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Dry suit zipper seized up 80 feet down near Port Angeles
Mid-decompression on a pipeline job Tuesday, my main zipper jammed and I started taking water at the neck seal. I aborted, did a slow emergency ascent with a buddy, and got out before the suit flooded fully. Anyone else carry a spare zipper repair kit on site, or just accept the risk? Has anyone else had this happen at depth with a neoprene dry suit?
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mason7982d ago
Man that "started taking water at the neck seal" part is what gets me, that is the real pucker moment right there. I ran neoprene dry suits on pipeline work in the Sound for years and had a main zip freeze up on me at 60 feet once, not as deep as you but same deal, teeth gunked with sand and salt. What saved me was a chunk of beeswax and a soft toothbrush in my dry bag, scrub the teeth, wax them, work the slider slow, it will usually break loose. Now I wax my zip before every single dive and keep a spare slider and wax in the truck, that 20 dollar kit is way cheaper than a chamber ride. The neck seal leaking while the zip is stuck is the worst combo because you can't dump air right, so you did the right thing calling it and going up slow with your buddy.
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