Yesterday, the latex neck gasket split cleanly when I was taking off my drysuit. This was the second time this has happened this season. What am I doing wrong? The gaskets were trimmed, cleanly, the latex was supple and treated with 303.
Gaskets
Too many possible factors to take into account.
Case in point; I have a 7 year old drytop that has been heavily used. Still has the original neck and wrist gaskets. In my latest drysuit, the original neck gasket lasted 4 months. The gasket that I replaced it with is still going strong 2 years later.
I treat them all the same. Go figure.
Wayne
Been there…
I went through the same thing last year. I went through 2 kokatat gaskets and ended up going with OS systems commerical grade gasket…a little thicker than the normal. So far, so good.
Here’s the link:
http://www.ossystems.com/
Make sure when trimming to make a clean straight cut and keep up with the cleaning and treatments.
Good luck.
Joe
Cut Your Nails…
it’ll impede nose picking, I know… But them are the trade-offs. 
sing
I was thinking…
about how to avoid this problem on my new drysuit.
My one thought is to roll a 1/4 inch “cuff” at the top of the gasket and aqua-seal it so it is a permanent “cuff”. I would think that the gasket normally tears from the the edge, and this cuff would take the trimmed edge out of the picture. Any thoughts?
How do you take the suit off
Do you just pull it over your head, or stick your hands in and widen it over you head. Just pulling it off is not recommended.
Are you using sunscreen in that area? Not good.
Chokes me up just thinking about it.
Yes, it is important to use fingers to
help ease the gasket over your head. If you pull the gasket off, it will elongate and thin at the rim, and then any point inclined to split may do so.
I’m so glad I’m a pin-head
Aside from that I try to use 303 on the gaskets frequently. To remove the suit, I pull the right sleeve off, wedgie the suit up as far as it goes, put both hands inside the gasket from the outside to pull it up past my nose, snake a hand up the inside beside my nose where there is a little more space, trying not to gouge my eye out of it’s socket, and push the suit straight up off the top of my head. Then I remove my left arm.
Piece of cake:-)
Thanks
Sing, I keep my nails short because in the rare occasion (2 shifts/week) that I work :+) long nails are an infection control issue. Peter… If I needed sunscreen, I would not wearing a drysuit. I may be too rough with my removal, so I will try the methods described… next season. It is warming up here and I am back to a single layer under a semi dry :+) !!!
I will sunburn if I go out all day
in early april with a drysuit, so I wear a thin hood or a huge hat and use sunscreen on my face.
Have you ever had the bottom of your nose sunburned? OUCH!
YOu never know, so I asked.
Not gonna discuss my painful sunburns
Most of my paddling has been in tropical and subtropical areas. This cold stuff is new to me. My arms got quite tan in Baja last week!
My thought, exactly.
One of the things that makes latex seals comfortable after trimming is that theyonly apply gentle pressure to the skin. Rolling the edge will defeat this.
tear master
hey Ive had the same problem and have blown out two gaskets in a year and a half maybe 80 days of paddling. I had to patch mine while I wait for another to get here and out of curiosity. So I cut a strip from a old gasket and glued it on with aqua seal and it held and sealed well. I just had to experment to see if it could be done incease I had to do it on a trip or sometime.