Wrist gasket replacement

Remove old gasket

Picture from my last post I'm using again to document the entire gasket replacement process in one post.

This was the left side that didn't work out so smoothly but I came up with a better system that worked very well.

I cut off most of the old gasket and then used the iron set on medium heat to remove the remaining piece of the old gasket.

Recommend checking out Kokotat website for other hints to replace wrist gaskets. I won't comment on all the details. This post is directed more at the mechanical part of replacing the wrist gasket.

My hardware

I cut off a piece of wood from a log that was just bigger than a coffee can that I knew slipped into the sleeve of the drysuit. I sanded and trimmed so that it would be relatively snug when inserted. Then I cut the round piece in half and a bit off of each side so I could insert wedges to really snug-up the material.

Inserted into drysuit arm

I taped a piece of waxed paper on both pieces to prevent the work being glued onto the wood.

I placed both halves of the form into the sleeve and tensioned up the material by sliding in the shims.

An elastic placed on the material above where I will apply the Aquaseal holds the material in place, just in case.

From here I placed the new gasket in position where I wanted it and placed another elastic over the latex gasket to hold it so it can't move while gluing and manipulation.

Ready to apply Aquaseal

After securing the gasket with the elastic I peeled the edge back so that I could get it ready to apply Aquaseal to both the gasket and the drysuit material.

I cleaned both surfaces with rubbing alcohol and then sanded with 220 grit sandpaper. Clean up with rubbing alcohol after sanding. Apply Aquaseal with a popsicle stick on both surfaces.

I put popsicle sticks under the gasket where I rolled it back. The popsicle sticks made it easy to roll the glued gasket back over onto the edge of the suit material where I also applied Aquaseal.

Ready to dry

Here's the new gasket in place and now all left to do is wait for the Aquaseal to dry.

Just like a factory job

And this is the finished product. This looks as good as the original factory job so I was very pleased.

Interesting note: its a small gasket that Jon at The Outfitters salvaged from Alex's suit. He didn't have any small gaskets in stock so he gave me the used one. Thanks Jon!