Uninventing the plastic zipper

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

There are some things in the scuba industry that should never have been invented and when they are invented, we need to quickly "un-invent" them so that life my continue as usual. One such invention is the plastic zipper on drysuits. I have no idea, what motivated such an idiotic invention but the first failure I had on my drysuit was the plastic zipper.

I remember watching the promotional video by Santi where a sales rep was stepping on the plastic zipper wearing Nike shoes to demonstrate how durable the contraption was.


I was thinking in my mind "really? So you will place the zipper on a carpet so that there is cushion on the other side and step on it with a rubber sole sneaker? Why don't you place it on a concrete floor and drop a steel tank on it instead?" I can break a metal zipper and I can break a plastic zipper but the former would require more work. What problem are we trying to solve with a plastic zipper?

A few days ago, I spoke to a guy who repairs loads after load of dry-suits. "Stay away from plastic zippers. Steel is your friend and plastic is your enemy. I spend more time treating plastic zipper casualties than steel ones."

It was a bad idea that was surrounded by some serious marketing hype with sales people jumping on it etc. A lot of people fell for it but the fun is over now. To drysuit manufacturers, can we please end this highly nonsensical plastic zipper fad and return to the age of steel? I for one am not spending a penny on any suit that comes with a plastic zipper no matter how "high-end" they market themselves to be. Plastic is plastic and it is one of the greatest problems of our times.

 

[Paul M]

My drysuit has a plastic zipper and it's great. It's used to cover, keep clean and protect the real zipper made of brass that is under it.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

My drysuit has a plastic zipper and it's great. It's used to cover, keep clean and protect the real zipper made of brass that is under it.

Brilliant

 

[lexvil]

BS, plastic zipper is the best thing on my suit, since the “expert” thinks “steel” is better I’m not sure this person knows what a drysuit is.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

 

[fmerkel]

I've had both, in a lot of years (20+) of diving. They each have advantages, they each have disadvantages. Some of the outcome is dependent on luck (really, just plain luck), and some of it is dependent on how you take care of the zipper. Zipper care for plastic is not the same as brass. Probably, if I were to honestly throw in my vote I'd take brass, and be VERY good about not getting it kinked, and making sure it's lubed well.
Plastic will take a lot more abuse, but it's more likely to fail with no known cause whatsoever.

 

[Dsix36]

When the world renowned drysuit repair guru tells you that brass will last longer, the smart diver goes with brass every time.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I have both. My HOG suit has the brass and my Otter has the plastic. The Otter suit now has more dives on it than the HOG. Somewhere around 400 on the Otter and 375 on the HOG which is older. Both work well. The Otter is less maintenance and easier to lube. The brass on the HOG at this point can seem to be closed but I've learned to give it an extra tug. There are some threads starting to show on the edges. Maybe I need to replace it sooner rather than later but it's not an every dive type of issue. The plastic zipper on the Otter has never given me an issue.
In my somewhat limited experience, I'd have to say that with proper care and maintenance both work. I also see a fair amount of abuse of zippers by divers in the way they clean, lube, and store their suits in general.
I tend to be pretty anal about gear care even though they see hard use.

 

[Stoo]

BS, plastic zipper is the best thing on my suit, since the “expert” thinks “steel” is better I’m not sure this person knows what a drysuit is.

The failure of these plastic zippers is very widely documented. It seems that they come in two flavours: the ones that die somewhere between 30 and 70 dives, and the ones that last for perhaps 300+ dives.

The first ones on the market, the T-zips, failed "en masse" to the point where most suit manufacturers (including SANTI, DUI and Bare that I personally know of) abandoned them in favour of YYK plastic zippers. I can personally attest to the crappiness (is that a word?) of the T-zips, having replaced them three times, thankfully, always under warranty.

I'm currently using a YYK plastic in a new suit with perhaps 150 dives on it. It hasn't failed, but it's fussy af and I find I need to lube the dock before literally every dive. This leads me to believe that it's the lube that is doing the sealing, not the zipper. I think I can honestly say that it is never 100% dry. The degree of dampness varies widely for some reason. Literally everyone here dives dry, and my experience is pretty typical, if not better than most.

As for why the suit manufacturers use them, I think the answer is simple: they're cheap.

All of this is in contrast to my previous 30 years of diving dry with a brass (which is "metal") zipper where I NEVER had to replace a zipper. 700, 800 dives was typical before I would replace the suit, and hence the zipper too.

@CAPTAIN SINBAD I agree with you. I love the plastic in a front-zip suit because of it's flexibility, but if/when this suit fails, I'll replace it with a brass one.

 

[Stoo]

My drysuit has a plastic zipper and it's great. It's used to cover, keep clean and protect the real zipper made of brass that is under it.

Exactly. They have their place. Duffel bags, jackets... Basically anyplace where dryness isn't a factor.