It could have been a real disaster - the broken zipper on my drysuit, not the swim. After driving an hour and a half to the Scantic River in CT, I broke the zipper on my drysuit trying to put it on. Fortunately a friend who lived nearby was able to lend me a wetsuit and dry top, so I was able to do the run - crisis averted.
I joined a group from the CTAMC to run the race course of the annual Scantic Splash whitewater race, which will be held next week. The level was low but runnable, and of course I was the only open boater. The first 2.5 miles is quickwater/easy class I. The next 2.5 miles has couple of nice surf spots, and three class II+ rapids – Stokers, Chimney and Staircase.
Stokers is a 3-foot ledge that needs to be run about 10 feet off the left bank. My history at Stokers isn’t great (1 for 4 prior to this run), and I may have run it a little too far to the right this time, but I made it through fine.
Running Stokers
The next rapid is Chimney - an “S” turn through some rocky ledges – no problem.
Dana running Chimney
The final rapid is Staircase, and it is exactly what you would expect - a series of ledges that look like a staircase with a large shoot at the bottom. The ledges were pretty boney, and I got stuck in a hole just above the final shoot. I worked my way out, but came out backwards and couldn’t get myself turned around in time, so I had to run the final shoot backwards. I ended up swimming at the big wave at the bottom – first swim of 2018.
Running Staircase the hard way - backwards and about to swim
Swimming in a wetsuit reminded me why I love my drysuit, so I ordered a new one as soon as I got home. Anyone know where you can get a drysuit zipper fixed.
NRS - its 4 years old and was a warranty replacement for a previous drysuit with a broken zipper. I called them, and they asked me to send the picture. They do gaskets but were non committal on zippers.
When I google it, dive shops comes up and not much else. I know there was a company that specialized in paddling drysuits, but I can’t remember the name.
I wonder if you could stitch and aquaseal the ripped fabric back in place. Not sure if I would trust it, but would certainly do it as an emergency repair.
@eckilson said:
When I google it, dive shops comes up and not much else. I know there was a company that specialized in paddling drysuits, but I can’t remember the name.
NRS referred me to Rainy Pass Repair - $275 for the zipper, 6 to 8 weeks for the repair. I’ll have a new one long before then, but I am going to get it fixed.
Anyone who paddles early-season and winter whitewater as much as you do will probably eventually wish he had two drysuits anyway, when one of them needs repair. I guess that time has come.
@Rookie said:
Glad it worked out. Not a bad price, but long time to wait for a repair when the water’s cold.
It is a long time to wait, and some of the best paddling is in April. I could wear my wetsuit and splash top, but it is pretty cold if you swim, which I do on occasion. So, my new NRS Extreme Dry suit ships out today.
It took a little negotiating, but I traded away my Father’s Day and Birthday presents for it. I would have got the discontinued version (what I have now) if they had my size.
@Guideboatguy said:
Anyone who paddles early-season and winter whitewater as much as you do will probably eventually wish he had two drysuits anyway, when one of them needs repair. I guess that time has come.
I am going to get my old one fixed as well - as you say, it will be nice to have a spare, especially when I need a tandem partner in the winter.
eck I definately feel your pain, killed two drysuit zippers myself. What got me last time was putting the suit on with the zipper not all the way open and of course tried to fix it myself and only made it worse. Still sitting in a box waiting to shipped out for repairs, so thanks for the rainy pass link. Love drysuits but they are problematic, usually take a spare to the put in with me. Right now my palm semi dry suit is delaminating and prone to zipper separation but I still use it on shoulder seasons. I think of it more as a semi wet suit. My kokatat is holding up well, but yet it seems to get a little damper everytime I use it, My stohlquist needs a zipper replacement, my mythic is too large and baggy but I can fold everything in and make it work, I botched putting in a new gasket on my level six dry top, My old helly hanson plastic drysuit died years ago, trying to use a coat hanger and the car mirror to rear zip it for a solo upper gauley run. I’ve got more money in clothing and drysuits than I do in boats. The price you pay for boating all year.
@Rookie said:
Glad it worked out. Not a bad price, but long time to wait for a repair when the water’s cold.
It is a long to to wait, and some of the best paddling is in April. I could wear my wetsuit and splash top, but it is pretty cold if you swim, which I do on occasion. So, my new NRS Extreme Dry suit ships out today.
It took a little negotiating, but I traded away my Father’s Day and Birthday presents for it. I would have got the discontinued version (what I have now) if they had my size.
@Guideboatguy said:
Anyone who paddles early-season and winter whitewater as much as you do will probably eventually wish he had two drysuits anyway, when one of them needs repair. I guess that time has come.
I am going to get my old one fixed as well - as you say, it will be nice to have a spare, especially when I need a tandem partner in the winter.
Maybe she will forget the negotiation by the time those events occur.
Fat chance!
Had an NRS suit that I “packed” too aggressively and messed up the zipper. Had to use pliers to extricate myself after a paddle.
Upgraded to a Palm which started to delaminate and was replaced under warranty. Sold the new Palm drysuit and got a Kokatat expedition suit. Found I could slip into both sleeves on the expedition pretty quickly, but in doing so put a little pressure on the zipper. Zipper stop tore, and the plastic zipper bottom started to separate. Sent back to Kokatat and repaired under warranty for the s&h and a pressure test.
I’m now much more careful with the zipper.
For me, it seems to be the zipper that always fails, for others it seems to be gaskets. This will be my 4th drysuit in about 12 years. The first lasted about 4 years when the zipper failed. NRS replaced it under warranty. The replacement lasted less than a year, and NRS wouldn’t replace it again, so I bought a replacement. That is the one that just failed, so it is about 7 years old. I went back and counted and I have done around 200 trips in October through March (typical drysuit season) during those 7 years, so the drysuit cost me around $4 a paddle. Small price to pay for being safe.
