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Make
Your Own Exposure Suit Dryer
by
David M. Dalton,
ILTMS
Ok. It's time
to build something again. What will it be…hmmmmmmm? I know,
how about a drysuit dryer! I would think these would be mandatory
for a neoprene drysuit but I built it for, and use it with, my trilam,
as it gets the feet totally dry in short order and keeps the whole
suit smelling springtime fresh!
Total cost for
the project will be about $30. $10 for a blower and $20 or so for
PVC pipe, fittings and a can of all-purpose PVC cement. I used 1
& ½" PVC but you could make the unit a bit lighter
by using 1 & ¼" which would be plenty strong. You
will need 2, 10 ft lengths of PVC pipe and an assortment of elbows,
"Ts", caps and adapters, which ones and how many will
depend on how many options you wish to have on this puppy. I am
sure the design could be modified a bit and used for wetsuits as
well, but since I don't dive wet anymore I'll leave that project
to someone else.
One picture
is worth 1000 words so here are some shots of the unit along with
various "options". Lengths and sizes will depend on you
and your drysuit. You can change lengths and sizes as you go. I
suggest that you lay out the base and the blower motor and work
from there.
Making a rough
drawing of your finished product will limit the number of trips
to Home Depot or Lowes, but spending a little time there in the
plastic plumbing department may stir your creative juices and improve
on the end result of the project. I also suggest that you hand fit
everything before you start gluing it up, and then think about how
you should proceed in the gluing. If you don't you may find that
you "glue yourself into a corner" and have to cut things
apart to proceed with the assembly. If that occurs, don't despair,
a $.50-$1.00 connector will repair the problem - you will notice
a "few" of them in my finished project.
I originally
glued the unit completely together, but then found that having an
almost 8 ft tall fixed unit was a bit of a pain. I cut it in half,
which was better but then finally modified it so that the base is
quite short with removable legs. This makes it much easier putting
the drysuit on and taking it off the dryer and it makes storage
of the unit much easier when it is separated into a small base unit
and 2 pipes 6 ft long, rather than one big piece.
Please note
it is not necessary to use heated air (like a hair dryer) - that
might damage the drysuit. While you could use most any blower, the
one I got from C and H Sales seems like it was made for this project.
It is a Torin Dual Blower, which has 2 outlets and puts out 100
cfm from each. It comes pre-wired with a 5' cord w/plug and runs
on 115 VAC. It is model # ACB8400 and sells for $9.95 (plus shipping).
You can find it on page 25 of their 2002 catalog or order it online
at www.candhsales.com.
I found that
the exhaust ports of this blower fit nicely into a piece of 1 &
¼" PVC pipe so I used a couple of "Ts" with
1 & ½" X 1 & ¼" adapters along with
short pieces of 1 & ¼" pipe to mount
the unit between the two legs. The 1 & ¼" pieces
of pipe were cut with a coping saw to allow the use of SS hose claps
to firm up the mounting. Mounting the blower between the two legs
adds to the rigidity of the unit. I suggest that you face the blower
intake down so that water from your suit doesn't drip into the air
intake.
I used "Ts"
for the feet, which I modified by cutting off the heel side, and
"hogging" out the top to better facilitate the flow of
air into the foot area.
You will also
notice in the pictures that I added the "Deluxe" hood
& glove options. To do this you put PVC elbows on the front
end of the base and use appropriate adapters to bring the size down
to ½" PVC and then make a "circuit" on which
you can place your hood and gloves. They can be dried while you
are drying your suit or separately by making some caps that will
plug the ends when the legs aren't attached. Please note from the
pictures. I didn't glue up all of these parts. If you do it will
be difficult to put together and take apart.
If all this
seems like too much work just get the blower and attach your vacuum
cleaner hose to it and stick the hoses down the legs. Works the
same but then again, "I like to make stuff".
There ya go.
Give it a try, you'll love it.
PS - Trying
to use your "lawn and leaf" blower to power this baby
is not optimal. The last fellow I know who tried that is still searching
for his drysuit, which was launched like an Apollo Moon shot. He
felt so disgraced he quit his job and moved from the DC area to
Boston. Yes Eric, you can run but you can't hide!
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