Dry suit lubing and lovin'

[calski]

Ok, my journey into the dark, murky and cold waters of the UK (and Ireland soon!) has led me into my local LDS and the purchase of an shiny new Oceanic Flexia dry suit.

Now, the chap in the shop recommended that I do several things to look after it (including lubing - fnar fnar!) and a bit of trimming. The lubing (kyak kyak) I can just about handle, but the trimming is perplexing me.

Basically, the neck seal is ULTRA tight - I've just put all of my garb on (including my newly aquired undersuit) and it all fits lovely jubbly - apart from the neck seal. After 30 seconds, I was redder than a very red red thing in the face! I looked like I'd just run 10 miles with the suit on! Getting out was even trickier and I could feel the onset of a mild coronary episode in the making!

When I mentioned this tightness in the LDS, the guy said "just trim it a little at a time until it feels better" but I'm a bit reluctant to do this with a very costly piece of gear.

My question is - do I attempt the alteration myself because it's easy really and I'm just being a big jessy, or do I take it to the LDS and say "Look here old bean, you'd better do this otherwise I'm likely to make an arse out of!"...

Oh yes, and the lubing (no more Finbar Saunders noises!) - where exactly to I "paint" the stuff on? Inside or out? I seem to remember him saying "inside" but since the lack of oxygen to the brain I can't quite recall...

Thanks in advance!!!

calski (the suffocated)

[Lou]

Hmmm, trimming. Is it really very tight - remembering that they are tighter than you would think?

If it is them try a bit of streching over a suitably dimension object overnight before you think about trimming anything. A traffic cone freed from its roadside life of drudgery is always a good option for this.

If that really doesn't work and you want to trim turn the neck seal inside out and stret chover the cone, make sure it is flat and note the ridges inside. Using a VERY sharp stanley knife or scalpel trim off ONE line only (run the blade betwen the first gap between ridges). Do it in one go and try and keep the line you cut straight. Don't stop and start or you will create a little nick that will be a starting point for a seal tear.

See if that fits. if you need to repeat again, but only do one ring at a time or you *will* go too far!

Good luck

Lou

[Dundee]

Originally Posted by Lou

Hmmm, trimming. Is it really very tight - remembering that they are tighter than you would think?

If it is them try a bit of streching over a suitably dimension object overnight before you think about trimming anything. A traffic cone freed from its roadside life of drudgery is always a good option for this.

Lou is soooooo right, I used a cheap 99p football with a bit of vaseline on it overnight on my neckseal and it loosened up enough to only trim one ring off. The other thing to try is to dip th eneck seal in very hot water for a few mins before trying on the suit. This makes the rubber more flexible and encourages you to trim less off to begin with. Over a few dives, you get used to it and get a better seal.

be gentle with the trimming and go one ring at a time.

No need for a single fnar!

C

[John_C]

What Luo said, but use the neck of your cylinder, (suitably coated in talc and free of snags). Leave it over night, take it off for 20mins then try it on. Most latex seals will give a little in time, and the last thing you want to do is find that yo've been too hasty at triming a ring or two off.

If its still tight then as Luo said cut a ring off and try it. I found it best to do this while it was over the cylinder (inside out so you can see the ring) with equal tension.

[calski]

Morning all!

Thanks for the advise - I've decided to try the stretching approach first then - so (not owning a cylinder) I got a similar sized coffee jar (a posh one from Starbucks too!) and slid the seal over that and left it overnight.

Going to try it tonight and see if it's made a difference.

The seal is (hopefully was) really REALLY tight - way worse than the shop ones that I did my pool sessions in (for my dry suit speciality). Is the seal supposed to make me go red from being so tight? I know I need a good seal to keep the air in / water out but seriously, it's muchos tightos! I'm worried that when I put my hood over it I'm going to be in serious danger of flaking out!

Just hoping someone out there can advise what an "acceptable" level of redness would be? i.e slight pinkness, pink, light red, red, tomato red...

Ta muchly gang!

calski

[drysuit repair dave]

Originally Posted by Dundee

Lou is soooooo right, I used a cheap 99p football with a bit of vaseline on it overnight on my neckseal and it loosened up enough to only trim one ring off.
C

It is best not to put vaseline on a latex neckseal, it has the same effect on latex neckseals as it does on condoms! (it will cause it to fail prematurely)
Stretching also shortens neckseal life. Trimming is really not hard, just use sharp scissors and cut between the ridges on the inside of the seal, one ring at a time. Make sure there are no little nicks left to act as split starters. If its a new suit, just go back to the shop and get them to do it
As a general rule, the seal needs to be fairly tight, but it should not make your eyes bulge, or your head swell up to look like a giant tomato! you should be able to wear it all day
cheers
dave
www.drysuitrepair.co.uk

[Janos]

Originally Posted by drysuit repair dave

it will cause it to fail prematurely

Paging Finless...

Janos

[Garf]

If you have to trim it my preferred way is as follows

Stretch the seal over the neck of something round, like a cylinder
Run a new craft knife round the seal in one smooth motion.

[Woz]

Originally Posted by Garf

If you have to trim it my preferred way is as follows

Stretch the seal over the neck of something round, like a cylinder
Run a new craft knife round the seal in one smooth motion.

You should be a rabbi.

[chrisch]

Originally Posted by calski

Is the seal supposed to make me go red from being so tight?

No. If its too tight it can cause underwater blackout from the restrictions.

The other posts include good advice. If you need to cut the thing after all be careful. I do most jobs myself, but I wouldn't be embarrassed to let a good shop do this. Most LDS are not really much cop at this sort of thing.

If all else fails you can fit a new seal (that's relatively easy) they're about 20 quid.

Chris