Rick Inman:The VP, Paul-Andre called me today and they are going to pay for the new zipper. The white rubber inlay of a bear in the knee pads has been coming off also, and he said that they would replace the knee pads as well. I told him, I don't care about the knee pads and not to bother, but he pretty much insisted. So they're covering everything, including shipping.
Another thing that concerned me is what he said about the condition of the zipper. He said it was dry and brittle and looked as if it had not been maintained/lubed properly. He proceeded to give me a polite lecture on the care and maintenance of the dry suit zipper. My issue is that I have waxed this zipper (with the wax they recommend) before every dive with utmost care - just like I have my old DUI and OS Systems, which are fine.
This is the only thing I can think of: I built a gear storage/cleaning room (insulated) in my garage, and I keep it heated at 52F with an electric space heater. I know that these heaters are very dry and suck the moisture out of the air. Could this have effected the zipper condition?? Could this be effecting the rest of my gear??
I am really gald to hear that they took care of this problem for you. Paul measured me for my new suit at the Expo on Sat and on the advice of my LDS I went ahead & had him order it for me. I agree, your LDS should have really gone to bat for you here. Maybe check into some other shops for future transaction?
On another note and perhaps those with more experieince can help my memory. When I took my dry suit class like a year ago, I clearly recall my instructor telling us that one of the worst places you can store your dry suit is in the garage due to.......fumes??? Ozone??? can't recall what it is that is the problem but I do remember he said that it would cause things to break down faster. Not sure if this has anything to do with your zipper and/or the knee pads but the fact that you store it in an area of the garage did catch my interest. Anyone have any feelings on that?