Revive an old DUI TLS 350 (Zipper, Latex allergy) - need advices & tips

[Andre171]

Hello,

after 2 abandoned years I want to dive my 20 years old TLS 350 again. After Covid I developed a latex allergy and so I quit my dry suit in favour of just warm water diving. But the cold waters are calling
The suit fits well and is still tight. A new TLS would be around 3500 bucks and cheaper suits are either "not enough DUI" or due to Brexit also too expensive. So I will give it a try and revive the suit by myself for a few hundred bucks. I brought the suit 16 years ago, so its 2nd hand.
According to my latex allergy I have to change for a neoprene neck seal (or maybe Si Tech Neck Tite) and for Si Tech Quick Cuff (with Quick Gloves). And the original, 20y BDM zipper starts to disintegrate - that will be the most difficult part for me.

I going to post my expirience with this project and some pictures. It my help otherts. And I will apreciate any help and advices.

Best Regards, André

 

[Andre171]

The zipper is removed. Since it was the original zipper it process was easy done.

 

[Andre171]

The state now:
1) wrist seals fully removed, still stome uretane remaining - but maybe I have to shorten the arms for the Quick Cuff anyway
2) just cutted the neck seal down to the suit fabric - maybe I glue a neoprene seal directly to the latex rubber since the old and original (???) neck seal sticks very firm to the suit - or I glue in the Neck Tite ring from the exterior side (???)
3) zipper removed but leaving a high boarder of super sticking urethane seal - the glue area seems to be quite narrow. Sewing a new zipper in seems an idea, but that is extreme work. Smooting the boarder with a dremel seems to risky to me. I'm afraid of cutting into the fabric. Can the zipper be glued from the outside?

 

[Andre171]

I got a BDM zipper from eBay from drysuitrepairparts (in the uk) - primarily because it was the only place I could find that had the size I needed in stock.

I used a seam ripper to take out the stitches, then once it was all removed I gently picked at the end until I could start to pull the old zipper out.

I used a Dremel with a sanding wheel to grind down the previous aquaseal that was left over. I got most of it off but not all of it. I'm pretty sure the zipper was replaced once before on this suit, probably by DUI themselves since it had what seemed like some extra stitching holes on the fabric and two different distinct layers of aquaseal. I got it down so it was pretty flat but didn't want to risk going too deep removing the previous aquaseal and and into the material.

I also sanded the zipper a little bit to give it a better surface for the glue to stick to.

Then I cleaned both the zipper and the suit with acetone (100% acetone nail polish remover borrowed from my wife)

I used DRIS drysuit glue, applied three or four layers on the top of the zipper and four or five on the suit itself.

I did it outside on a patio table because it was an easy work space. It is a little chilly out today (50°F) and the glue seemed to lose its tackiness faster than when I was using it to do boots in my garage a few months ago when it was in the 70's.

I mostly followed that YouTube video, I used an old bag that some Deep Six Eddy's came in (the plastic material was perfect for this, and it was easy to cut nice long strips of it) to cover the glue on the zipper while I was working with it.

When I finished sticking it into place, there were some places that seemed like they didn't stick perfectly so I got my heat gun out and slowly worked my way around both sides of the zipper hitting it with a little heat and then pressing it together hard to get the reactivated glue to sit perfectly flush with no ripples.

It didn't seem to have any leaks when I had it on me, so that's a good sign.

I'll apply the rubber finishing tape stuff tomorrow. (I'm not sure if it's really necessary, but if it helps keep this zipper working longer it's worth it.)

This suit is a DUI TLS 350 from 1996 and the material is in great shape still (no signs of delamination anywhere).

When I get it on an actual dive or do an actual leak test on it I'll know better if it's good a good seal, but so far it seems great.

I think glueing a replacement zipper in is much easier than replacing boots. Stitching seems unnecessary and only serves to make the next replacement harder.

Surface prep took probably four hours (including removing the old zipper) and gluing was probably a total of 90 minutes spread out a little bit.

I've got about an hour left to put the rubber finishing tape on tomorrow.

Okay, that will be the way to go. Still thinking about brass vs plastic zipper... I don't dive often, so the zipper has to live for about 400 dry dives in 10 years at all. The Suit will not last forever, too. Here, the dynat zipper cost 3 times the tizip... but on the other hand, there are many bad stories about the plasltic zippers.

 

[grantmac]

If you have average sized hands get the oval quick cuff and Rolock 90s.

Also consider silicone seals (although a neoprene neck is very nice the Si Tech necks can be ordered with latex or silicone but not neoprene)

 

[happy-diver]

Dude I love that you're tackling this



Dude now this is the other Dude



Dude what a couple of Dudes!

 

[Andre171]

If you have average sized hands get the oval quick cuff and Rolock 90s.

Also consider silicone seals (although a neoprene neck is very nice the Si Tech necks can be ordered with latex or silicone but not neoprene)

Rolock 90 looks nice to me. Seems simple and reliable.
There are way too many systems on the market and I lost the overview after I used the ND System for many years.


For the neck I prefer neoprene, since I don't wanna cut the suit. Gonna start with the zipper replacement before I buy the other stuff.

 

[Andre171]

on the long road... trimming the old urethane seal. Being careful to preserve the fabric. Since many said that a good preparation is most important I take my time.

 

[grantmac]

You can stretch Marigold gloves over the oval cuffs until you get a set of the Rolocks (which are amazing, I don't even run seals).

Also they make neoprene neck seals which fit the SiTech collars.

 

[happy-diver]

Dude, how have you secured your Dremmel stand?

I can't afford a Dremmel but use cheap rotary tools

But I do have plenty of these, and plenty more bits

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