Neoprene neck seals

[cys]

Okay, so I got my suit back today from Mark. He had it for three days (exclusive of shipping). I couldn't be happier with the neoprene neck seal. The fit is awesome. I can already tell I'm gonna love this thing. Thanks to all those who posted in this thread.

[Mo2vation]

That's great news.

Let us know what its like when you get it into the water.

I love Neo seals. Never going back to Latex.

-K

[cys]

Maiden voyage with the neoprene neck seal happened over the past 2 days during the Sea Divers Bugzilla (I'm not a bug hunter) trip on the Peace (the greatest dive boat, ever). I just can't say enough positive about this thing: super duper dry, super duper comfortable. super duper warm. Just way awesome. I will never dive a latex neck seal again if I can help it. I didn't cut down the seal at all, and it completely covers my neck even when folded back on itself -- the result is a crazy amount of sealing, and insulating, surface. I felt noticeably warmer on the 50 degree dives. Seven dives and not a drop of water coming through the neck seal. No neck rash (yay!).

Chris

[Mo2vation]

Great news Chris.

It will stretch out over time. After a couple of hundred dives you may need to pick up a BioSeal. After a couple of hundred more dives you may need to cut a wedge out of it. We've had ours last close to 400 - 500 dives before changing them out.

Yeah - I love these wacky turtle necks too.

I've done several dives with the Sea Divers... I can only imagine what Bugzilla would be like!

Thanks for sharing the voyage.

-K

[NWbrewer]

Update -

DRY! FINALLY DRY!

After several iterations of shrinking the neck seal down, convinced it was leaking past my neck, it got to the point where I couldn't make it any tighter without turning a rather unflattering shade of blue. A more thorough pressure test revealed several small leaks where the seal was glued down to the suit. Several layers of Seal Cement thinned with Toluene (nasty stuff use caution!) on both the inside and outside of the seal/suit seam and last night I was finally dry. And warm. And comfortable. Neoprene seals rock.

If I had it to do over again I would have thinned the Seal cement when I put it on the fabric side of the seal, laid a piece of wax paper over it while wet, and pressed it in with the roller. I think the problem was that the fabric did not fully impregnate with the cement, allowing leakage. I would also use 2mm neoprene instead of 3mm. I think it would be a little easier to work with, cheaper, and be a little less bulky on my neck.

Lastly, if anybody is wondering how big to make the seal around their neck, measure your neck, and subtract ~8-9%. My neck is a little more than 17", and a 16" diameter neck seal seems to be about right. I got only one other data point from jenh with the 12.5" neck and an 11.5" seal.

Anybody who wants to try it let me know and you can have a pattern.

Jake

Thanks. It really wasn't too bad. Not knowing how tight it should be I've slowly been taking some material out of the seems to tighten it up. Right now it's leaking, but not too bad, I'd say I had a cup of water during the last dive. I looked at a buddies on Saturday, and his is WAY tighter than mine, so I think I'll take it in a bit more and see if that cures it.

Incidentally I did more or less the same thing on my wrist seals (neoprene glued to the suit, then glued to the dryglove rings) and that's been dry for ~40 dives.