tizip problems at docking end?

[Germie]

Hi,

My first drysuit had a metall zip and I have dived that suit over 400 dives and never had any problem with the zip. Then I bought a new suit with a frontzip and it had a tizip (that was not my choice, but they said tizip will last longer and you get 2 years warranty). After almost 1 year and 100 dives, the zip was leaking and leaking and leaking more and more at the docking end. No signs of getting worn, it looked like new. I got a replacement because my zip was from a wrong batch. Now we are 10 months further and 70 dives and yesterday I was wet again at the docking end. I hope it was because I did not greased it. But the first tizip started with the same problems and then you needed more and more grease till even grease did not hold leaks away.
Are there others with problems with a tizip at the docking end? I have talked here to some divers that had same problems as me.

 

[WhiteSands]

So far so good with mine. No problems yet (touch wood).

 

[Rand]

You don't need a ton of grease on the docking end, but you do need to grease it. I do it about every other time I hang the suit up after diving, or when I store it.

Mine is a back zip and I trusted two experienced drysuit divers to zip me up on two separate dives one day. Both were unfamiliar with the TZip and didn't know you needed to pull it past the point you start feeling resistance, plus I hadn't greased it recently. Both times it leaked.

I now make a point of showing anyone zipping me up how the zipper works and feels before they zip me up, and after they zip me up, I wrangle the docking end to a position where I can reach it and double check it is fully seated before I dive. That and keeping the docking end greased has kept me dry since that day.

I'm happy with the zipper and wouldn't hesitate to put another TZip on a drysuit.

FYI, this thread has some info that might be useful. The majority of the people who expressed issues with the zipper seemed to report docking issues (probably from not greasing).

 

[Germie]

The first zip was really not my fault, it was from a bad batch. I could grease it with kg's of grease, but it was still leaking. Ok, I was unlucky I thought. I got a replacement and so far so good no problems. Some friends have problems with tizip, and that was not due too less leaking, but due to delaminating the zip. The problem here was maybe it was not totally dry between dives and stayed wet over weeks. I dry my suit after every day diving. Of course in holiday's the suit is sometimes not completely dry next day, but I won't let a wet suit in a bag for days. But yesterday I was a little bit wet. My first thought: Oh no, not again. I hope next time to be dry. But I read in that other topic too that the zips start leaking in about a year. I dive a lot, 250 dives a year, but I have more than 1 suit. I have just a 70 dives with the tizip this time. I am really carefull with my divestuff. I cannot imagine that people can do 400 dives or more with 1 tizip. But I believe if people say they can do 400+ dives with a metall zip (in my first neoprene drysuit there was a metall zip and that lasted 400 dives till I replaced the suit for a better one, but the zip was still like new).

 

[Superlyte27]

Hi,

My first drysuit had a metall zip and I have dived that suit over 400 dives and never had any problem with the zip. Then I bought a new suit with a frontzip and it had a tizip (that was not my choice, but they said tizip will last longer and you get 2 years warranty). After almost 1 year and 100 dives, the zip was leaking and leaking and leaking more and more at the docking end. No signs of getting worn, it looked like new. I got a replacement because my zip was from a wrong batch. Now we are 10 months further and 70 dives and yesterday I was wet again at the docking end. I hope it was because I did not greased it. But the first tizip started with the same problems and then you needed more and more grease till even grease did not hold leaks away.
Are there others with problems with a tizip at the docking end? I have talked here to some divers that had same problems as me.

There's a whole thread on this already. Exactly the same issue with the 5 suits I sold to friends. They were all Bare suits. At about a year in, they all started having the same issue. Bare said it was a bad run, they replaced some under warranty, but not all. A year later, and now out of warranty, they all started failing again.

I've since moved back to brass zippers. I also don't sell for Bare anymore.

---------- Post added January 19th, 2015 at 09:14 AM ----------

Drying might be the crux of the issue. Someone recently told me that if the suit isn't able to dry, bacteria builds up that eats the surface of the zipper. Well, that really doesn't work for me, as my suit almost never has a chance to dry. I dive a lot.

At any rate, I got 8 years off of my first drysuit with a metal zipper. If I really have to baby the crap out of these TiZips, are they really better? Not in my opinion.

 

[Germie]

I dive a 250 dives a year. I have more than 1 suit of course. The tizip has 2 years warranty (santi), so I am not worried about it. Santi is normally good with aftersales. But the problem is, again the suit 1 month for repair, and now after just 70 dives (I have dived most times last year in my other suit). If every tizip lasts only a 70-100 dives, then having a drysuit with a tizip is more expensive than the runningcosts of my rebreather (oxygencells and so on).

 

[Germie]

And again problems. They said they couldn't find a leak, but I am wet. Will call again.

 

[miketsp]

My bad experience with Tizip is on this thread.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/exposure-suits/358529-ykk-bdm-vs-tizip-zippers.html

 

[TSandM]

Man, I've had my Santi for two years, with the TiZip, and I've had a trickle leak maybe 2 or 3 times, which was immediately solved by pulling harder on the zipper until it docked firmly. I know quite a few people who have the zippers, and I've heard of no one having problems like what you describe.

 

[divezonescuba]

I have had this problem of 2 of the 4 backzip drysuits that I have owned with TiZips. This happened with less than 50 dives each. One had this problem twice, so perhaps I had some of the bad zippers. The other two are about three years old and have not started leaking until recently. One has about 200 dives, the other only about 50. However, the problem with these is different. The rubber material on which the teeth are positioned are crumbling apart leaving the cloth material underneath. It would seem that there are two issues with the zippers, one is durability and the other is longevity. I usually dry my suits out between dives, so I don't think that bacteria is a factor at least in my case.

I suppose that I am going to be learning how to install zippers.