Looking for ideas for repair

[industrious95]

I have a DUI Norseman with about 300 dives on it. Suit is 20 yrs old. It was in DUI for new seals, leak test & leak repair in February. I didn't get to actually try it out until May, and I was soaken wet from the waist down. I figured maybe the relief zipper was open, so on my next trip, I made extra care that it was closed. Still got soaken wet from waist down.

After drying, I put the suit on, pumped it full of air, and sprayed soapy water on it. No leaks at relief zipper, although found a leak on the thigh on a seam. Turned it inside out and couldn't figure out where to try to fix the seam.

After drying, turned the suit inside out and filled it with water from a hose. Within a few minutes, the inside of both of the attached boots were soaken wet. Frankly, I can't figure out how to repair for that. The seams for the boots are in the part of the suit I can't turn inside-out. I can try taping & aquasealing the outside where the boots meet the trilam, think that's worth it?

Never found the wet spot from the seam leak I discovered with the soapy water.

I'm wondering if it's time to get a new suit? I don't mind getting wet in the summer and fall, but it kind of defeats the purpose of having a dry suit. Once October/November come around, I won't be able to dive anymore. I don't want to loose another month of diving sending it in for repair, and quite frankly, after my last $500 repair, it wasn't any better than before the repair.

Can you make any recommendations based on what I've just told you? Recommendations as to how long the suit should last and at what point it doesn't make sense to repair it anymore?

Thanks.

 

[KathyIGH]

Hi Industrious95,

I saw your post and went to the repair expert here at DUI - Ms. Pam Oliva. I am going to paste the information she provided.
He seems to be doing everything right so far. If he puts the suit on again, and follows what he did for the leak in the thigh, mark the area that leaks with a crayon. Take the suit off, put a finger on the marked area and try to mark a spot on the inside. He will then have an idea of where the leak is. Using Aquaseal coat at least 2" beyond where the leak is (3 times.)

As for the boots..These are hard to turn inside out. Since the suit is 20 + years old, I recommend looking at the boots first to see if there is any dry rot. This may be where it is leaking (reference to the soaked boots.) Coating with aquaseal will help. The question is, for how long?
The material that the Norseman is made of is a heavy duty TLS material. Good stuff.

He mentioned that we had the suit in for repair. Can we get more info? Serial number etc....? One more thing, are the seams taped or is it urethane?

I can look back at the evaluation of the suit and give him a better idea on what to do.


I hope that helps. Thank you so much for your post.

Regards,

Kathy

 

[industrious95]

Thanks for the info Kathy. I PM'd you the work order on the suit

I believe the seams are urethane. It looks like some kind of clear liquid. I had you install zip seals on the neck and there is a layer of tape over the joint between the zip seal base and the suit.

When it was repaired, I spoke with "Dave" from your repair center and he said the boots were worn, but I kind of got the impression that I'd get another season or two out of them. To save money, I didn't replace them.

I did repair the boots with aquaseal last season, there was a noticeable leak. I noticed that on the exterior seam where the boots are attached to the suit, the threads are worn. Is it worth taping and aqua sealing over them? In New Jersey, September/Oct/early November are the best diving times. Water temps are in the 60's on the bottom, so I don't mind being wet. Not my first choice, of course, but opposed to sending in the suit now, I'll put up with it. Once it gets too cold, I'll have to send the suit in.