Drysuit repair-wish me luck!

[DivingCRNA]

dilute the aquaseal with cotol and create a "seam" seal on the inside where the tape is/was..this is what dui uses on their seams..

I painted the seals with aquaseal cement tonight. 3-4 coats a seam, until they "looked" sealed. I was going to glue latex rubber from innertubes in place, but the cement looked really good.

I will get out the spray bottle of soapy water, shop vac and plugs for a leak test tomorrow night.

I bought some bicycle innertubes to use as seam tape of the cement doesn't work. But hte cement looks REALLY good.

 

[DivingCRNA]

I painted the seals with aquaseal cement tonight. 3-4 coats a seam, until they "looked" sealed. I was going to glue latex rubber from innertubes in place, but the cement looked really good.

I will get out the spray bottle of soapy water, shop vac and plugs for a leak test tomorrow night.

I bought some bicycle innertubes to use as seam tape of the cement doesn't work. But the cement looks REALLY good.

Well, I bet that it leaks less than it did before, but I still found a handful of seam leaks. I aquasealed most of them tonight. There will be another test tomorrow night.

Hopefully that does it.

 

[HarryWhisman]

Hang in there!!

 

[CWMurf]

Don't give up now! You've already done most of the work.

 

[DivingCRNA]

My suit looks good after the aquaseal. No bubbles with inflation and soapy water.... I am filling my 80 gallon tub right now and am going for a dive in the tub in my drysuit.

My wife is out with friends. If she finds me in teh tub in my drysuit, she will think I am CRAZY! Of course, she would be right.

I will post how it goes.

 

[H2Andy]

If she finds me in teh tub in my drysuit, she will think I am CRAZY! Of course, she would be right.

lol, i did that... my wife and our cats were looking at me, really interested...

of course, my wife talked the whole time about how funny i looked, so...

:14:

 

[oly5050user]

My suit looks good after the aquaseal. No bubbles with inflation and soapy water.... I am filling my 80 gallon tub right now and am going for a dive in the tub in my drysuit.

My wife is out with friends. If she finds me in teh tub in my drysuit, she will think I am CRAZY! Of course, she would be right.

I will post how it goes.

sounds like you got it done.

 

[DivingCRNA]

My suit looks good after the aquaseal. No bubbles with inflation and soapy water.... I am filling my 80 gallon tub right now and am going for a dive in the tub in my drysuit.

My wife is out with friends. If she finds me in the tub in my drysuit, she will think I am CRAZY! Of course, she would be right.

I will post how it goes.

No bubble on inflation/soapy water, but look at my PJs....

The second photo is photoshopped to cover the semitransparency caused by wet pajamas.

I sat down and immediately felt my "private area" getting wet. I immersed myself to cover all the seams in water. The pattern on my clothes almost matches the pattern of the seams.

I am more than a little discouraged. I did learn that it does work to zip yourself in a back entry suit using a dog leash as a helper.

I am really at a loss for what to do now. I am thinking that the cement and aquaseal are not sticking to the laminate of the suit to form a seal.

I was so damn proud of myself for putting new wrist and neck seals on and the seams are giving me hell.

What am I going to do? I am open to ideas.

 

[H2Andy]

don't be discouraged, you're getting closer

it looks like you have a leak somewhere in your crotch area, which
is then seeping down your pant legs

but notice how you're not getting swamped in water (i.e. your whole
pants aren't wet all over). this probalby means that you have
seepage somewhere in the crotch area, right?

actually... the right pictures show pretty soaked buttocks,
so maybe the seepage is along a seam there, if you
have one?

 

[DivingCRNA]

don't be discouraged, you're getting closer

it looks like you have a leak somewhere in your crotch area, which
is then seeping down your pant legs

but notice how you're not getting swamped in water (i.e. your whole
pants aren't wet all over). this probalby means that you have
seepage somewhere in the crotch area, right?

actually... the right pictures show pretty soaked buttocks,
so maybe the seepage is along a seam there, if you
have one?

Well, I was sitting/laying in the tub for two or three minutes. My back was wet along the seam on the back. My butt was the low point, so any water would run there. The front of my torso was dry, but there was an air pocket created there by the suit once I got in the water.

It is better, because at the pool the latex socks were full of water. I am annoyed because the suit is no where near divable right now.

I wonder if I messed up the cement inflating the suit. I was using the shop vac in blow mode and it really puts out air. Maybe the shop vac stretched the cement off the seams with to much pressure for the inflation? I put a pop can in each wrist seal and a 2 liter bottle in the neck. I put the shop vac hose in the neck with the bottle and let it run while I squirted teh suit with the soapy water.