On friday I procured some plasti-dip and stayed up late carefully painting it on the inside of all of my wetsuit seams. It soaked into the material so I didn’t have to stress too much about keeping it even. I took it out saturday and gave it a shot. It was more waterproof than before, but not as good as my friend’s glued and blindstitched suit. I gess when the stuff stretches some of the holes opened up again. Still, it was an improvement. However, the increase in warmth was offset by a decrease in comfort. The seams are significantly more sitff than before, so when I have the suit in it feels like a spiderweb of seams. The seams dig in to me a little bit, particularly in the lower legs and forearms. I think the forearms are the most uncomfortable because of the rubbery seams grabbing arm hair. I had to glue little patches of neoprene over the armpit seams to guard against some serious chafing from paddling, but that seemed to work. Any ideas on how to make these seams more comfortable? Would tape help them slide on, or would it stiffen them up even more? In retrospect, I think I would have left my suit alone. It’s only maybe 15% warmer, but it’s 30% less comfortable. Next time I’ll just buy a glued and blindstitched suit. Thanks Herb and Doc for your pointers. It was an interesting experiment. -Chad
…The suit I used it in was already stiff so I never real noticed a gained stiffness.However, I did seal out more than 90% of the leaks,first shot.I used a large 60cc syringe to deliver the tool dip. …As for Neo-rez,I’ve used it.It’s not any softer,flexer or better that the tool dip,just costs a heck of alot more by volume,and harder to find.In fact it took a long time to dry,and had poor adhesion qualities.I ended up fixing my kids blow-up kiddie pool with instead.Herb
Hi Chad, I was afraid that was gonna happen. And I’m afraid that all tape is going to do is make it worse. Your best bets are a long-sleeved rash guard ( they made those originally for fashion-oriented badly fitting wetsuits ) or giving the inside of the suit a good dusting with talcum powder or corn starch before putting it on. That’s what we old #$%&s used to do before they started lining suits with the nylon knit material. For what it’s worth, part 1 - a lot of inexpensive suits are just stitched, not glued, so they’ll do just what yours did. Fine for a summer suit, but not good for winter. It’s a good reason to go for something a little better when you’re buying a new suit. For what it’s worth, part 2 - last year I happened to time it right. Was in the local swap shop and ran across a superstretchy Hurley in my size that some idiot had pitched after tearing the sleeve ( trim yer fingernails, I guess) . Well, a little contact cement and a little time and now I have a spare 3/2 that can live on the boat with an older board I don’t use much. Keep your eyes open, you never know. hope that’s of use doc…
Chad, Youve got to use a better sealant. It has to be at least as flexible, soft and strong (after bonding) as the base nylon/neoprene. Referring to non-commercial grade consumer products (as sealants), an old boat builder once told me, "yeah, theyre good, kid… but not good enough!"