Almost lost a finger to a bad drysuit zipper last week

I was on a job near Seattle last Tuesday, about 20 feet down in the harbor, when my drysuit zipper started failing. It wasn't a slow leak, it was a sudden pop and then cold water just poured in. I had to abort the dive real fast and surface, but the zipper got stuck halfway up my chest. I was fighting with it for a good 3 minutes before I got it sealed again by using a zip tie I always keep in my pocket kit. My buddy Dave had the same thing happen 3 years ago off the coast of Maine, and he ended up with hypothermia because he couldn't get his suit closed in time. I'm thinking of replacing my suit's zipper with a heavy-duty metal one instead of this plastic junk. Has anyone else had a zipper go bad mid-dive like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

nathan_thompson6220d ago

Bro holy crap thats terrifying. My buddy Jake had his wrist seal blow out on a night dive off Catalina last year. Straight up panic mode when that cold water hit his arm at 40 feet. He had to buddy breathe with his instructor on the way up cuz he couldnt focus. He said it felt like the suit was trying to squeeze him out of it. He ended up getting a metal zipper on his new suit and swears by it now. Definitely worth upgrading if youre doing cold water work.

hernandez.jordan20d ago

Wait the suit tried to squeeze him out? That's insane, I've never heard of that happening before.