Maintaining latex drysuit seals. Any suggestions?

[saulman]

Razor blades and fire don't seem to be working for me. [smilie=flamer.gif] Actually, the seals are in great shape now. I just want to keep them that way as long as possible.

I saw the Seal Saver stuff from mcnett. Does anyone use it? What's it supposed to do? Any similar products?

Any other suggestions for prolonging the life of latex seals (on an OR Pyro)?

Also, for the waterproof zippers a guy from a wetsuit manufacturer in Vancouver recommended silicon emulsion (used by car dealers for door seals). Anyone try this? Any compatibility problem with the OR drysuit fabric coatings?

[Johnnyman]

Keep the seals dry, clean after use and keep out of UV light for storage. I ruined rubber seals on a kayak drytop by letting sunscreen touch it, turned to goo. Regular application of paraffin wax on the zipper works great.

[duckbill]

definitely keep seals clean, leaving oils from your skin will shorten their life, alternately some people have used baby powder(absorbs oils)

[KUS]

hmm, I got another bit of lore to add, this seems to work for me: sail lots, then the other parts wear out first OR buy a new suit every 4 years...

No really, keeping the suits in a closed up tight HDplastic bag when dry (obviously, lurkers) and not in use to reduce exposure....to oxygen, light, dust. I keep my shorties and shoulder suits like this for years now over the winter months. This seems to work for neoprene too to not have the rubber wormy things coming out after a few years. To preserve the seals I was told hair conditioner is just as effective.....the idea to keep it clean and keep air off, but these must have some form of oil in it so who knows. Armorall might work pretty good too, haven't tried it. The seal stuff you get with the suit seems to do very little and they say not to spill it on the fabric of the dry suit like you can avoid that given their crappy bottle and applicator and considering you are putting it on a round, flexible surface

For zippers wax, wax and more wax.....rinse every time with fresh water, then wax, cannot speak to the plastic zippers, don't buy them they suck

[ToesideT]

HI.. I dont know that the previous posts have answered your Q.. mabye this helps?
I have used aquaseal seal saver for several years on surfing, SAR and kayaking suits. It helps keep the latex gaskets umm.. moist and supple. Application is easy.
When the gaskets dry out they become brittle and crack- whcih happens to alot of older suits
Get ALL the salt off, dry and coat with the saver on both sides.
We use 'ziptech' on a lot of zippers on SAR suits at work, and the consensus seems to be it's the best. I like it better than maxwax
from the Toeside

[winddoctor]

I kept my OR drysuit's seals and seams in great shape with 303 Protectant. Most marine supply shops carry it. It also works well on monofilm sails to keep them looking new.

[sharkdiver]

as a dive instructor i have seen many latex seals go at the worst time, but if you take care of them they will last a long time, personally I would recomend neoprene seals any day though. to take care of you seals like in preveous posts make sure you clean the suit and allow to dry. then use baby powder, no need ot buy those expensive seal protectors at the dive shops and surf shops when baby powder does the same thing. if you have a bilam suit and get a leak a simple bike patch can fix that. do not use auqa seal on thos suits or seals or you will get the hard patch which will cause more leaks.