon from Wet or other brand. I'll probably pick up another cheaper bottle for diving.
You'll also find that if you have chafing problems (wetsuit/drysuit seals, or other) a little silicon will prevent it entirely.
NOTE: Ironically, the one thing silicon does not play well with is silicon. It doesn't harm it, rather it binds together which can add a rough, somewhat dirty finish to any silicon you get silicon lube in contact with.
Craig
