Newb question about buying bolt snaps

[RJP]

What specs would I be looking for if I were to walk into a Lowe's or Home Depot?

Look for this sign at Home Depot or Lowe's...

In the photo below the one on the left was bought at a dive shop for $7 and had >300 saltwater dives on it over three years when this picture was taken.

The one on the right was labeled as "marine grade" from Lowe's for about $4, and had done <30 dives during a one-week live aboard trip before this picture was taken. Note the handy "locked open" functionality, as well as the two spots where rubbing on the D-ring actual wore away some of the steel.

 

[Wookie]

Look for this sign at Home Depot or Lowe's...

In the photo below the one on the left was bought at a dive shop for $7 and had >300 saltwater dives on it over three years when this picture was taken.

The one on the right was labeled as "marine grade" from Lowe's for about $4, and had done <30 dives during a one-week live aboard trip before this picture was taken. Note the handy "locked open" functionality, as well as the two spots where rubbing on the D-ring actual wore away some of the steel.

No doubt under closer examination, you might find a "CHINA" stamp on the one on the right. Although many Chinese made products have gotten far better in the past couple of years, the junk hardware from Home Depot/Lowe's isn't some of it. Buying American hardware is getting tougher and tougher. I patronize an Ace Hardware where the pipe fittings are next to each other. A box of American (or Canadian in some cases) pipe nipples next to a box of Chinese. You can see the difference, you can hand weigh the difference, and you pay the difference. Chinese fittings are 20% of the retail cost of the American ones. BUT, when it takes 5 labor hours to change out a fitting that costs the difference between 6 bucks and 30, the price difference doesn't matter so much. When you lose a $100 SMB because a $3 clip failed, the price difference doesn't seem to matter so much.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I use brass clips from home depot. They work fine in salt water. Sometimes I spray them, with WD-40, but if you use them they will not freeze up. I would rather have brass than cheap stainless.

 

[TSandM]

I have to say that my experience is the same as most everybody else's. I have bought stainless snaps from our local hardware store, and some of them do fairly well but others corrode quickly (bought from the same store). The ones I have bought from the dive shop, gagging gently at the prices involved, have remained beautiful and functional, although they do like a yearly bath in the ultrasonic cleaner

 

[bleeb]

Anyone have any experience to add to Wookie's about buying SS snaps from actual marine shops as opposed to hardware stores?

 

[irishsquid]

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...

Happened to me also while I was wearing gloves, but it didn't cut my thumb. It left 2 nice slices in my glove. It helped drain water out of them.

 

[Jax]

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.

+1! Same happened to me.

 

[Rick Murchison]

These work well-

Diving Snaps

Been using Nix for all my stainless snaps for years. I always lose 'em before any of 'em wear out.
Rick