Replacing front entry Zipper- Plastic or Brass?

[MaxBottomtime]

They both are. I replaced mine late last year and have about fifty dive on it so far without a single drop of water inside.

 

[DivingRhino]

Good idea to replace yourself. Zippers are easy to replace on neoprene suits. Clean all the old adhesive off on the inside of the suit with a dremel sanding drum. No need to remove the aquaseal lip where the old one was sealed as long as the new zip is the same width. Multiple layers of contact adhesive (I use wood weld) following standard instructions. Attach carefully, and roll everything very firmly. Seal well with aquaseal on the inside. I can give you some more detailed instructions if you want. Toughest part is not making a mess with the aquaseal. Sewn in zips on trilaminate are a bit more difficult.

Any guidance would be great! Dremel... what grit?

Wood Weld - This? - DAP Weldwood 32 fl. oz. Original Contact Cement-00272 - The Home Depot

I was considering this for adhesive... https://www.amazon.com/Drysuit-Glue/dp/B00I9R9BUQ

Or this from the video I watched to learn how - SC 4000 Black Cement

Thanks for the tip on not having to remove the aquaseal ridge... I was planning not to deal with it and hoping that was a good choice.

On actual technique - I've seen them in videos applied to the opening of an inside out suit (with the zipper unzipped) and rightside out, coming up from the inside with the zipper zipped. What do you recommend for technique? I have a secondary zipper protective cover/zipper on the outside that would be in the way for the right-side-out method.

I was considering inside out suite, with the zipper zipped during application.

Thanks!

 

[DivingRhino]

The new T Zips are perfect. There were multiple failures with the old ones. I had new plastic T Zips installed on two suits from Superior Diving Repair and they have been leak-free and much easier to zip than brass zippers. I've had at least ten brass zippers fail in the past twenty years.

Check out this post from DRIS.

So, the key point there would be ensuring you got a more recent zipper. Given that that post was three years ago it might be safe to assume it was a more recent zipper without the original issues? But, does anyone have a known quality source for plastic zippers?

Thanks!

 

[lexvil]

Loving my Ti-zip, front zip, two years of use no issues. I had considered doing it myself but in the end there are some things I don’t want to mess with, wasted knowledge for no more often than I would need to do it.

 

[Curious_George]

Yes, that’s the wood weld. Important that it’s the red can. It’s is really nasty smelling and identical to the high dollar yellowish color Drysuit glue at 1/20 of the cost, you just have to buy your own brushes.

I don’t remember what grit, probably 180 or 220. Turn it very slow rpm so you don’t burn through the suit. Use the same setup to rough up the zipper. Give everything a double rubdown with acetone before you apply any adhesive.

I think inside out suit and unzipped zipper is the easiest way, but just do some practicing before you start putting down adhesive. i always do a dry run or two.

Dilute the aquaseal with 1 part acetone to 10 parts aquaseal and you can brush it on. It will set up in 30 minutes and you can put a couple layers on. Again, scuff up and degrease everything thoroughly before sealing.

Cleaning and prepping all surfaces thoroughly will make the difference between success and failure.

 

[DivingRhino]

Ok... I think I'll try plastic... what's the worst that could happen?!

I think I'll do this zipper - Aquaseal Plastic Drysuit Zipper w/ metal Pull

The metal zipper on the diverightinscuba site said to measure teeth to teeth, so I'd be a 32" zipper... confirming with them though.

In all seriousness... what IS the worst that can happen. Has anyone had catastrophic zipper failure at depth... complete flooding of the suit? Besides being wet and cold, I imagine at depth you'd just be a little negatively buoyant and could easily compensate, but crawling out of the water onto a boat or shore with a flooded suit is where you'd have an issue trying to lug around all that water!

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I had two complete failures underwater with a brass zipper in 46° water. It was annoying but not life-threatening.

 

[DivingRhino]

I had two complete failures underwater with a brass zipper in 46° water. It was annoying but not life-threatening.

Great, thanks! Annoyed is acceptable.

 

[Danseur]

Unless you're doing significant deco in 50f water (or colder), you should be really pissed off, but otherwise fine. Think giving a cat a bath...

That said, you better have a good wing that can float you in a zero buoyancy drysuit, or a huge amount of ditchable weight (not recommended). To wit: don't be overweighted or using a warm water BCD/Wing when your drysuit has a huge flood.