Among us there are also such active divers that their suit is often not dry enough and they are already putting it on for the next dive. Although most diving suits are made of durable materials, like other equipment, they need our care. At the very least, some drysuit malfunctions can put a diver's life in immediate danger. In addition, dry suits are not among the cheapest parts of diving equipment and paying a little attention to them is definitely worthwhile.
Did you hastily put your gear in a box for the winter like the diver in the picture did?Then get ready for an unpleasant spring surprise. It is likely that the suit will become infested with mould over the winter, and the wrinkling, folding and re-folding of its material is not conducive. A dry suit is likely to have cuffs that swell, and you'll have no choice but to spend a fortune on professional repairs. When you're paying for it, you're probably thinking - wouldn't a little prevention be better?
Use of the suit
Instructions for using the suit are either included or can be found online. It tells you that you should use the manufacturer's bag to transport the suit, that it must not be improperly folded and wrinkled, weighed down by other material, and that it cannot tolerate long periods in direct sunlight or in a hot car. Advice on how to dry the suit in the shade after diving, and how and where to store it.
The appropriate procedure for dressing and undressing should be "figured out" so as not to overstretch the suit or cause mechanical damage, e.g. to zippers or latex cuffs. However, this is far from enough, you must also take care at home.
We asked Lada Maxa how and what to do in order to take care of the suit effectively, not to shorten its lifetime unnecessarily and save money at the same time. Under the GROUPER brand, he has been manufacturing and repairing diving suits since 1993. Here are a few tips and insights from his many years of experience...
Dry suit care
It requires more regular care than most other gear. Sweat residue on the inside of the suit not only stinks, but can compromise the seam seals. The boots are prone to mould, and the latex cuffs don't like grease and sweat either. So what to look for?
After each dive, remove the worst of the dirt from your suit while you're still getting out of the water or on the boat. Then leave it in the shade to dry as much as possible. The laws of physics say that water vapour is lighter than air. So if you hang your suit upside down by your shoes, it probably won't dry out completely from the inside. Not even the most expensive special stainless-steel hanger will help. Don't forget to dry the balaclava.
Once it's thoroughly dried, the next step is to inspect the waterproof zipper and cuffs. The metal zipper must not be cracked or punctured anywhere. If hairs loose from the supporting fabric appear on its sealing edge, burn them immediately with a lighter. The hairs will melt and not get tangled between the teeth of the zipper. The sealed layer will also protect the carrier fabric from further steaming.
Inspect the plastic zipper thoroughly for sand grains or other larger objects. If so, wipe them off with a prepared toothbrush (an essential part of the equipment of a diver with a plastic zipper on his suit). Then fasten the zipper so that it does not get dirty when handling the suit. For the most common type of plastic zippers, "the dock" must be lubricated periodically. This is where the slider fits when zipped. Vaseline for this purpose is an integral part of the zipper.
Neoprene cuffs must not have cracks anywhere that could subsequently spread and cause leaks. Latex cuffs should be washed with normal soap or detergent. After drying, treat them with a talc (not baby's bottom powder - it contains fat) or rub them with a small amount of silicone petroleum jelly or glycerine.
At the end of the season
Inspect the metal zipper well before any extended diving break. Scald the hairs, clean it with a toothbrush and detergent solution and let it dry. It is advisable to reinforce the tightness of the zipper by waxing.
How to do it? Fasten the cleaned and tanned zipper and heat the metal teeth along its entire length with a hairdryer or heat gun (not a flame) to a temperature of about 70 °C. Now unzip the zipper and apply a thin layer of pure paraffin or beeswax to the teeth, slider dock and sealing surface from the inside. Zip it up again and leave it to cool. The warm wax will press well between the teeth. It is a good idea to store the metal zippers unfastened.
Also clean the plastic zipper thoroughly with a detergent solution. Then lubricate the dock and sealing edge with the original silicone petroleum jelly and fasten the zipper. As a rule, store the plastic zippers fastened to prevent contamination of the zipper during handling.
Wash the neoprene cuffs to remove sweat and grease and lightly treat them with talc.
Silicone cuffs need to be checked only. If they are checked, you can carefully trim or remove them from the rings and replace them. Caution! The silicone cuffs must not come into contact with silicone vaseline - it will disintegrate them. The talc, on the other hand, does not harm them.
Wash the latex cuffs thoroughly with detergent, rinse with clean water and apply a thin layer of special, non-allergenic silicone petroleum jelly. Vaseline preserves the cuffs and protects them from the action of latex-damaging substances.
The valves must be kept clean and serviced according to the manufacturer's instructions. Among other reasons, poor valve function due to dirt, deposits and improper handling has been the cause of many fatal accidents. After each dive, flush them with a stream of fresh water. It is not wise to glue the valves into the suit as they are very difficult to remove later and glue residue can permanently damage them. It is a good idea to lubricate the filler valve with a little silicone petroleum jelly for automatics before a long shutdown. Either disassemble it or just squeeze a little Vaseline into the hose end and then briefly blow the valve with air.
Pressure testing
If you suspect that the suit is leaking, a pressure test will reliably detect the problematic area. In this case, the bestsolution is to contact a professional company. In our company, we perform the test from the reverse side by inflating the suit with air to a pressure of 17 kPa (equivalent to 170 cm of water column). Subsequent rubbing with a foaming solution will reveal even the slightest leak.
The repair should be carried out by resealing with a suitable patch, not just by applying a layer of Aquasure adhesive, as is often the case at home. This seemingly easy procedure does not solve anything, the adhesive layer usually peels off soon and the suit leaks again.
Storage
Store a clean, dry, properly treated and repaired suit hang on a wide, non-metallic hanger. Metal can react with the neck cuff and damage it. The shoes of a hanging suit must be on the ground or a mat. Their weight would put unnecessary load on the top of the suit and the zipper.
Rolling the suit into a bag is not the best storage method in my opinion, as the suit does not ventilate, and the zipper does not benefit from prolonged folding.
If you follow our advice, unlike the suit in the opening picture, yours will come off the shoulder strap and you can safely go diving again.
The article was published in the magazine Ocean, author Lada Maxa, www.potapecskeobleky.com, tel: +420 776 44 66 52
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