neck gasket on dry suit

So, I have yet to fish the salt with the kayak yet, and i did buy a drysuit, but

no mater how much i try to stretch the neck over pots and things larger than my neck for a day, this thing is killer. I know most say its ok to trim, but I'm pretty worried about jacking it up and getting a tear. Is it faily easy to trim back? I've been wearing it for 10 mins or so right now, and my wife says my face looks like a blueberry. 

Should be fine. There are also rings you can get to keep it from being too tight.

I've had to trim mine.  I stretched the gasket just slightly over a round plastic container.  You could also stretch it over one of the plastic 2 1/2 quart paint mixing buckets.  In any case, make sure whatever you stretch it over is very smooth and has nothing to snag or puncture the gasket.   Then I marked my cut line with a sharpie.

I cut mine with a razor knife with a fresh blade, and it has worked for several years.  Stretching it over a container gives you something to cut against.  I suppose you could use scissors,  but the knife seemed easier to me.

I have worn that dry suit out and have bought its replacement which also needs the neck gasket cut down which will probably happen this weekend.  If I remember, I'll try and take some pictures and post them.  If I remember correctly, I think I cut mine down about 1/2 inch on the first pass, found that wasn't quite enought, and a day or two later cut it down another 1/4 inch.

It is a bit scarey.  I remember searching the web for as much info as I could find.  In any case, the original gasket was so tight I could have never been comfortable without cutting it down.  That suit got used on a weeklong trip up to the Barkley Sound area where I wore it 4-8 hours a day for 5 days and it was quite comfortable.

I had to trim mine way down.  I thought I was going to pass out while wearing it.

Just make sure to only trim one ring at a time.  then retry the fit.

Thanks for the advice guys, I'll give it a shot and hope it goes well.

Made the cut, my exacto knife did not end up being sharp enough, so did permo marker and scissors. Doesn't look the best.. but hopefully keeps water out. My face no longer goes through the color spectrum when i put it on, so that is a definite plus! Thanks for the confidence booster! I'll head out to the sound mid day to test the waters out 

Nick, the main thing when trimming the seal with scissors is to not leave a notch or nick in the edge that will begin to tear when you stretch the seal to fit over your head.  Thats the nice thing about stretching the seal over something and then cutting with the knife.  At least for me, it seems that it is easier to make one complete cut all the way around.  Long bladed scissors will help to make a more continuous cut. 

I double checked it to look for a notch or cut like you are saying. I did pop it over my head a few times to check it. Thanks for the note, did not find anything. I tried with exacto but its fairly worn down from all the crafting activities. my wife does. Time will tell if I did a good job!

If it survived a couple try one it should be OK. Make sure to keep it 303'd and remember, all gaskets are mortal!

GEt a single edge razor blade, or get a new blade for the X-acto----much cheaper than a new gasket!!!!!!!