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Bought a $1,400 drysuit at auction, but never bothered to zipper lube for 9 months
Figured zipper lube was just a fancy name for grease people buy when they have too much cash. After a dive lost in the Puget Sound current, my zipper seized up mid-torso and I had to use a buddy's knife to peel out of the shell. Took me an hour of sweating and cursing to realize the damn zipper was never meant to run without monthly lube. The auction guy even warned me, 'Keep it waxed or buy a new suit,' but I thought he was just trying to push product. Now I lube it every 4th Sunday like clockwork. Anyone else skip the basics until they pay for it with hypothermia? Or do I just have the dumbest habit in the barge crew?
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saraho4815d ago
Zipper lube is a solution chasing a problem that barely exists. Suit makers push that stuff because it is cheap to make and sells forever, not because your zipper is going to weld shut. Nine months is nothing. Plenty of commercial guys run brass zippers for years with zero wax and they are fine. The real issue in Puget Sound is the cold and the current, not some dry zipper. If your zipper seized mid-torso, that is probably because the teeth were packed with sand or the suit was already on its way out. Auction suits are a gamble anyway, and blaming lube is an easy story to tell after the fact. Stop buying into the maintenance cult and just rinse the salt off your gear.
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