: A near death experience, trying-on a dry-suit in a changing booth, a few
: years ago
: left me huddled in a corner at home, clutching my wet-suit against my chest
: and sucking my thumb.

: Then I learned you're supposed to trim that #*@!!! neck gasket.

Yup, it's a night and day difference.

: Well, after lengthy therapy, I'm ready to give it a try again.
: But first, this time, a few questions for the dry-suit masters.

: If I go back to the scene of the crime, can I try on a dry-suit
: for size without the neck gasket in place?

I guess you could, since you can still gauge the length and girth without completely donning the suit. Now that you know what to expect from the stock neck seal, you can be prepared for it. The first thing to do is bring a small bottle of talc with you to dust the neck seal with. That will make getting it on and off MUCH easier. Next, just slip a hand in the front of the seal after you put it on and pull it off your throat, so the seal doesn't constrict breathing or blood flow. That should give you ample time to assess the fit of the suit.

: I read some of the posts in the archives about tightness and trimming
: gaskets and now I'm feeling like maybe I'll just wear the old wet suit.

There is no comparison in comfort or protection between thin, soggy neoprene and a good breathable dry suit with seals that are trimmed to fit correctly. Once you have a dry suit, you'll never go back to neoprene.

: Can you take the neck gasket off and trim and test fit without the
: whole dry-suit?

No, it's glued and sewn in place.

: How expensive are spare neck gaskets?

~$35

: Anything more comfortable on the horizon????

Possibly, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting.

: Man, I hate neck ties! Guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and
: learn to love neck gaskets. How tight do they need to be to be waterproof.
: Any test,like, one finger in the gasket's okay, two fingers and you
: black-out?

They don't need to be tight at all. When it's trimmed properly, you should be able to pinch it with your thumb and forefinger and easily lift it off your skin. You should be able to easily insert a fingertip under the seal.

: I've seen the one piece union suit style polypro base layers. These make
: sense so you don't get "cold crack syndrome", but what about more
: layers?

I haven't tried one, but I'm considering it in order to reduce the amount of elastic around my waist.

: Do you just put them on and let them ride where the may or do folks use
: suspenders to keep things in place?

I haven't used suspenders on my underlayers and haven't found any need. Some dry suits have internal suspenders to hold the bottom of the suit up, which seems like a good idea.

: I've done a fair amount of research and figured that since I overheat easily,
: to spend the extra for Gore Tex.

Absolutely! A "non-breathable dry suit" is an oxymoron, as it will become soaked inside.

: Since these things are called dry-suits I thought
: I get one with the relief zipper instead of using the old wet-suit warming
: method.

Now THERE'S a concept!

: I'm looking a Kokatat Gore Tex GMER with relief zipper and integral gore tex
: socks.

: I assume you have to get over-sized water shoes to use with these socks,
: since you'd want regular socks inside. Is this so? How much bigger do you
: need to go? I don't want to win a Bozo the clown contest!

One advantage to Gore-Tex socks (vs. latex) is that they're very thin and don't require as much compensation in footwear size. Remember that you will be wearing socks inside the dry suit, so you need to adjust your footwear accordingly. Going up 1/2 size or perhaps a full size should be enough.