High cost of drysuit repair!

[Eric Sedletzky]

I just got off the phone with a drysuit repair place up in Auburn WA that repairs Teknodiver drysuits.
Mine needs a new zipper, the old one got worn from getting in and out and finally cracked from the stress.
Anyway, the guy quoted me $685 dollars and some change plus shipping to put a new zipper in.
To me that sounds a bit high.
I have no idea what the average price is to replace a zipper.
I don't know much about drysuits other that this one which I bought new in 2001 and I've never had to send it out for repairs. All the seals are neoprene which are in great shape and from what I hear the seals are the first thing to go on a drysuit. Maybe that's latex that go bad?
The suit other than the zipper is in pretty darn good shape. I've only had to fix a few leaks.
I went back to diving wet several years ago, but I looked at this thing and thought maybe I should get it fixed and start using it again. But now I don't know, almost $700 bucks, that's a pretty good chunk of change.
I thought maybe get it fixed to be able to at least sell it.

Does anybody have a lead on anywhere that can do a little better?
Or maybe a place that can sell me a heavy duty zipper that I can install myself?

 

[Mitchell Teeters]

Check with Dive Right In Scuba. Mike is a super good guy, he will give you the best bang for your buck on the repair. Things have changed since 2001, Mike knows all the ins and outs.

 

[Peter_C]

Measure the zipper and let me know what size it is. Nub to nub, I might have one. They sell for around $120 and with a little glue they are pretty easy to fix. I KNOW you can fix it yourself.

Are you coming over the hill at all? Otherwise I need to come your direction at some point for a hair cut, maybe even tomorrow afternoon depending on when I get back from Mill Valley. Let me get a look at the drysuit. Plus I need to grab a fuel tank from you, and the reg.

 

[TSandM]

That's high for zippers, although I don't know what's involved with that particular suit. We just had the zipper on Peter's Bare redone, and it was about $350 from Bare. I've generally heard 3 to 400 for zippers.

If the outfit is KME, I would look elsewhere, anyway. I haven't had real good luck with them.

Mark at Superior Diving Repair and Steve Gamble in Florida are two folks with fairly solid reputations for dry suit work.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Lynne:
Yes, you hit it, it was KME.
Thanks for the heads up. I pretty much decided against it anyway before I even got off the phone.
I went to Craig Gillespie's website (who sells Teknodiver - Seattle Scuba) and that's who they recommended...Hmmm?
Craig used to work at Pinnacles in Santa Rosa and I know the guy.





Peter:
Bring over what you have and if it looks like it will work I'll buy it from you.
I doubt it is the same HD zipper but I don't care, as long as it doesn't leak.
And I figure if it doesn't work, oh well no big loss anyway.
I have the reg(s) here.

 

[Angry Turtle]

Gamble Scuba quotes $275 for medium weight and $375 for heavy duty on their website

Gamble Scuba

 

[Gunpowderboy]

+1 for Steve Gamble. He did a fantastic job on my wife's suit, so well that I won't go to anyone else even though I live in Switzerland...

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Peter_C convinced me to do it myself.
I already got the old zipper out (semi pain in the ass but not too bad)
I saw that North East Scuba Supply has the heavy duty BDM zippers for $119.00
I'm ordering one and I'll have it back together as soon as it comes in.
I'll let you guys know how it worked out.


I love the internet.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I have used Superior in Minnesota for six years now. Of course I only had them do work twice but it was reasonable and fast every time.

 

[hypertech]

I used Mark for a repair and it didn't go well. Eventually he did make it right though.

I plan to try Steve Gamble next time I need something.

---------- Post Merged on July 5th, 2012 at 05:15 PM ---------- Previous Post was on July 4th, 2012 at 04:27 PM ----------

For reference, this was my experience with Mark at Superior.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/exposure-suits/315737-drysuit-rings-right.html