Chanb77's Weblog

I just had to give the sheep a test go, before making the irreversible hole in the DUI. I glued it in place with the adhesive spray, and prayed that I had it in the right spot… I didn’t use any tape. Now… all I had to do was wait, and drink alot of water. I drank and drank and drank… nothing… An hour and a half had passed, and nothing. I think the anticipation of having to go, was making me not go! Steve walked by with a Corona, that I quickly confiscated, and helped him finish. Finally after another half hour or so had passed, it was time! I had to go!!!!

So.. hmm… how to do this?? I didn’t want to just try to stand in front of the bowl, just in case I didn’t have it in the right place. Er… the only other option was the tub.. ugh… ah well… it’s worth it if it means this thing would work!

While trying to hold back the childish giggles as I stood like a man to pee, I was pleased as punch. Holy smokes!! No leaks! This thing rocks!! I was now laughing my buns off.. I’m guessing partly from the novelty of going like this, as well as the joy that I won’t have to worry about having to go while diving.

Ok… removal…Thanks to Laura’s video, removal wasn’t as tough as I thought it might have been. As I haven’t yet explored the laser option, I had just used the crappy clippers that I had, and it was not exactly smooth, so I cringed at the thought of a bit of “pull.” I peeled the edge gently, and started to very gradually take it off. It was tender, but not excruciating…I just had to take my time… No.. I don’t think you could do the quick Band Aid pull on this one… The adhesive spray is definitely very effective, and you really don’t need as much as I put on.. which I didn’t think was all that much to begin with. The bit of stubble really wasn’t a problem at all.

Cleaning the sheep was a bit more work with the alcohol swabs that I had ~ They were pretty small, so it wasn’t as easy as I had hoped. I will definitely be going out to get a bigger container of alcohol. All in all, a success!

Now was the tough part…Having to put a hole in my drysuit. It’s almost a sickening feeling, but at the same time, exciting. Thank goodness I had Steve’s help, as I’m sure I would have put it on the wrong side or something…Murphy’s Law for me… I put my suit on a few times, and we measured, placed, remeasured, replaced etc. etc.. We finally marked the spot with a little “x,” and then it was time…

We put a piece of wood inside the leg of the suit, and something soft underneath it (happened to be a GUE toque ), so there wouldn’t be any splinters going into the bottom of the suit. Put the concocted 3/4″ punch on top of the “x,” and Steve got out the hammer…

I couldn’t help it.. “Oh sheet,” was all I could say… “Whack whack whack whack whack!”

Doh.. half a hole…

Replace punch.. “Whack whack whack whack..” some more! We had to place the “x” in the double layer, above the knee, so there were two little pieces of material that were now no longer a part of my suit…

Now the fun part… glue! We put a bit of aquaseal in between the two layers of the material, to prevent the possibility of leakage in between, then installed the P-Valve (er.. overboard discharge valve).

I think I will probably use either a diaper or a sanitary napkin the first few times I dive it, just to ensure that I have the right spot on a consistant basis. Ahh… the days of stripping down in between dives are hopefully a thing of the past!