Types of drysuit pocket

[sunkarm]

Hi all,

what r the different types of drysuit pockets avlaiable in d market?

can u just buy them and install it yourselves or u have them installed/added when u purchase your drysuit.

thanks

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Halycon, Diver Rite and a few other companies sell pockets. They are not hard to glue on to a trilam suit using aquaseal.

Just determine where you want to put it, use masking take around the pocket on the suit, and put a bead of glue along the right and left edges of the pocket as well as all but the very center of the bottom edge of the pocket (leave a place for water to drain out from between the suit and pocket). With the upper edge unglued, you have a place for wet notes, etc. Use weights to keep the pocket pressed against the suit until the glue dries. Remove any glue that extrudes onto the tape and after 40 minutes or so when the glue has set, pull up the tape to prevent it from being glued to the pocket. The end result should be secure and very neat in appearance with no glue showing on suit or pocket.

Neopene suits are more difficult as the material stretches and sewing has to be done carefully as you do not want the needle to penetrate below the first layer of nylon.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Unless you get the ones from Phil Ellis at Dive Sports and follow the instructions he gives. In this case you put the suit on, lay the pocket against it, and trace around the outline. Then take it off and cut a couple pieces of cardboard to insert into to the leg to stretch the suit til the pocket and suit line up. Then follow DA's taping/gluing advice. Works great. I've done this on a 5 mil and a 3 mil and after many dives they are still holding great. I did not do any sewing by the way.

 

[vioch]

Is it worth to buy Halcyon pockets or $27 XS Scuba pockets work as fine as Halcyon's?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I really like my Halcyon pockets, particularly compared to the not nearly so nice pockets on my Fusion, but the XS scuba pockets look good for the money.

 

[Belmont]

I prefer the Halcyon pockets I installed on my wetsuit compared to the ones that came with my DUI TLS 350
.
The Halcyon has a velcro flap and on top a small zippered compartment, very handy for small things. Also what I like about it is that it has two bungee loops inside to tie things to, easier to use than the single D ring in the DUI pockets.

Considering that pockets are put to good use on about every dive I think it's best to buy good quality ones, replacing a glued on pocket would be a pain.

 

[vioch]

Could anybody advise one or 2 compartments are in the fifthd.com pockets?

Any thoughts on OxyCheq G-pockets?

 

[vioch]

No fifthd.com and G-Pockets users?

 

[matt t.]

The 5th D pockets have a bad reputation for falling apart after a year or so (mine lasted a little longer with a lot of patching). I would NOT buy them. I haven't heard anything bad about any of the others. I have personal experience with the DUI bellows pockets and the Halcyon Explorer pockets. They are both great pockets.

 

[TSandM]

The 5thD pockets have a single compartment. Mine have not fallen apart in several hundred dives over three years, although one is somewhat the worse for wear for having been soaked in solvent to get the glue off it, when I reglued the pockets . . .

I think the Cadillac of dry suit pockets are the ones sold by Deep Sea Supply, with the wide neoprene backing for mounting, but they are unfortunately also quite expensive (three times what the 5thD pockets cost, or at least used to cost).

It isn't difficult to glue your own pockets on, but it's worth reading the Airspeed Press book on dry suit care before doing so. Self-glued pockets WILL peel off from the corners over time; everybody I know agrees on that. After my second gluing, I sent my suit in to Superior Drysuit Repair and had them stitch and seal them, and I wish I had done that from the beginning.