Northwest Dive Club

Does anyone know of a good local shop that can replace my DUI zipper? I hate the thought of losing my suit for the 6 weeks it seems to take the DUI guys.

Thanks for any suggestions!

You might try Underwater Sports. They did a bang-up job on my wirst seals in-house, and quick turnaround.

Local to Granite Falls could be a problem!

Fist a couple of questions. Is it glued in or sewn and glued? And what type of suit is it? Shell or neo, front or back zip.

Two shops I know of that actually do the work themselves are Hoodsport and dive and Townsend bay dive. I'm sure there are others but those are the ones I know for sure do it and don't just farm it out elsewhere.

My experience with Underwater Sports is that they ship the suit back to DUI for zipper replacement

I don't recall seeing anyone around her registered as a in house DUI repair tech. I know that those who can repair DUI ship them back.

D(B)

10 days to two weeks is current suit time away from home for simple zip per replacement

uwsports sends them back to dui

Dusty2 wrote:Local to Granite Falls could be a problem!

Fist a couple of questions. Is it glued in or sewn and glued? And what type of suit is it? Shell or neo, front or back zip.

Two shops I know of that actually do the work themselves are Hoodsport and dive and Townsend bay dive. I'm sure there are others but those are the ones I know for sure do it and don't just farm it out elsewhere.

It's really Arlington - (doesn't really help with the "local" aspect, but sure sounds better.

My suit is a DUI shell with a front zip from butt to shoulder. Have you had any work done at either shop? I don't really care if the suit is farmed out just as long as it's not sent back to DUI (6 week average).

Thanks everyone

Yes I have had a zipper done at Townsend bay dive on my Bare CD4 pro. I haven't had one done at hood port but I have heard lots of positive feedback. It's a good idea to talk to who ever you decide to go with if you don't send it to the factory. They will need the exact zipper size in order to pre-order the zipper. Shops don't stock them because of the cost factor and differences in sizes.

Octoloco wrote:I hate the thought of losing my suit for the 6 weeks it seems to take the DUI guys.

I just had my zipper replaced by DUI along with a Zip-Seal conversion and some other tune-up stuff. From the time I dropped it off at UPS, including a 3 day holiday weekend, it took exactly 3 1/2 weeks to land on my front porch. A zipper by itself would have been quicker. Down-time is a bummer, but sometimes you just gotta do it...

Word of advice...call the service department and they can tell you how quick the current turnaround is, then ship it directly.

DUI's turnaround is great... My suit returns tomorrow.

It's been down for 10 working days at DUI, and it's getting zip seals ('cause I hate doing neck seals, and I'm getting trick rings turned on the lathe to mate the zip seals directly to my Diving Concepts hard glove rings...), a cloverleaf reinforcement (scooter wear...), a bunch of leaks patched, new inflator valve, boots repaired, and the crotch elastic replaced. The sad part is that I could've bought a cheap Bare suit or something similar and thrown it away for the repair bill cost. On the other hand, I wouldn't be as happy. That's a lot in a short amount of time, and they've been very helpful and communicative during the process.

I can't in good conscience recommend a local shop for a zipper replacement. Most farm that out to KME in Auburn instead of doing zippers in house. (The better shops usually do seals in house, though...) I had KME do a zip replacement years ago on my Andy's suit, and they totally and completely destroyed my drysuit in the process, and took three months to do it. I will not go back, and I will not let my friends use them. They ruined the suit, installed the zipper backwards, had to re-do it, and held the suit hostage for full ransom after screwing it up. They ruined the fabric around the zipper completely to the point where there's little left to hold a new zipper on it, it leaked like a sieve when it returned, and long story short, I ended up having to buy a whole new suit. Most local shops will farm out to KME. That's why I mail order instead.

Other than the DUI factory, I've had personally excellent service from Superior in Minnesota (www.drysuitrepair.com) or Steve Gamble in Florida (www.gamblescuba.com). I've had a Diving Concepts suit and an Andy's suit out to both of those places, and the work they've done has come back looking better than the factory.

I had the zipper and neck seal in my DUI replaced by Steve in Florida. It took a week plus shipping.

I had my DUI zipper replaced recently. I'd rather have them do it than some dude who's "certified" to replace zippers.

Calvin, how long was your suit away??

I work near Arlington. I took my DUI to Smokey Point Diving, they ship their suits to KME. I just got it back, turn around time was about 2 weeks. It was in for a zipper and neck seal replacement.

I asked that they tank test the suit to locate any other leaks and they fixed a few small ones that were "nigglies". The workmanship of the repairs looks top notch.

I wonder if I can contact them directly and not use a middle man (LDS)? Has anyone else had any experience wih KME's work?

Octoloco wrote:I wonder if I can contact them directly and not use a middle man (LDS)? Has anyone else had any experience wih KME's work?

Yes you can talk to and deal with DUI directly...
here's their phone # 1-619-236-1203

ask them first how long it will take. Most places once the suit leaves the shop there is no warranty on a zipper as the mfg will not honor a warranty to the dealer/builder/installer of the zipper, however DUI does offer a limited warranty on their zip's in house.... their prices are VERY, VERY competitive.

FYI UWS send does not do zippers in house they go out to a 3rd party.
For a fast, no warranty fix at an OK price try KME in the seattle area 1-800-800-8KME talk with Jim and yes you can also go direct with him as well. He's a bit slow right now as he is working alone (or was as of 2 weeks ago)

Thanks much!

Yes you can deal with KME directly, a friend did that just before I sent my suit in. The turn around time was a couple of days when dealing directly. However, I was extremely busy at the time and did not have the time to drive to KME and talk to them. The dive shop did that for me (and they did a good job too).

That sounds like the answer for me. Larry works down by Auburn. I love the couple day turnaround. Thanks

I had my drysuit zipper replaced at Superior Drysuit repair and they turned it around in 3 days over the Labor Day weekend (10 days including shipping). They did a top noch job and I would definately recommend them.

http://www.drysuitrepair.com/

Initially I was going to send my drysuit to KME but read too many horror stories on this board about botched service.

Bill

Maybe I better just use DUI and hope their turn-around time has improved since the last time I used them.

Thanks everyone!

Octoloco wrote:Maybe I better just use DUI and hope their turn-around time has improved since the last time I used them.

Thanks everyone!

Good call IMO Kathy... their prices are very decent and with the warranty they offer they're unbeatable when we are talking about a DUI suit. Call them first and see what turn around times are like... last i heard they were pretty slow right now so you should get it back rather quick.. of course you could always redline it for like $30

Ok, I conceded... sending my suit in to DUI through UWS; they tell me that DUI won't accept a work order without it going through a dive shop and it would be less expensive because they got better pricing; better pricing than who if DUI only accepts work from dive shops??
I was told it would be about a month unless I wanted to pay an additional $50 and even then it would be a couple weeks.
Thankfully I do have another suit.

Thanks for all the input!!

I think you'll be happy that you sent it to DUI.

The downside... someone doesn't know what they're talking about or............ ?????????????????????????
I just called DUI to confirm this. Anyone can send a suit in to them WITHOUT going thru a shop.
If you go to Dui-online.com, click the PRODUCTS tab then pick SERVICE DEPT... you'll be able to download a price list in PDF format that has a form in it. That form is what you as a customer would fill out to let them know what you want done. It will also define what you will be charged by DUI and have an application for you to fill out so that they can bill you via CC or electronic check.

All that aside, IMVHO there's no better place to send a product for this kind of thing than the people who make it.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Very valuable information.

Appreciate everyone's thoughts on the subject