neoprene gasket
A bunch of people I know have swapped out their latex neck gasket for neoprene. If they are sized well, neoprene can be almost as water proof as latex, but are much more comfortable.
My first dry suit used neoprene, and I would get a tea spoon or so of water in with a roll. I now have a dry suit with latex, but when that gasket goes, I am already set to replace it with neoprene (have the material already). My dry top is neoprene.
second that
My neoprene gasket makes a watertight seal. From what I hear, neck size may be a factor for some people though.
Can’t imagine going back to a latex neck gasket.
My Wetsuit Gives Me “Ring Around
the neck” too if I don’t apply silicone grease. In fact, when surfing (don’t have as much problem with fresh water), I have to apply grease on any skin area that comes in contact with something else, be it latex, neoprene or nylon strap (from my helmet)… Otherwise I end with up with a very short session.
So, for some, it’s not just latex that is an irritant.
Similar experience
The neoprene cap’s chin strap and the wetsuit collars sometimes irritate my neck also. Just not nearly as bad as the drysuit gasket.
Last week I watched the DVD “Source to Sea”, which documents Christopher Swain’s swim of the Columbia River from Canada to the river mouth at Astoria, OR. Somewhere along the way he began wearing a Buff between his neck and the wetsuit neck. Even in fresh water, frequent repeated turning of the head will cause chafing, latex or not.
I don’t have latex allergy; it seems to be a case of mechanical irritation from the rubbing, worsened greatly by sandy salt water.
Does anybody get neck calluses?
That would be the simplest barrier. Ugly, though.
The produce bag idea is interesting. I’ll try that one also.
You might want to give neoprene gaskets
a try. They aren’t that hard to make and they make wearing a drysuit a joy. The best part is that their very dependable. Here is a link to help you if your interested.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/95432377@N05/8707673457/in/photostream/
If it Was Me…
I’d get out the scissors and start trimming. If that didn’t fix it I’d replace it with neoprene. I trimmed my neck gasket and made cold weather paddling much more pleasant.
Hi!
I know this is super late (whoa 2013) but I was just wondering where you source tour neoprene replacement gaskets from. I’m looking to replace mine but can’t find anywhere that has them and I’m a bit worries about doing it myself
Thanks,
Tatiana
Have you tried unscented talcum powder? It is what the winter divers who come up to the Port of Albany often use. Happened to find out some years ago when a cargo boat tipped over and went down because of uneven loading. They had to get these guys up from NY to retrieve the bodies. And those are really thick gaskets.
Jim used it to reduce chafing from wanna-be beard hair and I put it on when I come in. Has never degraded the latex.
Here are ones I have bought: http://www.seaskin.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000002.pl?WD=neck%20seal&PN=Neck-Seal-Neoprene-2mm-For-Surface-Suits-SSNEONECKSURFACE.html#SID=11
The price shown includes VAT, which is taken out for shipments outside of the UK. But you pay about the same in shipping, so the delivered price is about the same as listed.
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Good timing on resurrecting his thread, I’ve been considering switching from latex to glideskin neo neck gasket for the same reasons as the OP—salt and sand when twisting neck during surf sessions. But I already get a teaspoon or more of water creeping down the latex gasket because the tendons in my neck are prominent. I’m guessing the problem would get worse with neo?
Here’s another option from the same company that solves two problems, neck seals that are too loose and chafing. http://www.seaskin.co.uk/acatalog/Seaskin-Seal-Grey---Neck-SSGREY_NECK01.html
my drysuit has a glideskin seal and i do white water and been for a swim a few times and never have a problem.
make sure you pull the seal down your neck so you have a little bit of play rather than up your neck and tight on movement 
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Not clear to me - is that Seaskin Seal Gray placed on the neck and then the regular gasket over it? Or is it placed over (outside) the gasket?
Have you used? Does it work?
Possibly. But the narrow tunnel that seals against your neck (before the gasket starts expanding out) of the neoprene is taller than on the latex gaskets I have used. It looks to be about 2" of same diameter on the neoprene where latex gaskets start belling out right away, so you may have less than half an inch of tight seal. It is possible that the longer sealing distance may actually seal better (then again, maybe not).
If you look at the neck gasket shown at https://www.nrs.com/product/2284/nrs-latex-neck-gasket, you will see the belling out happens right away. In this picture of one of the neo gaskets, you can see it stays narrow for a longer distance: https://www.dropbox.com/s/iwom626fgcaksxl/2020-05-13%2008.22.25.jpg?dl=0
Thanks for this. If you were to remove a latex gasket and replace with glideskin or similar, would you use Aquaseal as the adhesive as you would with latex?
@AlwaysWet I used Aquaseal, but don’t know if that is the best stuff to use for this or not. Seemed to work fine. I put the first neo neck seal on an old non-Goretex paddling suit to replace the weak neoprene neck it came with. But that paddling suit delaminated and was way out of warranty, so I have since tossed it. Before I did, I peeled the neo neck gasket off and have re-installed it on another old paddling suit I had around. Nice that I was able to remove and re-use, but that also makes one wonder if the AquaSeal seal is strong enough for all uses.
I look forward to viewing the video @onlysme4969posted to see what they used.
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Aquaseal® Urethane Repair Adhesive is the industry standard for maximum strength repairs to neoprene drysuits. This is a highly flexible adhesive we recommend for use with G-Dive latex seals and neoprene composition drysuits. Aquaseal cures in approximately 12 to 24 hours directly from the tube. It does NOT include the Cotol cure accelerator because the cure accelerator reduces the flexibility of the adhesive; an undesirable side effect when being used with latex seals.
That is not what was used in the video. That is not Aguaseal being brushed on.