The bad news, and the good news, and the bad news . . .

Well, it was bad news that my dry suit had to go into the shop for a leak repair about two weeks ago. While it was there, I had them put knee pads on it, since I have a propensity for falling down while trying to get into and out of the water. I have been fortunate enough to enter into a joint custody agreement of a similar suit with an instructor friend, but today, my suit came back and I got to dive it. That's part of the good news.

They fixed the leak. That's also good news.

They also created a much bigger -- huge, in fact -- leak in my left knee. That's the bad news.

It didn't stop me from having over an hour's very enjoyable dive today, even if it was a bit chilly and squishy in spots. That's good news.

The suit will be going back to the shop, but the shop repair guy is going to DEMA, so who knows when it will get fixed. That's bad news.

The LDS owner says he will take it upon himself to ensure that I have a suit to dive while it is being fixed again. Bless him. That's very good news.

I feel like a ping pong ball, battered between positives and negatives today. My signature line seems quite ironically appropriate at the moment.

i'm not sure what type of suit you have, but perhaps a little aquaseal might be able to get you through until you can send it back for permanant repairs.

first, check with you repair person to make sure that aquaseal won't complicate any future repairs. to find the leak, place a smooth ball in the neck seal (and perhaps gloves) and then inlfate the suit like a ballon. spray soapy water on the suit/knees and look for any bubbles. wait until it's thouroughly dry, then get crazy with the aquaseal. don't forget to use adequate ventilation, and follow the manufacturers directions.

it seems odd that you would get holes in the knees, since i thought knee patches were typically glued on? are they sew on knee patches?

We looked at it yesterday at the shop and the shop owner originally thought they had sewn the patches on, and then everted the suit and wasn't sure. I don't know how they created the leak, but I didn't do it . . . it was immediately apparent on entering the water yesterday, long before any part of the suit came in contact with anything. And I skipped the falling down part yesterday altogether, which was rather nice.

I was so petulant about the whole thing, I went straight back to the shop from the dive and gave them the wet suit to deal with, so Aquaseal is not, at the moment, an option.

This whole knee pad thing may turn out to have been a case of better being the enemy of good, a principle with which, as a surgeon, I am quite familiar

TSandM:

This whole knee pad thing may turn out to have been a case of better being the enemy of good, a principle with which, as a surgeon, I am quite familiar

Click to expand...

Uh, T, perhaps we should begin with this propensity of yours to fall down

(Not that kneepads aren't nice, mind you, but falling down can be inconvenient - especially when you have doubles on!) (I fell at Alki once at low tide on those tennis-ball-size rocks, with double 130s on...fortunately the water level was beneath my chin on all fours, as my reg wasn't in, breathing was necessary, and it took me some time and strenuous swearing to get back up. Had I fallen in deeper water it might have been more than merely painful!) Going in and getting out beside another diver may be a start, that sort of stuff

Leaky drysuits suck. Buy two. It's unlikely that both will leak simultaneously

Well, I have found that wearing more than half my body weight on my back and attempting to walk on a slippery, unstable surface while somebody is periodically shoving me quite hard in the chest has been a challenge. Thus my strategy of never entering the water without a fully inflated BC. And NW Grateful Diver, apprehensively watching me do this, added his insistence that I have my reg in my mouth, too. One of my already formulated principles of diving is that it really is best done underwater -- neither the on-land part nor the awkward transitional phase is a great deal of fun

Heh...reg in mouth is a good thing! The things we learn.... Here's my preferred answer - dive off boats! I like Don and Diane, and enjoy diving with them. (There are a couple others in the Puget Sound that I'm looking at also...) Dunno if you've ever tried Pacific Adventure or not. Dunno how far from you they are, but likely closer than they are to me! I'll be trying to make it over there in October, if so, will drop a PM and see if you have a non-leaky drysuit and are interested in giving them a shot!

http://www.pacadventure.com/

Doc

PS Here's another I've no experience with yet, but want to try out...
http://www.tealwater.com/

If anyone has any input I'm interested...

Well, I will get my first taste of Puget Sound boat diving in October with Bandito Charters. It will avoid the falling down problem, but will still, unfortunately, require a dry suit that doesn't leak.

I have two horses because it's rare for two to go lame at once; two drysuits on the same principle seems quite reasonable to me. Unfortunately, my husband is watching my scuba activities, and the related expenses, with a great deal of consternation at the moment, so I think the second dry suit is going to have to wait a bit.

You are more forgiving than I am. I would say to the LDS, very slowly and clearly so they understand:

Please make sure to leak test the suit this time before I pick it up.

Duh...