Buying used drysuit

[kgrove]

I'm looking at a couple used drysuits (O'Neill Boost). How do you inspect the seals and zippers to make sure they are in good condition if you can't do a water test? What am I looking for other than cracking? If I ended up having to replace seals or zippers, how expensive are those repairs and are they effective? I want to make sure I don't fool myself I'm getting a good deal on a used suit only to spend more money than I would have buying new.

[Ole Miss Rebels]

Originally Posted by kgrove

I'm looking at a couple used drysuits (O'Neill Boost). How do you inspect the seals and zippers to make sure they are in good condition if you can't do a water test? What am I looking for other than cracking? If I ended up having to replace seals or zippers, how expensive are those repairs and are they effective? I want to make sure I don't fool myself I'm getting a good deal on a used suit only to spend more money than I would have buying new.

i own two boosts from christmas of 2005. all seals either have been replaced or need replacing now. we either tore them or, if not torn they stretch out and won't seal. it is $20 per seal to have them replaced. the replaced seals make the suit good as new. our zippers have never leaked but you should not zip them up for storage. every zipping and un-zipping is wear and tear on them. i snagged the seat of mine once on a splinter on a wooden dock but i patched it myself and it hasn't leaked since and that has been 5 years ago. they are great suits. still, if you can afford to buy new i would. if you wait until the summer then certainly buy new because they are cheaper then.

[snork]

$20 for a seal, must be a DIY price. I've seen as little of $150 to a max price of $200 for all five seals sending the suit off to the service dept.

[kgrove]

Good info. I decided to call O'Neills customer service line. O'Neill will do the repairs for $25 per seal and claim they have a 30 day turnaround time. I didn't ask about the zipper... Should have while I had them on the phone.

[501s]

I paid about 160 for all 5 on my Bare dry suit.

[kgrove]

Anyone know what kind of ankle and wrist seals go on an O'Neill Boost? I'm thinking about trying to replace them myself, but I don't know if there are different styles or sizes. Doing it myself won't save me much money as O'Neill will do it for $25 each, but they tell me they have roughly a 4 week turn around time and I don't want to wait that long. If I by seals and figure out how to glue them myself, I can have the suit back in the water in just a few days.

(BTW - if you buy a used drysuit, do a better job inspecting the seals than I did. I thought I had been very careful, but I did it outside around dusk and the lighting must have been worse than I thought and I missed some small cracks that cause the suit to leak. Luckily I got a pretty good price that even after paying for new seals I'll still be at almost half the cost of a new suit.)

[byronic]

I can't answer the question about O'Neill seals,but I do agree it's good to know how to replace them yourself. I have two O.S.Systems suits both with hundreds of hours on them. Replacing seals gets to be just regular maintenance. I always keep seals and cement on hand. With a little practice it's less than a half hour project. But always,always protect the zipper! Mine are over twenty five years old and never had a problem. Never close the zipper unless your wearing the suit.