Tried a different brand of drysuit zipper lube last week and got a shock

I've been using the same silicone spray for years on my suit zippers, but ran out and grabbed some cheap stuff from a hardware store in Norfolk. Figured lube is lube, right? Wrong. That stuff gummed up my zipper so bad I had to soak it in warm water for an hour to get it moving again. Three dives got delayed while I fixed it. Anyone else run into this with random zipper products?

3 comments

3 Comments

finley_gonzalez4915d ago

Funny how people get worked up over zipper lube like it's life or death. Was it really that bad or did you maybe just use too much? I've used WD-40 on my drysuit zipper before and it worked fine for years. Not saying that's the right call but the stuff is literally just a lubricant. Soaking it for an hour sounds like overkill for a little gumming up. Maybe the hardware store stuff was just old or you got a bad batch. Not exactly a scientific crisis if you ask me.

victor77915d ago

Nah man, that WD-40 take is wild. WD-40 is a water displacer, not a proper lubricant for drysuit zippers. It'll work at first but it dries out and leaves residue over time. The hardware store stuff I grabbed was probably petroleum based which is a no go for rubber seals and zipper tape. Silicone based lubes are specifically designed to not gum up or degrade the materials. That hour long soak wasn't overkill, it was the only way to dissolve whatever that junk was before it ruined the zipper teeth.

laura_schmidt8214d agoTop Commenter

I mean, my drysuit zipper's just held together with hope and shame at this point.