My drysuit zipper gave out 40 feet down off a rig in Louisiana

Mid-inspection on a platform leg in the Gulf, the zipper on my drysuit just split at the shoulder, so I got a slow cold trickle down my back for the next 20 minutes while my tender laughed over comms. Has anyone else had a zipper fail mid-dive, and what quick patch trick actually held up until you could get topside?

2 comments

2 Comments

wade_kelly771mo ago

Gaffer tape. That's it. Done deal.

zara_sanchez1mo ago

See, I gotta disagree with gaffer tape holding up against that kind of working pressure. I had a wrist seal go on me once and tape just peeled off the neoprene once it got wet and flexed. The only quick fix that actually got me back to the boat was wrapping the zipper area with a few wraps of electrical tape, then securing it with a big rubber band from a tool pouch, and even that was sketchy.