Threw away $200 on a cheap drysuit zipper repair kit. Wish I'd just paid a pro.

I found a zipper repair kit online for $45 and thought I was being smart fixing my drysuit myself. After two hours of fighting with it on my kitchen floor in Seattle, the zipper still leaked on my next dive. I ended up paying a shop $150 to redo it properly anyway. Has anyone else learned this lesson the hard way with gear repairs?

2 comments

2 Comments

morgan31622d ago

Is a slightly leaky drysuit really that big of a deal?

henry_palmer2422d ago

The cheap repair kit turned my drysuit into a wetsuit with extra steps. @morgan316 a slightly leaky drysuit is like a slightly broken coffee cup - it still gets the job done but you end up wetter than you planned. My buddy Dan tried the same fix on his suit in Portland last year and ended up shivering through a whole dive at 50 feet. I learned that $45 kit plus my wasted time equals about the same as paying a pro once you factor in the headache. That kitchen floor project taught me I'm better at buying gear than fixing it.