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ZIPPER CARE IS ESSENTIAL
Zipper replacement is Expensive and Time-consuming
Site Updated for December 2007
No matter what the purpose of the
suit you wear, when it contains a BDM zipper (or any other brand!) the
requirements for care and maintenance are the same. The zipper is a metal
device, it requires cleaning and lubricating if it is to give good service for
some considerable time. Well cared for zippers will outlast the knees, elbows,
and stressed seams of the rest of the suit. There are zippers in use today at
over ten years regular usage, yet we see failures after three months!
Consider this - you can buy a discounted Dry Suit (perhaps at a Show) for, say £400, and get another bill for £100 to £150 three weeks later if you are careless with the zipper! Possibly more inportant is that your Buddy understands the zipper - it's often your buddy who closes yours! Will he pay the repair bill???
Divers who operate off boats have it easiest, as the
zipper tends to be clean when climbing back on board. Shore divers may
have sand grains deposited as they scramble ashore, and the sand must be rinsed
off or swept off before the buddy opens the zipper.
IF YOUR BUDDY'S ZIPPER IS DIRTY -
REFUSE TO OPEN IT UNTIL IT'S RINSED or BRUSHED CLEAN
-you'll be doing him a
favour!
When the time comes to service the zipper:
any remaining Dirt and Debris must be
removed, the zipper must be clean before applying the lubricants.
The best lubricants come from The New Zipper Company Ltd (how
did you know we were going to say that), selected after years
of tests and trials. We offer a wax for the outer elements and
a fluid for the inner, and cleaning the outer. Paraffin wax
has been used in the past, as has beeswax, but experience has
shown that neither give lasting service, and if applied to
the inner elements may even hasten failure as the waxes fill
the gaps between the elements preventing the inner elements
from inter-locking. (The same as jamming the proverbial "woolly bear" in
there.)
Apply the correct lubricant, open and close the zipper TWICE,
then store the suit with the zipper OPEN - ready for the next use.
Avoid expensive, time consuming, zipper replacement !
To store the suit in a bag roll it up so the zipper is wrapped around the outside of the bundle.
DO NOT
CRUSH THE SUIT!
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......Clean the Inners and Outers with Liquid...........Wax the Outers ONLY ......
You may be interested to know that our Wax and Fluid now have NATO Stock Numbers
Following tests and trials by the Royal Navy the products have now been "codified":
WAX... 9160 - 99 - 3302207 and FLUID...8030 - 99 - 8329525
YOU KNOW IT MAKES
SENSE !!!
There are no excuses for
user-damaged zippers anymore....
there is little or no chance of a free replacement or repair -
no matter how new the suit or how little you have used it....CARE FOR IT!
It is NOT "bullet proof"!
