Trimming neck gaskets, Help!

Also- I just sent my suit in for repair because the gaskets had stretched/degraded so much that they were letting water in. With general use, UV & sunscreen, those things get much looser on their own. I've been using my Kokatat angler suit with the neoprene punch-through neck and boy, do I miss my latex gaskets! You definitely get uncomfortably wet in that thing when you swim and the water/weather is cold.

My 2 cents.

J

Jason,
Could you have a latex neck installed in place of  the neoprene version?

Also- I just sent my suit in for repair because the gaskets had stretched/degraded so much that they were letting water in. With general use, UV & sunscreen, those things get much looser on their own. I've been using my Kokatat angler suit with the neoprene punch-through neck and boy, do I miss my latex gaskets! You definitely get uncomfortably wet in that thing when you swim and the water/weather is cold.

My 2 cents.

J

Jason,
Could you have a latex neck installed in place of  the neoprene version?

I have the Kokatat GTX Meridian with the latex gaskets, which is being repaired. While I wait for it to come back, I'm using my Kokatat T3 angler suit, with the neo gaskets.

I suppose you could, but they make a version with and without laytex, be better just to buy the right one.

As per Koketat's suggestions I will strech over a bowl for at least 3 days and see how it feels before I cut.

I bought my first dry suit a couple weeks ago. The (bad) advice I got was stretch never trim. So I tried stretching the neck gasket over a road cone (pict) for 1 day. Then 2 days. It still didnt fit - way too constricting. So I trimmed down 1 ring at a time. Trimmed 4 rings and it fit snug but wearable. After half a dozen trips out, I took another ring off today and I have NO REGRETS. Feels great.

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I've been using my Kokatat angler suit with the neoprene punch-through neck and boy, do I miss my latex gaskets! You definitely get uncomfortably wet in that thing when you swim and the water/weather is cold.

That's odd.  I've never had more than a tablespoonful of water seep in around the neoprene neck gasket even when leaping in to do self-recovery drills.  I probably have a gorilla's neck.

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I've been using my Kokatat angler suit with the neoprene punch-through neck and boy, do I miss my latex gaskets! You definitely get uncomfortably wet in that thing when you swim and the water/weather is cold.

That's odd.  I've never had more than a tablespoonful of water seep in around the neoprene neck gasket even when leaping in to do self-recovery drills.  I probably have a gorilla's neck.

I never cared much for his advice.  I'm pretty sure I'm not alone on that one. 

I'm a huge advocate for trimming.  I'm pretty sure that if I wore an untrimmed neck gasket and did any physical activity that got my blood pumping I'd probably pass out.  I need to trim my gaskets down to the last two or three rings for them to be comfortable and I never notice water seepage down my neck.

I also trim mine way back. It is so much more comfortable that way. 

I stuck a paper towel roll in the neck and soup cans in the wrists. It was unbearable my first few trips with it cutting off blood to the point where I couldn't tie knots I normally could tie in the dark. Eventually it stretched out and is tight but totally fine now. For reference I weigh 260lbs and formal powerlifter.

Fish hard.

I have replaced many neck gaskets, and although I have a scrawny 14.5" neck, some new gaskets make my face turn red and my voice crack.  But I have never trimmed the edge of a neck gasket, because I can make a neck gasket comfortable for my skinny neck by stretching it for a couple of days.  However, a person with a bigger neck may not be able to make a neck gasket comfortable or survivable just by stretching it.  They may have to trim the gasket, or replace it with a larger size gasket.  So when considering advice from kayakers about whether or not to trim neck gaskets, it is helpful to know the neck size of the person who is giving advice.

When replacing a neck gasket, buy a gasket which is appropriate for the diameter of your neck.  NRS sells the following gasket sizes:

Small 11.75"-12.5"
Medium 12.5"-15"
Large 15"-18"
Extra Large 18" or more

OS Systems sells neck gaskets in sizes from XXS to XXL, for necks with a circumference from 10" to 17"; for a size chart, see http://ossystems.com/maintenance-repair/drysuit-seals/. For some reason, Kokatat only sells two sizes of neck gasket: Small, which it recommends for people weighing 115-140 pounds, and large, which it recommends for everybody weighing more than 140 pounds.  So if you don't like the fit of your Kokatat neck gasket, when it wears out, replace it with the appropriate size of NRS gasket.

