My drysuit zipper gave up 40 feet down off Port Angeles

Last Tuesday I was doing a hull inspection on a barge out of Port Angeles when my drysuit zipper let go right at the shoulder. Water came in fast, like someone turned on a garden hose inside my neck seal. I called it to the surface tender and did a slow, controlled ascent, but by the time I hit the deck I was swimming inside my own suit. The funny part is the zipper was only 11 months old, not even a full season of work. I spent the next 3 hours in the van with the heater blasting, wringing out my thermals. My supervisor just laughed and said I looked like a drowned raccoon. Has anyone else had a zipper fail that quick, or did I just get a lemon from the factory?

1 comments

1 Comment

ryan79322h ago

Wait, is it totally crazy to think 11 months is actually pretty good for a working drysuit zipper? I mean, if you're doing hull inspections in cold water off Port Angeles, that thing is getting salt, grit, and constant flexing every single dive. Manufacturers rate those zippers for recreational use, not commercial abuse, so calling it a lemon feels like a stretch when you might have just pushed it past what it was built to handle. Honestly, a zipper that fails catastrophically at 40 feet could have been a much bigger problem if you weren't sharp about your ascent. Maybe the real takeaway here is that you got lucky with the timing, not unlucky with the gear. I'd bet most divers would kill for 11 months of zero issues before a zipper even starts leaking, let alone fully letting go. And let's be real, how many times did that zipper get twisted, stepped on in the van, or yanked while you were suiting up? That kind of wear adds up fast, way faster than a calendar. If the rest of the suit is holding up, I'd honestly chalk this up to normal wear and tear, not a factory screw up.