Newb question about buying bolt snaps

[FuzzyNutz]

For lack of the best term, does material/grade/quality matter when buying bolt snaps? I'm assuming you would want something of marine grade so the springs won't corrode and fail rather quickly. What specs would I be looking for if I were to walk into a Lowe's or Home Depot? Or is it best to just buy from a scuba or boating store? Or with a good rinse after each dive, does it even matter?

 

[Wookie]

Yes. The junk at Home Depot (I don't know about Lowe's) only lasts a season before the springs break, the slides get sticky, and they generally turn into a ball of rust. They are stainless, but not marine grade. Even the marine grade hardware isn't. The brass is just as bad. West Marine less so, but when I buy Bolt Snaps or suicide clips, I get them from Divegear Express, Ace Hardware, or my LDS. They seem to last longer than the stuff West Marine sells. I happen to like the butterfly clips, especially for the top clip of my stages, and the big-ass bolt snaps for the bottom clips. They have a bigger thumb grip making it easier to work with gloves on. YMMV.

 

[tc]

These work well-

Diving Snaps

 

[Dr Wu]

Some people will claim you need SS because they will last 500 years vs. brass that will last only 200 years.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

These work well-

Diving Snaps

I purchased a package of bolt snaps from Douglas Nix several years ago. Super nice guy. Distinctive accent. He was happy to customize the package to better suit my needs. His prices are about half of what you'd pay in any brick-and-mortar dive shop. More importantly, the quality of his stainless steel hardware is top-notch.

 

[HenrikBP]

316 stainless is the way to go. Be aware that some stainless snaps (non-diving application) have non-stainless springs.

H

 

[tbone1004]

Nix is the best. It's a lot of money for a lot of snaps but you can usually get dive buddies in on it too to split it up

 

[knowone]

BRASS or stainless from the boat shop have the same stainless springs.

Pulled some encrusted brass bits that had been encrusting in the ocean for fifty years cleaned some up found a 1/2" nut (no bolt) almost like new could still see galling on the threads.

Pulled some semi minimally encrusted stainless knives that hadn't been encrusting for a quarter the time and they were rusted to the ****house.
The rust gets in and does it's work internally leaving a shell.
Very interesting.

What this has to do with bolt snaps, I don't know?

That's right, what is cool and how much less banging you get.

And if you're not talking about double enders, or solid fixings they can be attached
break free with cable ties and O rings in case cutting is to slow or unavailable.

 

[DevonDiver]

I use marine grade SS snaps on my personal kit. They function as well now as when I first fitted them (2000 dives ago).

I used brass and/or non-marine SS snaps on the rental gear. After 6 months of use the slides got very sticky, from accumulation of verdigris. Even with regular cleaning, they still never functioned as smoothly as the marine grade SS snaps.

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

Brass clips will get two sharp edges over time where the clip slides back in forth in the groove. That was never an issue in California where we use gloves all the time. But the first time I took a bolt snap on a warm water vacation I ended up two parallel cuts on my thumb. Anyway stainless is about 3x more expensive than brass, but it can be worth it. My Ace hardware used to carry stainless and brass bolt snaps and they worked fine. For some reason they dropped the stainless ones.