Interesting,
Having done a couple of hundred dives in my fusion bullet with the SLT system, then doing a dive in one without the SLT, I'm really wanting to remove the Neck Tite Ring System. I mean WOW what a difference in comfort in and out of the water. Have the neck ring from day one, I new no better and after about 30-50 dives it became normal, the neck ring never interfered with valve drills etc, but I have to say diving the same suit with the neck ring was enlightening.
Yes I've blown a neck seal getting ready to dive and yes the neck ring had me back in the water in under 10 minutes. But that's once in in a lot of dives. Having changed out seals on my partners suit using the dry tape solution is a breeze and when she comes to me with a concern about a seal, its replaced and good to go in 20 minutes.
I'm going to keep my oval wrist rings that I upgraded to the Antares system as I find dry gloves the go when doing a lot of scootering.
I have an Xtreme Flex Latex Neck Seal from DRIS that I tried with my neck ring and it felt good, so I will replace the ring and silicon seal with that. I was thinking about swapping it out with the Quick Neck Seal System but decided that I would go straight to normal neck seal system. If I want to go back to neck ring I will put the Quick System on.
Now I've just had a look at removing my neck ring and it doesn't look as straight forward as replacing my partners standard neck seals. I think I'll send an email of to DRIS for some details on the removal process. The neck hole on my suite looks as though it was been made bigger then standard without much material for the neck seal to glue on too.
---------- Post added November 19th, 2014 at 07:07 AM ----------
How many dives do you have on the suit? Do like Akimbo said and let it hang on a hanger. Gravity will help shape it a bit.
Give it 10 or more dives...if you still don't like it, it can be removed. If we were to remove it, this is what I would do.....
Get some MEK, and use that and a rag to start to get under the black tape. Once you get it started, that will help release it. You do need alot of MEK on the rag. Do this in a well ventilated area and with gloves on. Once you get that off, seam rip the stitching with a seam ripper. Take out the ring. Then you can use a Urethane glue or the Heat tape we sell to put in a new seal
Do give the system a good chance though....it would be a shame to get rid of it unless you really can't stand it and have given it a fair shake.
Well I did a version of this. MEK is impossible to get where I live so I just used a heat gun and peeled the black tape off (heat gun is essential if you own a fusion). I used a seem ripper and took out the ring. Easy process.
Now I have a problem. I no longer have a disable drysuit. really, it is stuffed now, read on.
Seriously, the neck on my suit has been cut so the hole is massive. I was shocked when I took the ring off to find that the stitching which is only a couple of mm from the edge of the ring was stitched to only 1-2mm from the edge of the suit hole (that is how wide the hole had been cut), in fact there where sections where the stitching barely managed to catch any suit material. Goes to show how strong that black tape is, because it was the only thing really holding the ring on. i.e there was only 1-2mm (around 1/25 inch) of material overlap of material of ring and suit/shell.
Who ever installed the neck ring must have had a real bitch of time doing it. I'm in the situation where it is an absolute pig of an idea to install the ring back on using dry tape. Even if I wanted just replace the Neck Tite with Quick I would be stuck.
I'm left shaking my head in disbelief at what was done to the suit to install the neck ring, I just understand why they did what they did. I think I would have been better off just ordering a normal fusion bullt and installing the ring myself, that way I would know for sure that there would be NO issues with switching back if I so desired. Which I do now, but now I can't dive until this sorted out....how ever long that will take.
Mike