Those stiff drysuit neck rings

[Marie13]

My two drysuits came with the SiTech user replaceable neck seal systems. Current Fusion has the first generation (Neck Tite). I just got my suit back last week from having the neck ring replaced with a glued on latex seal. Heaven! I have mobility now and can do valve drills. When you’re narrow shouldered, those neck rings are a PITA. I had a hard time even reaching suit dump valve on the surface.

Who else has gotten rid of their neck ring?

 

[Lorenzoid]

I didn't want to say this in your other thread, knowing how much weight you give to GUE dogma, but when I was ready to shop for my first drysuit I heard from more than one GUE instructor that those neck rings are undesirable for that reason.

 

[lexvil]

Would never even consider it but if DRIS was just down the street it would be less of a negitive, for me no one local is very reliable, latex fails all to soon, for me in my part of the world replaceable makes a big difference.

 

[Marie13]

I was told by my shop that Santi doesn’t offer the user replaceable neck seals as a factory installed option on their Ladies First suits for this very reason.

 

[Marie13]

I didn't want to say this in your other thread, knowing how much weight you give to GUE dogma, but when I was ready to shop for my first drysuit I heard from more than one GUE instructor that those neck rings are undesirable for that reason.

This would have been OK. It’s common sense. They might be OK for recreational diving, but heck, I had to get help getting in/out of my rig. Pushed my head down, too. Much easier to get my head up from my pool time on Saturday. I’ll do preventative seal replacement every other winter. I never busted one of my silicone seals, but I was always super careful.

 

[Lorenzoid]

This would have been OK. It’s common sense. They might be OK for recreational diving, but heck, I had to get help getting in/out of my rig. Pushed my head down, too. Much easier to get my head up from my pool time on Saturday. I’ll do preventative seal replacement every other winter. I never busted one of my silicone seals, but I was always super careful.

I think if one is careful with latex neck seals, they can last a surprisingly long time. My wife just had one replaced that had somewhere north of 150 hours of (mostly) freshwater on it--not bad, not great, just what it is. And because EE had promised the suit would be ready for us to pick up and it wasn't, they did the replacement on the spot in about 20 minutes, and by the time we got to the dive site and hit the water a couple of hours later it was dry enough to dive--with care.

By the way, it was my wife's neck seal replacement that prompted me to start a thread just a few weeks ago about "preventative seal replacement," and my take on the responses was that it's overkill. If I'm not mistaken, a small tear in a silicone seal generally grows faster than a small tear in a latex seal. In other words, I believe latex seals don't tend to fail catastrophically.

 

[AustinV]

I am curious about this. I’m pretty small shouldered. I have awesome shoulder mobility. In a wetsuit, even a 7 mm, I have zero issues doing valve drills.

I just got a drysuit - my first - it has the Si Tech quick neck (2nd generation) and was surprised I could barely (just fingertips basically) reach valves. Part of this may just be learning how to wear the drysuit/user error but I’m going to pay attention to the neck ring next time I’m in the water.

 

[Marie13]

I saw someone’s latex seal fall to pieces as they were putting their suit on two years ago on a Lake Huron diving trip. Seal was 3-4 years old and had a lot of dives on it. Guy had to rent an ill-fitting wetsuit to do dives and he lost one day of the two day trip. His seal failed before the first dive of day one.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I am always very careful with my gear, but have had three neck seals tear. I love the neck ring. I've never even noticed it while diving double 120s and deco bottles. I tore a neck seal while in the Galapagos earlier this month. With a glued in seal, I would have sat on the boat, wasting the thousands of dollars the trip cost. Instead, I swapped out the seal in less than two minutes and didn't miss the dive.

 

[Marie13]

I am always very careful with my gear, but have had three neck seals tear. I love the neck ring. I've never even noticed it while diving double 120s and deco bottles. I tore a neck seal while in the Galapagos earlier this month. With a glued in seal, I would have sat on the boat, wasting the thousands of dollars the trip cost. Instead, I swapped out the seal in less than two minutes and didn't miss the dive.

You’re obviously a guy. I’m a chick and we tend to have narrower shoulders. Damn neck ring covered most of my shoulders.