Drysuit Inflation

Our recommendation for adhesive to attach rubber seals and tapes, or accessories such as pockets, is dependent on the suit material. For use on rubber and tri-laminate composition suits, we suggest 620 Contact Adhesive. For neoprene suits we find the Aquaseal Adhesive provides the best results, although some divers just use a second application of 620 on neoprene as well.

NO, using a larger wing with a drysuit may even be counter productive! The wing lift is used only to counteract the weight of the cylinders & valves plus the backplate & harness. Of course most divers will also be carrying additional weight to compensate for the buoyancy of the drysuit, perhaps quite a lot more if wearing thick undergarments for diving in cold water. However, do not plan on using the wing as backup buoyancy in the event of a drysuit flood. Instead, the additional weight to compensate for the drysuit must be configured to be incrementally ditchable in the event of a drysuit failure.

Conversely, while some divers consider the drysuit to theoretically be backup buoyancy in the event of a wing failure, that's not best practice either. In reality, depending on their orientation in respect to the surface, many divers would find they have to so over inflate the drysuit to compensate that they lose mobility in their arms and may feel choked at their neck. For backup buoyancy in the event of a wing failure, we recommend selecting a dual bladder wing design.

We stock accessories such as seals and gloves, but we do not sell the exposure suits themselves on our website. In our long experience the sizing guides from all the exposure suit manufacturers, drysuit and wetsuit, are not reliable enough to make the final selection of a product for which fit has so much importance and yet is so subjective. The variety of undergarments further complicate the process of determining the suit size. Exposure suits are a product for which there is no substitution for try on and in-store fitting advice.

If it is time to replace your existing suit from Dive Rite, DUI or OMS and you already know your size, please Contact Us to discuss a special order.

Most drysuit inflation valves used in recreational diving can accept a standard BC quick disconnect inflator hose, but need a longer length. For drysuit divers, where the hose routes under their arm to a chest mounted power-inflator, the typical length is {30 in | 76 cm} or sometimes {36 in | 91 cm} depending on the locations of the power-inflator relative to the first stage supply. However, most drysuit divers prefer a quick disconnect fitting with a wide flange that makes it easier to get a positive lock with the inflation fitting. To provide this popular drysuit inflation solution, we recommend our EZ-ON Quick Disconnect Adapter that works with any standard low-pressure regulator hose.

The DGX and Dive Rite inflation regulators are both compact ultra-reliable piston designs but differ significantly in performance and size of their first stages. The Dive Rite inflation package has an exceptionally compact first stage, but is an unbalanced design suitable only for inflation applications at sport depths. The DGX inflation package has a balanced piston first stage with a value price, featuring better performance with full depth compensation that makes it appropriate for deeper diving and other applications. The Dive Rite package includes a {30 in | 76 cm} long rubber drysuit hose and the DGX package includes a braided flex hose in a choice of length that features our EZ-ON quick disconnect. The DGX package also includes a small pressure gauge.

We recommend you go to some of the best in the business for exposure suit service: nationally for the USA we suggest Superior Diving Repair, locally for Florida "cave country" we suggest Stay Dri Scuba or Steve Gamble, and for Canada we suggest Custom Diving Services. They all specialize in doing wetsuit and drysuit service with repairs on any brand, plus alterations and adjustments, neck and wrist seal replacement, as well as relief valve installations. Just to be clear, they are not affiliated with us in any way, but if you contact them please mention us.