Postby Foil » Thu May 27, 2021 6:35 am
as a user of drysuits over the past 45 years I can offer some solid advice to keep the latex seals happy and long lasting, I have 2 ocean rodeo dry suits, the lighter less fussy versions, the "soul heat" versions, by far my best ever dry suits, and use them in rotation nearly every day for the 6months or more of the cold season, the seals are now in their 6th year and still feel and look like new, I only use the suits with ankle seals not the silly boots option, which are unsuitable for long term regular use in our sport and similar sports like windsurfing where feet coverings need to be carefully considered. boot option on these suits just bunch up under your foot, ruddy uncomfortable, too bulky, and damage far too easily.
After every session my suit is dunked in a tub of fresh warm water and rinsed thoroughly, then hung up to dry in my garage, drip tray beneath, that works well on dry days but its taken indoors to dry on cold wet days for a faster warmer gentle dry, once dried out, use baby talc to powder the latex seals, wrist seals,neck and ankle seals all get a good dusting, all over inside and out, a little goes a long way, the seals are then nice and slippy, no sticky feel, basically they feel and look new again, even after 6 years of hard near daily use.
As for the zip, keep any thing made with oil away from the suit seals and the plastic type zip, use spray silicone only as the best zip lube and protector, mine is still as good as new and zips up so smoothly and super fast without any hint of sticky resistance, don't use other spray lubes, only silicone pure, not the stuff with added ptfe or other ingredients, keep it simple, and remember silicone is not made from from oil so great for keeping your rubber bits safe and slippy.
don't use any cosmetics around your neck area, no sun screen, no oily fingers must touch the seals, keep the seals away from direct sunlight, tuck the wrist seals inside the neck seal and then tuck that inside the suit after application of talc powder, then tuck in the legs down inside the suit as well after a dusting with talc powder on the seals, then the suit is easy to carry around and not risk snagging a latex seal in the car door or even step on as you carry it to the car. (done both in the past)
it is easy to damage the seals through being careless, use the talc, its so cheap, and makes the suit smell great as well, bonus!!
- These users thanked the author Foil for the post (total 3):
- apollo4000 (Thu May 27, 2021 7:28 am) • irwe (Thu May 27, 2021 10:21 am) • igorlopasovsky (Wed Sep 20, 2023 8:09 pm)