ZipSeal accepted or not by DIR?

[ivan73]

Hi,

I will take this year DIR-F, but now I'm in a process of getting a drysuit so I do not know what DIR divers think about Dui's zipseal system.

Cheers,

Ivan

 

[SparticleBrane]

Some people love it, some people hate it. You won't be 'cast out' if you have it.

 

[alwaingold]

During our T1 class, David Rhea was wearing a drysuit with zip-gloves. So I would have to imagine ZipSeals are not un-DIR

It is a personal preference thing. I have a love-hate relationship with them. I think the neck ring is fairly annoying and uncomfortable, and mine did pop out once, which was annoying. The wrist ones are definitely not as comfortable as regular seals either. I have never actually busted a seal and taken advantage of the quick change thing... on the other hand, I can definitely see the benefit of it, especially if you travel to dive.

The replacement seals are also rather expensive. However, you can just glue new seals onto the ring, so once you have bought one spare set, you should be set for life (lifetime of the ring).

 

[rhlee]

During our T1 class, David Rhea was wearing a drysuit with zip-gloves. So I would have to imagine ZipSeals are not un-DIR

OTOH, I think he did say that they're not allowed on project dives... So depending on your definition of "DIR"

It is a personal preference thing. I have a love-hate relationship with them. I think the neck ring is fairly annoying and uncomfortable, and mine did pop out once, which was annoying. The wrist ones are definitely not as comfortable as regular seals either. I have never actually busted a seal and taken advantage of the quick change thing... on the other hand, I can definitely see the benefit of it, especially if you travel to dive.

The replacement seals are also rather expensive. However, you can just glue new seals onto the ring, so once you have bought one spare set, you should be set for life (lifetime of the ring).

I'm indifferent about them. I have one suit with them and one without.

 

[SparticleBrane]

I can certainly see the benefit if you are a traveling instructor, as is the case with Rhea and Jablonski (seen a picture somewhere with him wearing zipgloves in the UK I believe). As an instructor, especially one where the students have paid for you to travel a great distance, you're under a lot of pressure to perform. Having zipseals might just save your class if you have a seal pop.

Then again I suppose the alternative would be to pack a backup drysuit, of which I'm sure the instructors mentioned have several.

 

[Gombessa]

Then again I suppose the alternative would be to pack a backup drysuit, of which I'm sure the instructors mentioned have several.

Hey, as long as the students are footing the bill, right?

 

[SparticleBrane]

With how much those classes cost I'm sure the instructors could run out and grab several backup drysuits afterwards. :11:

 

[116fire]

Oh, come on the classes are a bargin.

 

[rjack321]

The drygloves are less than ideal since you can't have an indepedent latex seal underneath. And it seems fairly difficult to put sitec or diving concepts rings onto the latex seals (can be done but not easy, not smooth).

 

[RTodd]

The "official" position used to be okay for simpler dives where the ease of replacement is worth it, particularly teaching or recreational/ relatively short recreational stuff. But, not okay for bigger dives since it is technically at higher risk of failure once you have the suit on. They may have changed.

Real world is that they don't add much other than convience for divers that travel and dive a great deal so are at higher risk of unexpected seal failures. If you have seals and know how to put them on, new seals can be installed and ready to dive in an hour. For a better job, new seals can be done overnight. So, the only pace zip seals really help is boat diving. If the dive timing is that critical you generally could just take a backup suit or just accept the risk of missing a dive.