Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2015 07:42:44 +1200
‘Thanks’ to jka for ‘outing’ me with my Kokatat shame… In Deb’s defence, I did ask for help in learning to do the gasket replacement ‘properly’ – but we only got half way through the process before dinner happened. Best Regards Paul Hayward, Auckland, New Zealand ---------------------------- Sorry ’bout that Paul, I’ve since spoken to Deb and she has filled in the gaps so I’m have a crack soon. I might have her on speaker phone while I do it. ------------------------------- Folks around here have been singing the praises of replacing latex gaskets with neoprene (https://www.flickr.com/photos/95432377_at_N05/8707673457/in/photostream/). Lasts nearly forever and quite dry, if you can find stretchy enough neoprene. I couldn't find suitable neoprene and went back to latex because I wanted to go paddling and stop sniffing glue.... - Mark ----------------------------- Thanks for that Mark, very interesting. On my last drysuit I had the seals replaced by Chris Reed, of Chill Cheater, who used his clever fabric which is nearly blast-proof. He did this after I tore my brand new seals on day one of a month long paddling trip in the UK. His seals lasted longer than the suit and were as waterproof as the latex. I’ll use the latex seals I currently have, but will investigate other materials for next time. It seems daft to me that drysuits are such a critical piece of safety equipment with the weak link being so weak! Might be time the manufacturers looked at different materials. Cheers JKA John Kirk-Anderson Banks Peninsula New Zealand *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
(image/png attachment: wlEmoticon-smile_1_.png)