I avoid trimming my neck gaskets, because trimming them reduces the width of the strip of gasket which is lying flat on your neck, which reduces the quality of the seal which the gasket makes on your neck.  As neck gaskets age, they get flabbier and looser, which also reduces the quality of the seal which they make.  This is a problem when whitewater kayaking, where you are constantly getting blasted by waves, but is less of a problem when kayak fishing.

After reading all of this good information about gaskets, as it turns out, it's timely for me.  We headed out Sturgeon fishing on New Years eve, and in putting on my dry suit, I split one of my wrist gaskets.

For all of you guys that have replaced your latex gaskets, how tough is it to do on your own?  Do I need to buy the kit, or is their a DIY way to do it right?  I'm planning on sending in my drysuit to Kokatat anyway for a pressure test, as my feet were damp after this last trip, so I'm guessing I have a few rockfish punctures.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for the advice.

For all of you guys that have replaced your latex gaskets, how tough is it to do on your own?  Do I need to buy the kit, or is their a DIY way to do it right?  I'm planning on sending in my drysuit to Kokatat anyway for a pressure test, as my feet were damp after this last trip, so I'm guessing I have a few rockfish punctures.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for the advice.

It can be fiendishly difficult to locate leaks in a drysuit.  If you can't locate the leaks in your drysuit and seal them with a spot of Aquaseal or Marine Goop, it's worth sending the drysuit to its manufacturer for repairs.  And while it's at the manufacturer, you might as well have them replace the wrist gasket.

However, it's easy to replace neck and wrist gaskets.  I've replaced many neck gaskets on a variety of drysuits.  I've only had to replace a couple of wrist gaskets, because they don't deteriorate and split as quickly as neck gaskets.  Kokatat had PDFs with good instructions for replacing gaskets on its website, but the links at https://kokatat.com/support/warranty-repairs currently aren't working. However, Kokatat has published a good video on replacing neck gaskets at  , and for replacing wrist gaskets at .  A little Googling will turn up a variety of other videos on replacing gaskets.

I have the following general suggestions about replacing gaskets:

1. On some drysuits, the neck gasket is glued onto the outside of the suit.  On other drysuits, the neck gasket is glued onto the inside of the suit because the collar which protects the neck gasket interferes with getting at the outside of the neck hole.  If the neck gasket is glued onto the inside of your drysuit, you'll need to turn the torso of the drysuit inside-out in order to replace the gasket.

2. Cut off the split gasket, right up to the edge of the nylon around the neck hole.  Occasionally you can peel off the remains of a drysuit's original gasket, but in most cases you can't, and will need to glue the replacement gasket on top of the ring remaining from the original gasket.  That isn't a problem.  I can usually peel off the remains of a replacement gasket.

3. The first picture shown below is a copy of Kokatat's neck gasket replacement tool which I made out of 1/4" Masonite.  It's a 10.25" disk and a 1.5" wide ring of the same outside diameter.  You can make it in a couple of minutes with a jigsaw.  If you can make the tool out of HDPE (i.e. cutting board material), that would be better, as glue wouldn't stick to it.  I tape plastic wrap onto my tool to protect it from any glue which leaks out from under the gasket.

4. I usually stick a bowl, a wastepaper basket, or some other convenient cylinder inside the drysuit to support the area around the neck hole, so I'm not working on a lumpy pile of drysuit fabric.  The second picture shown below shows the tool supported on a wastepaper basket, with a neck gasket in place in the tool.

5. Kokatat suggests clamping the tool onto the gasket with spring clamps during the gluing process.  I find it to be a lot easier to place a bowl upside down on the tool's ring with a weight on top of it, as shown in the third picture shown below. This provides even pressure all of the way around the circumference of the gasket.

6. Neck and wrist gaskets have several ridges inside them to improve the seal which the gasket makes on your neck or wrist.  If you have to turn your drysuit inside out while replacing a gasket, be sure to also turn the gasket inside out, so the ridges will end up on the inside of the gasket when you turn the drysuit right-side-out again.

