Northwest Dive Club

Hi all! Has anyone ever had a drysuit seal "melt" before? My dad and I were gearing up for our dive this morning and he realized his neck seal was mysteriously degrading into tar-like goo. He thinks some kind of substance must have gotten onto it and caused a chemical reaction but I think the latex itself must have melted. The suit been stored in a clean dry closet and we didn't see any trace of liquid in the drysuit bag or car this morning. Any ideas? We are worried if this was some sort of chemical that it could have gotten on other gear but again we didn't see anything else. If latex drysuit seals can "melt" I assume it's from old age and we have to replace all of the seals, is that correct? (Please ignore the paper stuck to the damaged seal in the photos, we were trying to wipe off as much goop as possible with a paper towel at the dive site. You can see some of the "goo" around the edges of the damaged area still.)

Additionally, we were planning to leave on a 4 day dive trip out to Salt Creek near Port Angeles and now it looks like we'll need to rent a drysuit. Any recommendations for dive shops in either Bellevue, Edmonds, Kingston, or Port Townsend that rent drysuits would be much appreciated! We typically rent gear from Underwater Sports in Bellevue or Edmonds before heading to Salt Creek but not sure if they rent drysuits ....

Thanks for any input!

Taryn

How old are the seals normally they don't do that unless they're very very old...
I've managed to get about 2 years out of the latex seal but that's with a lot of love and silicone spray and cleaning my seals with fresh water after every dive..
So my gas is old seal

Bummer. Likely due to contact with some petroleum product or solvent. Even something innocent like sunscreen might cause that.

Did you leave it in the sun or hot car for a while?

I think silent world in Bellevue rents suits, can do repair too. If you love diving you may want to consider buying a second suit off the rack.

Enjoy salt creek! I'd love to hear how the kelp is doing!

As indicated, possibly petroleum. You can get it from the surface of the water and not even realize it. Latex needs regular soap + water cleaning and application of 'seal saver' (pure silicone), for best life.

+2 on the above. Ive had them melt like that just hanging in a garage with a petroleum inside the garage.

gotta Give Latex seal extra care to last .... Silicone spray , and Talc powder after every dive