Wear at the join between Kubi ring and drysuit

[raftingtigger]

I love my Kubi dry glove rings, but have had the suit material wear through twice (2 different suits) where the hard edge of the suit side ring goes under the suit material.

The first one I fixed with a fabric tape aquasealed circumferentially around the wear area. The second suit I preemptively applied seamseal (factory thinned Aquaseal) over the area to reinforce it. I still got wear through the Seamseal.

I've already sealed this latest leak with a bead of Aquaseal, but want to reinforce the area on both wrists better. My thought is to run a protective layer over the entire area. But am debating on what is the best material. Choices are:

1. Gorilla Tape
2. 2 mm neoprene strip that is glued down.
3. Heavy duty fabric tape/ribbon that is glued down.
4. Something else.

My questions are: Has anyone else had this problem? and thoughts on what to reinforce the area with?

Thanks.

 

[buddhasummer]

That's a bummer.

 

[buddhasummer]

I've not experienced that, which is weird given I had mine on a very fragile Santi EMotion for 7 years IIRC.

I wonder how common an issue this is?

Need to look at my neoprene DS.

 

[raftingtigger]

I've not experienced that, which is weird given I had mine on a very fragile Santi EMotion for 7 years IIRC.

I wonder how common an issue this is?

Need to look at my neoprene DS.

I wonder if I'm using too big a suit side ring for the sleeve size. Notice how in the pictures the fabric has to stretch to get over the rings.

I'm using 80mm rings, but 70mm would be better. The current suit is a SeaSkin Nova with the rings factory installed. I went with 80mm since I already had the gloves with 80mm. The suit is about 5 years old with about 200 dives on it.

I have some 1mm thick neo seam tape burning a hole in my garage. I think I'll neo glue that over both sleeve ends at the wear area. I'll post a picture when done.

 

[lexvil]

Can you run the tape on the inside, or maybe regular seam tape? It does look like the rings are oversize for the sleeve.

 

[raftingtigger]

Can you run the tape on the inside, or maybe regular seam tape? It does look like the rings are oversize for the sleeve.

Inside? Not really. It is very hard to access the area and the sealing edge of the ring would be covered.

I need something stretchy, so the reinforcing tape is smooth. Grosgrain might be good.

 

[raftingtigger]

I really like my SeaSkin Nova, and it was a really good deal. However, there are a couple of things I wish they had done differently. It IS a custom suit. First, as a woman, my hips are bigger than my waist. They made the waist fit my measurements but forgot that the waist had to pass my hips. Second, they should have sized the sleeve cuffs to match the rings I ordered.

 

[broncobowsher]

I think I am fighting the same leak. I get wet wrists that are not much of an issue until the dives are over an hour, or multiples. I just put a little aquaseal in the spot, need to go dive and see if that fixes it.

I'll save you some effort, remove gorilla tape from your options. It is not waterproof and the adhesive will creep out and make a complete mess that will have you wanting to just throw the suit in the trash.

My Kubis weer installed by DRIS. They V-cut the suit and added a pie wedge of fabric to grow the suit to fit the rings. I think it is where the stitching and the rings meet.

I have tried multiple times to make bubbles, never could do it. Which has me frustrated at my wet wrists and dry hands.

 

[buddhasummer]

Hmmmm .... You could be right re not enough real estate on your suit. I use 80mm rings too but only because they were no 70mm back then. If I ever do it again I'll get the 70mm as my hands are tiny.

My O'Three was custom made and I had the rings fitted at that time so currently all looks good.

Good luck

 

[raftingtigger]

I think I am fighting the same leak. I get wet wrists that are not much of an issue until the dives are over an hour, or multiples. I just put a little aquaseal in the spot, need to go dive and see if that fixes it.

I'll save you some effort, remove gorilla tape from your options. It is not waterproof and the adhesive will creep out and make a complete mess that will have you wanting to just throw the suit in the trash.

My Kubis weer installed by DRIS. They V-cut the suit and added a pie wedge of fabric to grow the suit to fit the rings. I think it is where the stitching and the rings meet.

I have tried multiple times to make bubbles, never could do it. Which has me frustrated at my wet wrists and dry hands.

Just to be clear, the thoughts about Gorilla tape or other options was just for additional wear protection. I've already sealed the current leak with AquaSeal. However, I agree with nixing the Gorilla tap. I have some fabric backed 1mm neo repair tape. I'll go with that. It will look professional and if it starts to abrade through it will be easier to spot.

As far as finding the leak. My go to method when I can't find bubbles is to fill the area with water and see where it seeps through. My buddy suggested to put a light inside the suit and look for light coming through. I did that for this leak. The leak was only minor and seemed almost not worth tracking down. I'm glad I did, as this type of leak was going to be a 1cm tear in a dive or two.