Bought a Seasoft dry suit and it leaks big time

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Dave:

I rarely check scuba board.com, maybe once a month or so but I just found this thread and I went back and checked our email thread which is extensive. You bought your suit in September, 2010 and you sent the suit back in spring 2013.

Here is what I wrote you on May, 13, 2013 at 5:30 AM: Dave: We did a complete immersion test with this suit and there were no leaks. I handled the repairs and tests personally.

At first you were not tucking your neck seal but you realized this was wrong and started tucking and we then discussed that maybe the neck seal was too large and it was possibly leaking.

I wrote you on May 13th, 2013 at 9:50 AM: It (your neck seal) should not be uncomfortable but you should feel as “if this neck seal was any tighter, it would be uncomfortable.” Let me know. I want to make sure though that you are tucking the neck seal to the inside.

You replied that: It doesn't feel that snug. it's pretty comfortable actually so maybe that's the problem, the seal isn't tight enough. I can easily stick 2 fingers between my neck and the seal. In fact that's how I've been doing it.

I wrote to you on May 13th, 2013 at 10:28 AM: Well, that is definitely were your water is coming in then. You should not be able to do that – you should have to squat and pull the neck seal away from the neck to expel air. So here is what you need to do: get a VELCRO strap and put it around your neck and cinch it so that it is tight and snug around your neck. Make sure you have enough weight so that there is adequate air inside the suit and dive the suit. See if it still leaks, I don’t think it will. Then we make the neck smaller so that the strap is not required.

On August 12th, you wrote: I finally made it out yesterday and I brought a strap for my neck. So I put the suit on, folded the seal over and once I thought it was flat and on correctly I had my buddy check it. He agreed it looked good so I put the strap around my neck and pulled it really snug. It was it was so tight it *almost* interfered with my breathing. It happened to be low tide at that time so we had a long surface swim to get to an area with any depth below 15'. Half way out I could feel the water seeping in. When I got back to my truck I took the dry suit off and I was wet head to toe. This is pretty frustrating. I've inspected the suit with a fine tooth comb and I can't find any area that looks like it could leak but now that I've tried the neck strap I feel like I can say with confidence it isn't the seal. But I don't know what else we can do.

On August 12, 2013 I wrote: How much weight were you diving with? My thinking was that with tucked seals it is air inside the suit that creates the airtight seal. If you do not have enough air inside the suit you cannot create that seal, thus the question regarding how much weight. Little weight = little air.

On September 3rd, you wrote: I went diving on Sunday and I wore 40 pounds. Within 10 seconds I could feel water leaking into my suit. I am 100% confident that the water is leaking either from the zipper or from the seams around the zipper. There's no doubt in my mind anymore.

I wrote on September 3rd, 2013 at 10:21 AM: We leak tested the suit by completely immersing the suit underwater and inflating it with air but obviously we have missed something. This is one of those mysteries of drysuits I just cannot understand. I am going to have you send the suit back to us. Give me your address so I can email you a FEDEX label:

You sent the suit back to us again, we went over the suit, blew it up underwater and found no leaks. We cleaned some debris out of the valves and returned the suit to you. In hindsight we should have replaced the entire zipper panel, this would have replaced the area where you felt the leaking. So what I want you to do is send the suit back to us, we will do this now. What I want you to do is mark the spot as carefully as you can to where you think the leak is coming in.

It might be years later but lets see if we can't get this done.

Bruce

Bruce...respectfully...

What your shop thinks it may be doing...and what it appears to be actually doing seem to be in conflict...

Further...this forum was never intended to resolve retailer/purchaser complaints...

Your customer is crying out because ''you'' obviously let him slip through the cracks...your customer complaint responses...using this forum as a platform is completely unprofessional...and in the process you're losing more prospective customers than you're gaining...

Quit the BS...replace the suit...it was obviously defective from new...why should your valued customer have to settle for a new suit with an obvious ineffective repair......

Further...no dry zipper should have to be loaded up with grease in order to seal properly...

Certainly sounds to me that there are some serious ''systems'' failures at your facility...

Warren...
 
Further...this forum was never intended to resolve retailer/purchaser complaints...

While generally true of SB as a whole, the Manufacturer QA forums under which this is, were and are meant for exactly this, direct communication with a manufacturer.

On the original topic, IF I as a customer believed I had spent $3000 plus on a drysuit that I BELIEVED was faulty through manufacturer error, no $200 free goods offer would EVER convince me to take ANYTHING from that company again. I understand what you are trying to do @Bruce Justinen but I seriously doubt that it will help the OP in any way or change the mind of anyone who may be dissuaded from one of your suits by this thread.

Oh, the OP username is @SBDeadly not "Angel Fish", that is a title allocate based on the number of posts a user has.
 
While generally true of SB as a whole, the Manufacturer QA forums under which this is, were and are meant for exactly this, direct communication with a manufacturer.

On the original topic, IF I as a customer believed I had spent $3000 plus on a drysuit that I BELIEVED was faulty through manufacturer error, no $200 free goods offer would EVER convince me to take ANYTHING from that company again. I understand what you are trying to do @Bruce Justinen but I seriously doubt that it will help the OP in any way or change the mind of anyone who may be dissuaded from one of your suits by this thread.

Oh, the OP username is @SBDeadly not "Angel Fish", that is a title allocate based on the number of posts a user has.

RB...

My note was intended as a subtle hint to Bruce...to do the right thing through the right channels...

Every time he he puts words to print on this thread...he not only embarrasses himself...his company...and his staff...he puts another nail in his coffin...

I think he may have gotten the idea...as he has gone silent...as to whether he has done the right thing...we''ll have to see if the OP responds in a positive manner...I have my doubts...

If this was your customer...would you be airing your ''dirty laundry on this forum...

I'd have replaced the suit long before customer frustration led to open forum complaints...I've heard more than enough from this guy to not touch his products with a barge pole...

Warren...
 
RB...

My note was intended as a subtle hint to Bruce...to do the right thing through the right channels...

Every time he he puts words to print on this thread...he not only embarrasses himself...his company...and his staff...he puts another nail in his coffin...

I think he may have gotten the idea...as he has gone silent...as to whether he has done the right thing...we''ll have to see if the OP responds in a positive manner...I have my doubts...

If this was your customer...would you be airing your ''dirty laundry on this forum...

I'd have replaced the suit long before customer frustration led to open forum complaints...I've heard more than enough from this guy to not touch his products with a barge pole...

Warren...
I think since he let the thread go for nearly two years, the window of opportunity for him to make this right is long gone. Complete lack of response to things like this can be very bad for a business, but a trivial effort years later is not very good either. I have to believe the OP at this point has either replaced the seasoft suit with another brand or given up drysuits.
 
I think since he let the thread go for nearly two years, the window of opportunity for him to make this right is long gone. Complete lack of response to things like this can be very bad for a business, but a trivial effort years later is not very good either. I have to believe the OP at this point has either replaced the seasoft suit with another brand or given up drysuits.

Kel...

You're right...

Costly for the OP...having to select an alternative...

Falling on ones sword...for the manufacturer...

Some of today's scuba industry operators are trying so hard to stay viable...while a few seem to be trying so hard to fail...

Warren
 
I’m intrigued by Seasoft dry suits and the self donning, I am a big fan of neoprene for dry suits and the 5mil compressed looks like it would be great, try as I may I haven’t found any other complaints of their suits, the OP has disappeared. It unfortunate about the lead fine, this sort of shot recovery thing happens to many.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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