dlao
Contributor
TUSA neoprene drysuit. New old stock suit never dived before. Has been sitting in my closet as a backup suit for a while. The suit was doing fine during the entire dive. After surfacing we had a half-hour surface swim back to the shore. This is when my feet started to get wet until my socks were completely soaked in water.
My conjectures,
1) Water leaks from one of the neoprene seals, as they are not as watertight as latex/silicone. In this case probably there's no action required.
2) Water leaks from the exhaust valve. Is it common during the surface swim?
3) The suit developed some seam leaks sitting in the closet. When diving (in trim) air bubbles out from the hole so there was not much water getting in. When surface swimming, with the slight lower body squeeze, water was forced into the suit. I only had experience with membrane drysuits, on which you can use an iron to restore some seams. But I guess using iron on a neoprene drysuit is a bad idea. Is there any simple fix?
My conjectures,
1) Water leaks from one of the neoprene seals, as they are not as watertight as latex/silicone. In this case probably there's no action required.
2) Water leaks from the exhaust valve. Is it common during the surface swim?
3) The suit developed some seam leaks sitting in the closet. When diving (in trim) air bubbles out from the hole so there was not much water getting in. When surface swimming, with the slight lower body squeeze, water was forced into the suit. I only had experience with membrane drysuits, on which you can use an iron to restore some seams. But I guess using iron on a neoprene drysuit is a bad idea. Is there any simple fix?