Rant: My drysuit zipper gave out 90 feet down near Port Fourchon last month

I was working a pipeline inspection job off the Louisiana coast when I heard that awful grinding sound. The main zipper on my DUI suit started leaking about 10 minutes into the bottom time. I had to abort the dive and spend 45 minutes in deco while my core temp dropped like a rock. The shop in Houma said it was just normal wear from the salt, but I swear I only had 80 dives on that suit. Has anyone else had a zipper fail way earlier than expected?

2 comments

2 Comments

angelafisher7d ago

Oh man, the 'normal wear from salt' line got me. I mean, maybe it's just me but I feel like if a zipper fails 90 feet down that's not 'normal' that's a catastrophic betrayal. I had a similar thing happen with my suit once except mine failed in a swimming pool. Like I was just doing a checkout dive in 12 feet of water and the zipper gave out. I spent the rest of the time floating face down trying to look cool while water poured in like a broken faucet. At least you had a real emergency to justify the panic. I just looked like a drowned goose in front of a bunch of bored instructors.

bettyh846d ago

No kidding, that's brutal. My zipper let go on a routine wreck dive off the coast, only 60 feet down but still a mess. Water came rushing in and I was shaking by the time I got back up.