Necks of a feather
The good news is that if you have a chicken neck now, you might not get a turkey neck when you are older.
I can see the fit issue with neoprene/velcro on a chicken neck. Maybe you could sew some additional velcro on to make it tighter.
But again, I agree that if your paddling involves a lot of head/neck submerging, the latex is more water tight.
For those of us whose paddling goal is to avoid head/neck submersion, the ability to vent the drysuit may be far more valuable than neck water tightness.
My newest suit, now probably old because it cost less than a Maserati, is a two-piece Goretex sea touring model. I can mate the dry bib with a latex-necked dry top, but I find I never do it because I prefer the venting ability.
I’m going to make that cut
tomorrow. Not so much because the latex is still too tight, it’s just too long.
My proposed process is to slightly stretch over a cylinder - just enough to give me a firm backing. Then apply some blue tape as a guide and cut it with a razor. It seems way long but I will start with a half inch for starters.
If this is an ill advised method, by all means, do chime in.
Sucks our November in NC isn’t cold enough yet but I should have 3 full months before it starts warming up again.
I’m a cutter…
…and 1/2" sounds like big initial cut to me.
Then I will nibble 1/4"
I must have a short neck because it follows the curve toward my chin which causes it to roll.
No gobbler…yet
Confused about amount of cut…
I agree with slow steps on the cutting - but all of my gaskets have rings at small increments that can be used to guide the cut. So cuts are usually talked about as one ring, two rings etc. No rings on yours?
The rings usually are at about 1/8 inch increments.
I have the rings
I’m not looking a mock turtle neck, I will go with 1/8th.
Sharp pair of scissors
Flatten the latex "tube" so you can cut a gentle arc across it, following the raised ring. You may want to secure the thing first by putting a brick or something similar on it.
This is what I used on my gaskets and they never tore in 6-going-on-7 years.
Also, cut one ring at a time and then test the seal in a bathtub of water (or dunk yourself the next time you paddle). If that's still very tight, try one more and test again. Don't rush and risk cutting off stuff you can't put back.
It's difficult to cut narrower than the ring increments, so if it's only slightly tight, leave it alone.
Trim it!
If your seal starts to get loose over time go to a dive shop and have a dry suit repair person put a new one in, then trim that one to fit. I’ve had my neck seal leak during an ice dive, got a little wet around the top of my liner but yes I lived. They are ment to be replaced but passing out because you are wearing it wrong wouldn’t be any fun. If your face is turning red and purple you are wearing it wrong.
Tried it on the water this weekend
Before cutting I wanted to try my stretching job this to see how close I was. It loosened up a bit once I started paddling but it will need a little nip.
I can’t stand a tie around my neck so part of this is getting use to it. I was pleased with the overall performance of the suit and surprised I didn’t sweat like a pig because the temps really didn’t warrant wearing a dry suit.
Not a drop on my roll and that was the reason I bought it.
The secret to comfort…
…when wearing a tie is to have a shirt with the proper collar size to begin with. I hate ties with a passion (stupid ornamental nonsense), but they don’t have to strangle you. As has been explained ad nauseum in this thread and many others, the same is true of dry suit seals. If it fits properly, it’s comfortable. BTW, the seal didn’t stretch while you wore the suit, you just got use to it.