I have seen the Green but have been unable to find a source. Do you have one for the purple and the green?
-Z
Si-tec vs waterproof silicone neck seal
- Thread starter Candiru
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I have seen the Green but have been unable to find a source. Do you have one for the purple and the green?
-Z
I tore an Sci-tech wrist seal on mine, all I could get were Fourth Element seals. They look and feel identical. I have seen a Waterproof HD neck seal and it looks different in the stock photo, but I'm not sure I need anything HD when the neck seal seems to be holding up okay.
Perhaps that is because I have a regular head and a fat neck, so stretching the trimmed seal over my head is low stress for the seal.
Perhaps that is because I have a regular head and a fat neck, so stretching the trimmed seal over my head is low stress for the seal.
I first started using silicone seals about eight years ago. I was not able to make a single dive with the silicone wrist seals. They inevitably tore before I could get in the water. The neck seals were not quite as bad. Stopped using them the same season and went back to latex.
About four years ago, when I bought a Waterproof ex2, I tried them again. Those didn’t tear like the earlier ones. In the four year period, they did something to the composition that made a difference to me. I now have some that I have been using for at least three seasons.
The only problem I see is that they can still be weakened by the sitech systems that use the clips like the slaggo cuffs. Using the clip forms a dent, which if disassembled and then reassembled now has a weak spot. If you never disassemble them, they seem ok. It seems to be the stretching of the weaken spot that causes the problem. This doesn’t happen with the other ring based sitech systems.
I prefer the waterproof versions including the bent neck bellows seal.
A few years ago, I tried talking to the CEO of sitech about all this and the slipstream changes that they had made to the Necktite system. But he wouldn’t speak English to me. I thought that was interesting, because a lot of Scandinavian people can speak better English than me as a native English speaking person. I once had an extended conversation in English with a bag boy in a grocery store in Denmark, in the 1970s.
About four years ago, when I bought a Waterproof ex2, I tried them again. Those didn’t tear like the earlier ones. In the four year period, they did something to the composition that made a difference to me. I now have some that I have been using for at least three seasons.
The only problem I see is that they can still be weakened by the sitech systems that use the clips like the slaggo cuffs. Using the clip forms a dent, which if disassembled and then reassembled now has a weak spot. If you never disassemble them, they seem ok. It seems to be the stretching of the weaken spot that causes the problem. This doesn’t happen with the other ring based sitech systems.
I prefer the waterproof versions including the bent neck bellows seal.
A few years ago, I tried talking to the CEO of sitech about all this and the slipstream changes that they had made to the Necktite system. But he wouldn’t speak English to me. I thought that was interesting, because a lot of Scandinavian people can speak better English than me as a native English speaking person. I once had an extended conversation in English with a bag boy in a grocery store in Denmark, in the 1970s.
Would you mind expanding on this? I am interested in knowing what this means.
Thanks,
-Z
vladodessit
Contributor
Waterproof is much thinner. Sitech comes in 2 thicknesses. Regular and HD. Regular is thicker than Waterproof. I never managed to keep waterproof wrist seals to not leak, there would be at least small pinholes from the new. Neck would work better but would last like 15 dives.
Around 2011 and earlier, the necktite had a particular stock number. It was very stiff and there were a lot of complaints. Without changing the model name or stock number, they changed the cross-sectional profile of the ring at least once. I used to have to cut sections to show the difference. They both had the same stock number molded into the material.
The result was a ring where the recess which held the yellow retaining ring, no longer properly contained the ring. If you were in a suit with the modified ring and it flexed a certain way, the yellow ring could pop out along with your Neck seal leading to a catastrophic flood. Fortunately I was only in the pool when it happened. That led me to investigate the cause. We then bought a number of the older stiffer rings that were still in stock with one of the distributors.
Since then, sitech has come out with a number of other approaches to make the ring more flexible while keeping the seals field replaceable.
The result was a ring where the recess which held the yellow retaining ring, no longer properly contained the ring. If you were in a suit with the modified ring and it flexed a certain way, the yellow ring could pop out along with your Neck seal leading to a catastrophic flood. Fortunately I was only in the pool when it happened. That led me to investigate the cause. We then bought a number of the older stiffer rings that were still in stock with one of the distributors.
Since then, sitech has come out with a number of other approaches to make the ring more flexible while keeping the seals field replaceable.
I have an Aqualung fusion circa 2018 with the Neck Tite system. While I have not had any problems with it, in your professional judgement do you believe there is cause for me to be concerned?
-Z
In the ones that had the problem, you can easily identify them. The ring is very flexible.
if you grab the seal in a bunch with your fist from the top and pulled up to the front, the inner edge of the collar would start to flex up, distort, and then release the inner yellow ring.
If yours doesn’t do that, I think you are safe.
I don’t know how long they made them like that.
if you grab the seal in a bunch with your fist from the top and pulled up to the front, the inner edge of the collar would start to flex up, distort, and then release the inner yellow ring.
If yours doesn’t do that, I think you are safe.
I don’t know how long they made them like that.
HD refers to a specific model of Si-Tech's latex neck seal. HD stands for "Heavy Duty" which refers to the double dipped lower half of the seal for product # 61510.
HD, to my knowledge, has nothing to do with their silicone seals.
-Z
I guess I have a project this weekend to check into this.
My wife has the Quick Neck in her drysuit which, from my understanding, is the 2nd generation of their modular neck seal system. It uses the same yellow ring as the Neck Tite but the ring glued into the suit is more flexible. We haven't had any issues though my wife has not really done much diving with her suit, but I have not heard of any issues. It would be interesting to see the profile differences of the problematic rings and yellow lock rings. The current yellow lock rings used on the Neck Tite and Quick Neck systems have an "L" shaped profile, is that the same as the earlier renditions of the Neck Tite? Have you seen/heard of issues with the more flexible Quick Neck?
-Z
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