Zip maintenance

[Dive Bunnie]

OK so I have been diving in my drysuit every winter now for the last four years and have tried and tested a few zip therapy treatments over this time.

I found that the bees wax clogged up the zip as well as leaving deposits of gunk on everything else that happened to be in my tool box with it.

I was told that candle wax was a good thing, but for some reason not recommended by manufacturers... I am guessing that perfumes or petroleum based products in a normal candle will damage rubber seals.

I have for some time been using washing up liquid (Pril over here) which works fantastically... cleans the zip, removes salt deposits and keeps it running soooo smoothly. However someone mentioned the other day that Fairy liquid might erode the rubber seals.. eeek! Anyone else using dry suits feel free to add your comments here...

For now I will continue to advise people to shower in your suit after your dive (before unzipping of course!!!) to make sure that any salt gets rinsed off both the zip and valves. And then I guess use whatever the manufacturer recommends to lubricate the zip part.

[Dive Bunnie]

So after nearly a week of diving, the drysuit is in need of a little further maintenance. However, a week of diving every day is certainly not bad. And for what it's worth, if I can keep slapping on a bit of glue now and again and keep myself dry for the rest of the winter, that doesn't bode too bad at all does it? Then I can get the whole lot done properly in late summer before I have to jump into it again next winter.
Thank God for that, as the whole suit ended up well and truly water logged last week when the zip first started to get a bit porus.