Blew $220 on a fancy drysuit zipper, then a $15 trick saved my dive

After the third zipper failure in six months, I dropped $220 on a titanium-tabbed replacement for my Viking suit. First dive in 40 feet of murky harbor water outside Norfolk, it snagged on a loose harness strap and started leaking at the chest seal. The old-timer on the barge laughed and handed me a bar of bee's wax, said to rub it on the zipper track every two weeks. Cost me a quarter of the repair bill and I've done 14 dives since without a drop. Anyone else using wax instead of dropping cash on new parts, or am I missing some other cheap fix?

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adam_patel28d ago

That wax trick saved my ass on a Suunto rig back in 2012, same deal with the zipper sticking right at the chest seal. I used a cheap crayon once when I forgot the wax, worked okay but not as smooth, so I always keep the bar in my pocket now. One thing nobody told me is you gotta clean the track with rubbing alcohol first before you wax it, dust and grit just grind in otherwise. Also, check your harness straps for those little metal crimps, they catch on everything... filed mine down flat and it stopped snagging altogether. Bee's wax is solid, but I also started using a tiny bit of silicone spray on the zipper slider itself, just a light mist, keeps it moving free without messing with the seal.