Mustang Survival's Rapid Repair Technology is an innovative repair method enabling users to self-repair minor leaks and self-replace neck and wrist seals to have their dry suits ready for use in less than an hour.
The following step-by-step guides are here to help you through from start to finish.
RAPID REPAIR WRIST SEAL REPLACEMENT
How to Use a Wrist Seal Replacement Kit:
Each Kit Includes:
- Rapid Repair Wrist Seal
- Hand Iron
- Jig
- Non-Stick Paper
Step 1:
Find a clean work surface to work from. We want all of our kits contents readily available.
The first step thing is to insert our silicone jig inside the wrist seal, lining it up at the end of the wrist. Simply take the jig and roll it up into a circle and put it inside the suit.
To do so you must roll the the cuff of the suit back to expose the end of the wrist seal. Insert the jig inside the dry suit and line it up so that it's about flush with the wrist seal. Next, let it expand inside the suit, making sure it's lined up with the with the wrist seal. You'll need to force the two ends together so that it holds the wrist seal nice and tight.
Step 2:
You should now have this nice, tight surface with the jig inside of the seal. Once the the jig is inside the seal, you're going to start removing the old seal, doing so by taking your piece of nonstick paper, placing it on the seal, and then pressing the area down down flat with the iron.
Apply some heat and pressure to it for about 15 seconds.
Step 3:
Next, lightly with your fingers, start to pull these two pieces apart. Caution as the wrist seal will be hot. You should be able to pull them apart gently. If you feel to much resistance, just stop, apply more heat and try again.
Rotate the seal and go all the way around until it's fully removed.
Step 4:
Now that the seal is completely removed from the suit, prep the new seal to be ready to go inside. Remove the paper coating from the outside of the replacement seal. Then take your little jig and roll it up into a ball again. Proceed by inserting it inside the seal and let it expand.
What we want is to let the jig expand and stretch the seal out so that the jig leaves about a quarter to an eighth of an inch of the silicone surface exposed. Like that your seal is read to go inside.
Step 5:
First, take note of where the seam in the jig is. You want to eventually line the seam up with the seam on the on the suit. Insert the replacement seal and jig through opening of the suit going right all the way through. Keep in mind where the seam is, making sure to have it eventually lined up with the jig.
Next, pull the seal through the suit. What you're looking for is is to expose that eighth inch of the adhesive. We want a nice adhesive line, about an eighth inch all the way around the seal. Once it's flush, it's ready for the first set of heat and pressure.
Step 6:
Remember to make note of the seam where we had the seal and how the jig is lined up on that seam. Next you're going to start pressing down with the iron. You want to press it down, non-stick paper in place, with the seam slightly off centre to one side or the other. And when you press it down, you want to make sure that you maintain that eight inch gap.
Apply heat and pressure for about 30 seconds.
Repeat this process all around the seal until the replacement seal has been completely adhered to the suit.
Step 7:
Now that you've gone around the whole seal and heat pressed the whole suit, it's time for a quick visual inspection to make sure everything looks good.
You want to make sure you check once it's cooled down a little bit because you don't want to when he's still hot, you could potentially peel it away.
Continue the inspection by removing the out the jig and doing a quick check on the inside. Simply reach in and turn this seal inside out and again.
It's a good idea to wait till this cools before move forward, because you don't want the seal to pull apart that you just finished doing the replacement on.
It's also a good idea to apply the heat to the back side, just on the seam after you've done the whole heating on the outside. You can't do this on a neoprene seal because it won't heat through the neoprene properly. But for a latex seal, you can.
Once again, apply heat and pressure on that seam for 30 seconds. That's going to make sure that that seam is bonded firmly.
Finally, check the bonding on the on the fabric to ensure your seal is good for use.
If you are concerned and you want to do a leak test, we offer leak test kits, which allow you to leak test the whole suit, otherwise your seal is ready to be used!
RAPID REPAIR NECK SEAL REPLACEMENT
How to Use a Neck Seal Replacement Kit:
Each Kit Includes:
- Rapid Repair Neck Seal
- Hand Iron
- Circular Jig
- Non-Stick Paper
Step 1:
The first step is to assemble all the materials together. To do a heat activated neck seal replacement for a sentinel series dry suit, you just need a few materials. This includes a replacement neck seal, a hand iron, circular jig and a piece of non-stick paper, which is all included in the neck seal replacement kit
Step 2:
Once we've assembled our materials and have cleared a workspace, the first thing you're going to do is to open up the front entry zipper of the suit to allow access inside. Take the circle jig and place it inside of the suit. You want to get the jig right inside, tight against the neck seal that's currently in the suit.
As you do this, you want to clear the collar and extra material out of the way. You'll be left with a nice surface to work on, with only the neck seal showing.
