Mal Bridgeman(Offline)

To date I have been routing the pee-valve through the bottom of the zip but it was only ever a temporary thing and I always intended to cut a hole in the thinsulate and route it through there.....well that moment has arrived....but before I do it can the assembled masses help me with a couple of questions.

Cutting the hole....sharp scissors, or craft knife or burn a hole?

Positioning the hole.....close to the pee-valve itself so that most of the tube routes up inside the suit .... high up so that most of the tube routes outside the thinsulate or somewhere in between. Do you get condensation on the tube and if so which position is best.

I use a quick disconnect, if that makes a difference.

Thanks for your thoughts.
Mal

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wilbo(Offline)

hole: sharp scissors or knife cutting slightly larger than the hose; then stitch round the hole re-enforcing the material around the hole - stitching all the layers together this will close the hole slightly - hence making it slightly bigger to start.

As for the tube inside or out: I prefer my tubing to run outside the undersuit. The positioning of the hole is a personal thing - but you can position it to make sure the hose routes the way you want it - if that makes sense. i.e. you could position the hole slightly more to the outside of you leg if you wanted the hose to run that way. I would say that decide where you want the hose to run (for me it is up into a small loop and then the connection - making sure the hose doesn't allow for kinking of the sheath at the connection end - hence the positioning of the hole in the suit)
Condensation never a problem - as on the outside of the undersuit.
I use the quick disconnect as well - which doesn't really make much difference - only for surface interval comfort breaks - that length of hose and the front loading suit are a god send..

hope that helps.

MSN me if you want any other details.

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Cheers!
Wilbo

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Bob Cooper(Offline)

Why cut the suit? Why not just route the tube through the bottom of the zip?

Mal Bridgeman(Offline)

That's how I do it at the moment but erm .... blush....erm .... there is an "incompatibility" in the "dressing" of the two ... ahem ... "hoses" concerned

Thanks
Mal

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Opinions and beliefs are correct at the time of posting but are subject to change without any notice or obligation on the part of the author.

David Martin(Offline)

Mal,

If you do decide to add a hole; cut it, don't melt it. If you're worried about fraying, then sew the edge. I cut a hole in my previous undersuit, and then melted the edges. Unfortunately melted edges are a little hard and uneven, which is less than pleasant against bare skin. It was cheap thinsulate, rather than Type B, but I would expect the same issue would arise on Type B.

David

JGrogan(Offline)

Mal,

Use a soldering iron and slowly expand the hole until it's sufficiently wide.

John.