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My dry suit zipper gave out 40 feet down in Puget Sound
Last Tuesday I was doing hull inspection on a ferry dock in Seattle, about 40 minutes into the dive, when I felt that cold trickle start at my shoulder. The zipper on my dry suit just let go, not a tear, just the teeth deciding they were done. I still had a good 20 minutes of bottom time left but I called it and did a slow ascent, water seeping in the whole way up. By the time I hit the surface I looked like a drowned rat and my thermals were soaked through. The suit is 6 years old and I've been cheap about replacing the zipper, figured I'd ride it out one more season. Has anyone else had a zipper fail mid-dive, and did you go with a shop repair or just bite the bullet on a new suit?
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wadeyoung21d ago
How old was the suit when the zipper first started showing signs of trouble, like sticky spots or tiny leaks you had to ignore? Six years is a long run for a brass or plastic zip that gets salt and grit worked into it every single dive. Once those teeth start skipping they are done, no lube or wax will bring them back. If the rest of the suit is still solid, a shop can swap the zipper but it costs real money and you lose the suit for weeks. If the seals and seams are also aging out, put that repair money toward a new suit instead. Chasing one part on a worn out shell just means the next failure is waiting on your next dive.
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