What you want to do is pull the collar out around the neck seal jig. It can be a little bit tricky to do this the first couple of times, but once you get it, you'll end up with a nice surface to work on.
Step 3:
So now you've got the jig properly inserted into the suit with the collar pulled, there should be a flat surface to work with. Next, we're going to go ahead and do the removal of this neck seal from from the suit.
The first thing that you need to do is make sure that you've got your iron preheated. Set your iron to max temperature, let it sit for about five, six minutes or so, and it should be should be ready to go.
First, pick a point on the seal and apply heat to it, this will loosen the adhesive and allow you to start separating the neck seal from the suit. With the non-stick paper, pick a point and apply heat and pressure for about 10 to 15 seconds. It should start to come apart.
Step 4:
Now that the previous neck seal has begun to remove from the suit, you want to lightly pull, not yank on it. It'll naturally release where the heat has been. You don't want to stress it where it hasn't been hot because it'll still be stuck. Continue on an adjacent section and do the same thing again, just applying heat and pressure to the to the neck seal to allow it to heat up.
Step 5:
By now, the neck seal should completely removed from the suit. Leave the jig inside the suit and start prepping the new neck seal.
Each neck seal comes with a pre-attached layer of adhesive. Peel off this paper coating and then insert it inside of the dry suit opening.
Step 6:
Line up the neck seal so that there's about one eighth of an inch or so of the adhesive being exposed on the outside of the suit. You want to see that line be the same width, about an eighth inch all the way around.
Now, when you first pull it out, you'll see that it might not be in the perfect circular shape that you're looking for, but it's important just to kind of get it aligned as close as possible to begin with.
Next, fold the neck seal in on itself. This allows it to give a little bit of a nicer surface to to work against.
Step 7:
With the replacement neck seal in place, you're going to make sure you're able to tack the neck seal into place in a few locations before we go ahead and just hammer it with a whole bunch of heat. Start at one point and get that nice one eighth inch gap, spot apply heat for 5 seconds and get it tacked into place.
Proceed to do this around the entire neck seal, placing 5 to 10 tacks.
Now that it's been tacked around the entire perimeter, it's time to apply heat and pressure to each section for about 30 seconds until it's fully attached.
One you've gone all the way around, applying heat and pressure for the 30 seconds, you can remove the paper.
Step 8:
Next, remove the jig from inside the suit. Once it's out, give the seal a quick visual inspection. It's important to to let the seal cool for a bit before you start really tugging on it, because that adhesive, again, is a heat activated adhesive. You want it to cool slightly.
Also, do a quick check on the inside to ensure everything's stuck down inside the suit and check to see that you don't have any wrinkles or ripples in the in the fabric where it would connect to the seal. Any wrinkle or anything like that in the suit where you connected could be a pathway for water to get in. After a visual inspection, let it cool in your suit.
If you're at all concerned about leaks, we recommend doing a leak test on the suit with a Mustang Survival Leak Test Kit. Otherwise, a visual inspection and you're good to go.
RAPID REPAIR PATCH REPAIR
How to Use a Rapid Repair Patch Seal Kit:
Each Kit Includes:
- Rapid Repair Patch Seal
- Hand Iron
Step: 1
First thing you're going to do is assemble the materials together. All you'll need is a Mustang Survival rapid repair patch, a hand iron, and, while not necessary, a piece of non-stick paper can come in handy. You may have one from a previous repair kit, however, as mentioned, it's not needed.
Once you've got your materials together, next, find an area that has a clean work surface to work from.
Step 2:
The first thing you want to do is to find the hole that's inside of the suit.
Typically, you'll know where the hole is because you're probably getting a leak inside your suit, but you want to turn your suit inside out and find the hole.
It's important to note that the size of the hole should be less than one inch in diameter in order to be able to use our rapid repair patches. The patches are only about two inches in diameter, so they're not meant to repair anything larger than that.
If you do have a slit or tear in your suit that is larger than one inch, then you should be sending it back to Mustang Survival or one of our certified repair depots for repair.
Step 3:
Now that you've located the hole, place the patch on to the suit on top. It's a good idea to have a little something like a small board or something between the two surfaces of the dry suit to provide you a flat surface to press against.
Begin by placing a piece of nonstick paper on top if you have one, then take the iron and apply heat and pressure for 30 seconds on the patch.
Next, remove the paper and let the patch sit and cool for a minute or two. The adhesive will still be quite warm and we want the adhesive to cool down.
Step 4:
With the patch in place, give it a visual inspection. Sometimes you'll see a little layer, a slight ring of adhesive around the patch. That means that you've probably got a good bond.
After a visual inspection, you can make sure the patch is properly adhered by checking the edges to make sure that the edges are not pulling up. Your suit is now once again ready for use.
