Dry Suit repair

[dan1166]

Where is the best place to get a dry suit repaired? I need new seals; neck, arm and ankle.

Thanks;

Dan

[Rednucleus]

Local dive shops & Wileys in Seattle

[gschorr]

concur with @Rednucleus . If it is made by Kokatat, send it back to them directly. They'll do a factory repair quickly and immaculately.

[skibug]

Dive shop or you can actually do it yourself. You can order the seals and glue them in with aquaseal.

[MISkier]

I just replaced my wrist seals myself for the first time. This is the YouTube video I watched (I believe there is another for the neck seal). I didn't have the talcum powder, but I don't think that is too critical. It seemed to go fairly well and I tested it for leaks. We will see how it holds up to skiing soon.

 

 

[Rednucleus]

If it's a baggy suit, wrists & ankles are a piece of cake. Necks suck IMO

[MISkier]

If it is an O'Neill Assault with the neoprene seals, have O'Neill fix it. I sent my backup drysuit to them and they replaced both wrist seals for $40.

[Cnewbert]

DUI (Diving Unlimited International) make the best divers’ dry suits in the world. They also repair all makes of drysuit.

[MISkier]

Well, my do-it-yourself repair did not hold up. I used the suit a few times without issue and recently, after an arm-first crash into the water, one seal separated and leaked. Today, I went to re-glue that seal and pulled on it a bit to test the remaining integrity. The entire seal detached just as clean as a whistle. No glue residue on it at all. So, I pulled on the other intact seal and it also separated and detached cleanly.

 

I am not sure what I did wrong, but I had some misgivings about the glue I was using during the original repair. It was Bare Drysuit Seal adhesive, but it seemed to set really fast and turned yellow before I could even brush it on.

 

I can totally reuse the seals, if I can figure out why they didn't adhere the first time. I did scuff them a bit with some emory cloth, but maybe not enough.

 

Any other recommendations for adhesive?

[skimtb]

I don’t know where in MI you are but I was told aquatic adventures fixes dive suits / dry suits etc. M59 and US23. I’ll likely take my “semi”-drysuit there for a look see after water warms up.

[biffskii]

Contact cement is hard to work with. Just use Aquaseal then you can adjust a bit with it before it sets up

[MISkier]

@skimtb, I’ve had the suit previously repaired at The Dive Shop on Corruna Road in Flint. I was just trying to start doing the repairs myself to avoid the drive, the delay, and the expense.

 

@biffskii, thanks. I’ll look into that. Oddly enough, it seemed to adhere quite well to the suit fabric. I’ll have to remove that (again), which was the most tedious part the first time.

[Rednucleus]

I have been using Seam Grip for years. Get a big tube and store in freezer in a ziplock; it will last forever. I scuff the seal and the suit with sandpaper, apply glue to suit, roll seal over glue, wrap suit/seal edge with electric tape overnight. You can use a can or jar to hold the end open; I use an inflatable anesthesia bag so I can put a little pressure on the repair. I have never had this glue fail.