Re: [Paddlewise] Dry Suit Neck Gasket

Dave,
    After a week of stretching my neck gasket over a 21" circumference pipe I 
still had to trim a full 1/2" off just to be able to survive a few hours in 
my suit. Recently I ran into a winter diver that told me my gaskets (neck and 
wrist were way to tight).  Long story short, he says that anything tighter 
than light contact is overkill. At one point my hands went numb because my 
wrist gaskets were to tight I trimmed then down by over an inch to a very 
comfortable fit and they worked wonderfully.  I'm going to do the same with 
my neck gasket.
    Has anyone had personal experience with a gasket that was trimmed too 
much?  If so what was the effect?  What did the fit feel like?  Certainly 
it's possible to over-trim a gasket but I think we've been misled regarding 
how tight a gasket must be to be effective. Another benefit of a loose 
fitting gasket is it's resistance to tearing. Since it's under less stress 
when stretched over a body part for donning or doffing.

Jed

In a message dated 12/27/00 6:23:51 AM, dkruger_at_pacifier.com writes:

<< Need to trim the neck gasket on my Kokatat dry suit (he said, gagging).  
Anybody else with a size 16 neck remember how much they had to trim the
gasket?   >>

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