The Opinionated Diver

divers’ knowledge base

Drysuits: Wristseals & cuff rings

tl;dr:

Get silicone wristseals

Get silicone wristseals. Silicone seals are more flexible and more durable than your other options (latex and neoprene).

Note that choosing silicone for your wristseals automatically means you wil need cuff rings on your suit; whereas latex and neoprene can be glued, silicone doesn’t stick to anything and requires a ring to hold it in place.

Not wanting cuff rings on your suit is the only good reason for not choosing silicone for your wristseals.

Cuff rings

The cuff ring is a ring around the end of your drysuit sleeve. There are two possible purposes for a cuff ring:

  • Easily-replaceable wristseals (when the seal tears you can replace it yourself in a few minutes)
  • Dry gloves require cuff rings as an attachment point

Alternatives

Latex is stronger than silicone, but not as flexible, tears more easily than both silicone and neoprene, and degrades with exposure to sunlight.

Neoprene wristseals are generally considered inferior to silicone and latex wristseals. Very few divers have neoprene wristseals on their drysuit.

Both latex and neoprene wristseals can be installed onto cuff rings as well as glued onto your suit sleeve.