I’m so bummed out because I just discovered a small hole in the neck gasket of my drysuit at the back of the neck. It’s actually a HOLE - not even just a tear. I have no idea how it got there - I try to be so careful with the suit putting it on and off.
I tried an archive search but came up empty. Does anyone know if a small hole in a gasket can be patched? It’s a pea-size hole. Could I take some latex and aquaseal it over that and be okay, or would the entire gasket need to be replaced? I’m on a very tight budget here (I installed the booties on the suit myself).
I can call around either tomorrow or Monday, but only just now discovered the hole and I would love to get some info (hopefully good news)…
Thanks
hole in drysuit gasket
Paddle Lupe,
I’d certainly try to patch your hole with aquaseal. I’ve not had to repair my paddling drysuit (yet), but I’ve repaired scuba diving drysuits many times and you’d be surprised what you can do. Sometimes it’s not very pretty but it keeps you dry .
Another alternative to aquaseal is “shoe gue”. It’s a bit thicker and allows you to build up the repair. I scuba dive in a drysuit with rubber boots attached. The boots have so much shoe gue on them you can’t even see the tread on the soles.
Anyway, what do you have to loose? Give it a try, if it’s doesn’t work you’re not out anything (maybe $4 for the aquaseal or gue).
Good luck!!
Wade
Hole
Hi
You may have to seal the hole on bout sides of the gasket.
You can try to seal it whit the stof you fix car or bicykel tiers.
Propel
Get another gasket
Nothing sucks more than, after trying to repair a small hole, you get to the put in and while strechting your gasket over your head, your small repair fails and you tear the gasket. I mean the hole you have now could have been caused by a number of things but I know I dont mess around with trying to repair drysuit gaskets. I just cut them off and stick on new ones.
It has been a few years since I have had to replace a neck gasket (last one had some kind of chemical reaction and got all soft and mushy) but I think it cost me like $30 bucks and took about a half an hour. I turned the suit inside out and stuck a coffee can or something similar inside the neck to hold it while I did the repair. It really wasn’t that bad.
Try Patching Another Piece
of latex over the hole from the outside (Less bothersome to your neck. Make sure you rough up both sides of the patch and around the hole. Use aquaseal. Marine goop is doable but it’s much thicker and does spread as well.
If you don’t have latex, try electrical tape. Rough up both sides of gasket around the hole. Stick one piece on one side, put a layer of silicone sealant over the tape and overlapping onto the robber. On the other side, squeeze a little sealant into the hole, cover with tape and then the sealant again. Make sure the sealant is layer on thinly. I used this patch successfully on my dryglove. However, the dryglove does get stretched and stressed like the neck gasket does on the on/off process. Electrical tape, however, has some elasticity.
If you need a piece of latex, email me your address and I’ll send you a piece from my old neck gasket which I overtrimmed and replaced.
You can patch as needed but at some point you may just replace the whole thing.
sing
You can try patching it…
…as a short term solution, but you’re going to have to replace it soon. Your best bet for now would be to use a bicycle tube patch. Make sure you get a kit designed for latex tubes (not butyl) and DO NOT be tempted by the stick-on patches. Use a glue-on patch.
OS Systems sells high quality seals and Kokatat has excellent seal replacement instructions on their web site. It’s actually not a difficult job or especially expensive.
Rembember, your dry suit is a critcal piece of safety gear this time of year. Don’t take unnecessary risks.
Service Life is about used up!
Probably 90 % of the service item is used up, with significant risk in the event of catastrophic failure. Just replace it at your earliest reasonable opportunity.
Illustrative story, not valuable if you already have the point:
I visited my mom for a week once and in the course of my visit used her handheld hair dryer. It sounded terrible and did not work well. I said “Mom this thing is wasted. Let me go out and get you a new one” “No I’ll just use it” “Mom, this thing lasts five years and costs twenty bucks, It is going to break within two months so we are talking about 50 cents worth of value wasted if we junk it now” “No I don’t waste money like you.” Next week sparks shot out of it! Everybody is OK, mom has a new hair dryer, I have a story to tell about her when she starts up an old winner fron my toddler days.
Field repairs are one thing, while you are home and warm do it right.
duct tape
don’t laugh. i got a tiny hole on a leg gasket (perhaps different from the neck) and stuck some good duct tape on it. 2 years later, all is still well.
andrew
thanks…
…for all the thoughts and suggestions. I like the idea of using a bicycle tire patch, although I have electrical tape and I really liked that idea too. I picked up a tire patch kit tonight (99 cents - can’t beat that) and I’ll use that patch with aquaseal. Sing - thanks so much for the offer for the extra latex. I’ll try this first, though. (I’m too impatient!)
Fortunately the hole is low enough on the gasket, that it’s not on the part that gets stretched out the most, so I’m really hoping this will be fixable and the patch will hold up. Putting on a new gasket doesn’t seem so hard (I didn’t find putting the booties on to be difficult) - but I do think it would be a lot of work to first get the neck gasket OFF.
I’ve decided my patch will add character to my drysuit! Having said that…Peter, your point is well taken and I will certainly test this repair before assuming all is well. There’s no such thing as a leaky drysuit: if the drysuit leaks, it’s a wetsuit!
Thanks again for everyone’s suggestions.
I Think The
– Last Updated: Jan-25-04 7:51 AM EST –
Electrical Tape with silicone sealant should work there. What I like about the electrical tape is that it is not bulky and won't get caught by other pieces of clothing. My dryglove that is sealed that way has not leaked over several uses -- I check it before usage for cracks in the sealant. Since I wear a liner glove under the dryglove, that patch gets abraded against often enough when I put on and take off the glove. It's held better than I expected.
Obviously a new neck gasket is the most secure solution (provided you do it right). It's not a hard procedure though a bit time consuming and some money for the new gasket. Kokatat has the instructions right on their site. I know some folks who have paddled with multiple patches on their gaskets and drysuit. But they check the patches before going out and they don't expect to be in the water for long because they roll and/or can get back into the boat pretty fast. Like anything else out there, it's your call to determine how risky it may be to have a patch on a piece of critical equipment.
sing
No need to remove the old one
All you do is cut most of it off and glue the new one to the remaining old seal. Check out Kokatat’s instructions for details.
Hmmm, that would make it easier…
The reason I thought it had to be removed completely is because there are actually 2 flaps of fabric on either side of the latex gasket - they sandwich the latex in between. And it’s very well constructed and sealed in there.
I’m hoping my repair will work fine for the remainder of the season (it gets warm fast and early in Oklahoma), and then a complete replacement can be a summer/fall project before next season.
Interesting. What brand of suit?
I haven’t seen one constructed as you describe. It sounds like your best bet would be to cut the old seal flush with the edge of the fabric, then glue the new one to the top fabric layer.
brand? Ha - no brand!
As I mentioned, I’m on a tight budget! My drysuit is military issue from Canadian army. Not terribly fashionable, but I’ve tested it out and it’s completely waterproof and frankly pretty comfortable when I’m in the boat. It’s gore-tex and very breathable. It didn’t come with ankle gaskets or booties, which I installed myself. The booties I installed have the same set up that this neck gasket does, which is that there were flaps on either side to sandwich in the gasket. Having never seen a brand name drysuit, I hadn’t realized this was unusual. I think it offers a very good system to secure the gasket since it’s basically a double seal, but will make removing/replacing the gasket a lot harder…
NIce buy
– Last Updated: Jan-29-04 6:18 PM EST –
I wish I could fit into one of those, I'd buy it in a flash. and your suit was made by mustang most probably.