7.  You can glue gaskets on with Aquaseal or Marine Goop.  Spread the glue thinly and evenly on the gasket and/or the edge of the neck hole, going right up to the edges of the neck hole or the gasket.  Don't put on too much glue, as the glue can make quite a mess if it oozes out from under the gasket when you apply pressure.  Use newspaper or plastic wrap to protect your drysuit from any glue which may escape.

8. Apply pressure to the gasket and let it dry for about 12 hours.  Then take a look at it, and peel off any dribbles of glue which may have escaped.  Then leave it under pressure for another 12 hours.

That's about all there is to it.  Replacing gaskets isn't rocket science, and once you have the tools and supplies, you can replace a gasket in fifteen minutes. 

It is a scientific fact that gaskets will never fail when you are taking off your drysuit.  They will always split when you are putting on your drysuit at a launch site, thus screwing up a day of fishing or kayaking.  It is also a scientific fact that your gaskets are much more likely to fail while you are on a multi-day trip.  I was on an eighteen-day Grand Canyon trip with a guy whose neck gasket split early in the trip.  Every morning he would put on his drysuit and wrap duct tape around the remains of his neck gasket and his neck.  Even if it was hot on shore, he would often eat lunch or do hikes in his drysuit, to avoid replacing the duct tape.  So if your neck gasket has deteriorated and is looking dubious, and you're about to go on a several day trip, either replace the gasket before the trip, or bring the supplies and equipment necessary to replace the gasket while you're sitting on the beach, watching your buddies out on the water catching fish.  Or better yet, bring a spare drysuit.

After reading all of this good information about gaskets, as it turns out, it's timely for me.  We headed out Sturgeon fishing on New Years eve, and in putting on my dry suit, I split one of my wrist gaskets.

For all of you guys that have replaced your latex gaskets, how tough is it to do on your own?  Do I need to buy the kit, or is their a DIY way to do it right?  I'm planning on sending in my drysuit to Kokatat anyway for a pressure test, as my feet were damp after this last trip, so I'm guessing I have a few rockfish punctures.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for the advice.

Cosmo, the last time I sent my Kokatat suit in for leak repairs, I also had them change the neck gasket.  If I remember correctly, it was about $90 (about 3 years ago) for both leak patching and gasket replacement.  When you look at the cost of the replacement DIY kit at $78 or just the gasket itself at $36, I found just having them do it was worth it (IMHO).

I have done wrist gaskets myself and they are pretty easy to do.

The pressure test/patch is now $40, and I think the wrist gasket replacement is around 45.  This is where you hope they find some delam on your suit and offer to replace it or let you upgrade.  Loving my gore Tex upgrade!

Cosmo, changing gaskets isn't at all hard. 
I've replaced several neck and wrist gaskets on my suit, and put bigger wrist gaskets on Lil Insayn's suit because his hands were going numb from the size his suit came with.  Also redid the gaskets on BlueWRX02's old suit after Lil Insayn split a wrist gasket when borrowing it early in his ocean kayaking past.

You can do it!

I have a fat 18” neck.  The neck on my suit doesn’t bother me.  The wrists are another story.  I tried stretching them with wine bottles, but they still are way too tight.

NRS sells wrist gaskets in sizes small (6"), medium (6"-7"), and large (6.5"-8").  OS Systems sells wrist gaskets in sizes XXS to XXXL, for wrist circumferences from 4.5" to 9"+; for a size chart, see http://ossystems.com/maintenance-repair/drysuit-seals/. Kokatat sells wrist gaskets in sizes small and large, but the link to a size chart is defective, as it goes to a size chart for gloves.

FWIW, I have a 16.5 inch neck and trim 2 rings.  It's snug at first, but that's the way to begin.  Granted I've blown out the neck gasket twice in 2 year.  Once when I loaned the drysuit to a friend, and once when I had long nails and just grabbed the gasket hard without thinking and I felt my nail slice it.  I do have the jig to replace it and new gaskets are like $34.  Easy enough to do!

-Allen

Allen, do we want to know why you had long fingernails once?! After some thought likely no, no we don’t...... sorry couldn’t resist.
Now to try to be as helpless as I can I wear a neoprene surfing wet suit, my wrist gaskets are super snug in the morning but loosen up after about 30 minutes of wearing due to body heat, not sure if the drysuit gaskets will do the same but if your trimming.... do one ring at a time and check fit after each ring just my $0.01 (yup I’m only worth about 50% at this age)