DUI zipseal

[Smiler1968]

No not yet. I got the G2 seals fitted in the end. I've not needed to replace them yet. When I do I will have a go at reusing the rings.

 

[Doby45]

I could get the suit with zip seals as they do not cost any extra

Thats because they PRAY you buy their bajillion dollar seals. Hell I would put "free" attachments on your suit if you buy my $500 seal set when it comes time to replace.

 

[Buoy_A]

Ever find anything out on this? I was considering mounting a new neck seal to an old set of rings as well. Heat seems like it'll melt the rings before it'll release the glue though.

I don't have experience w. G2 seals, but generally speaking you can always use the previous seals as a "base" on top of which you can glue the new seals. Just cut the old seals back so that only about 3/4" to 1" of the old seal remains. Then glue the new seal on to this old latex seal base. Make sure you use heat sensitive dry suit glue on the seal replacement as you don't want to start "stacking" more than two old latex seals on top of each other. With drysuit glue, you can remove the replacement seal and then glue onto the 1st original seal again.

Note that you cannot do this same process with silicone seals, as nothing will stick to silicone reliably. Like the OP mentioned, you need to get a whole new seal. Not because it was made out of one piece of silicone, but rather because a suitable adhesive doesn't exist for silicone.

 

[fish149]

OK, I tried it this weekend. First, I took an old zip seal and tried to remove the two halves using heat. The rings started acting like they would melt and the glue was no where close to releasing. I decided to try cutting the seals apart using an exacto knife.

I cut away at the neck seal that's sandwiched between the two rings. I cut all the way around. I could then use heat to remove the latex seal from the rings. In retrospect it probably would have been easier to cut the rings apart enough to separate them a few inches then just pull them apart.

Next I sanded the rings and prepped the new neck seal.
* The neck seal I had purchased had a larger diameter base than the Zip seal rings. Make sure that the base of your new seal is the same diameter as the rings before gluing. I had to trim mine.

Next I applied three coats of cement to one of the rings and to one side of the new seal.

Next, I put some cut up strips of Zip Lock bags over the cemented areas once it became tacky. I put the ring on my work bench and placed the seal onto it, a bit at a time, pulling zip lock bag strips off as I went. I tried to match up the edges exactly but wound up having to trim away a little bit of the seal that was sticking past the edge afterwards.

I then sanded the other ring and edge of the other side of the seal and applied three layers of cement each to them.

I now placed the other ring on top of the seal and paid close attention to match the edges up. I noticed that once together the whole thing looked a bit wavy and not flat so I put the newly assembled zip seal between card board with some weight on top and allowed it to set for a few hours. This seemed to help it flatten out a bit.

Below is my new (to me) zip seal along with a factory zip seal. I've installed it in my suit and it snapped in like it should. I plan on testing it this weekend and will update this post if there are/aren't any leaks.

 

[KathyIGH]

Hi. This is Kathy with DUI. We do have a small handout available online Drysuit Repair. http://www.dui-online.com/pdf/drysuit_repair_outline.pdf. It is a free download. Thank you.

 

[Smiler1968]

OK, I tried it this weekend. First, I took an old zip seal and tried to remove the two halves using heat. The rings started acting like they would melt and the glue was no where close to releasing. I decided to try cutting the seals apart using an exacto knife.
View attachment 380556
I cut away at the neck seal that's sandwiched between the two rings. I cut all the way around. I could then use heat to remove the latex seal from the rings. In retrospect it probably would have been easier to cut the rings apart enough to separate them a few inches then just pull them apart.
View attachment 380558
Next I sanded the rings and prepped the new neck seal.
* The neck seal I had purchased had a larger diameter base than the Zip seal rings. Make sure that the base of your new seal is the same diameter as the rings before gluing. I had to trim mine.

Next I applied three coats of cement to one of the rings and to one side of the new seal.
View attachment 380559 View attachment 380560
Next, I put some cut up strips of Zip Lock bags over the cemented areas once it became tacky. I put the ring on my work bench and placed the seal onto it, a bit at a time, pulling zip lock bag strips off as I went. I tried to match up the edges exactly but wound up having to trim away a little bit of the seal that was sticking past the edge afterwards.
View attachment 380570 View attachment 380561
I then sanded the other ring and edge of the other side of the seal and applied three layers of cement each to them.
View attachment 380564
I now placed the other ring on top of the seal and paid close attention to match the edges up. I noticed that once together the whole thing looked a bit wavy and not flat so I put the newly assembled zip seal between card board with some weight on top and allowed it to set for a few hours. This seemed to help it flatten out a bit.
View attachment 380566 View attachment 380565
Below is my new (to me) zip seal along with a factory zip seal. I've installed it in my suit and it snapped in like it should. I plan on testing it this weekend and will update this post if there are/aren't any leaks.
View attachment 380567

That's great. Thanks for the update.

 

[fish149]

Ok, I made two dives down to 85 ft in 42degree quarry water with the new-to-me zip seal in. All went well, no leaks, stayed dry.

Dive on...