Wetsuite Repair

The thing about contact cement is that you have to keep the pieces separate until the cement dries, so if you've already stitched it and don't want to undo that work, you are probably going to be better off with an aquaseal like product. Unless what you intend to do is put a patch over the seam, contact cement would be perfect for that.

 

Hooded rashie in NJ? Bro. Your ear canal bones must be fused and I bet the hair on your head was scorched right off by the cold. Holy crap bro. That's like going hoodless in the winter. Bro, do you even duck dive?

 

This stuff is even better if you stitch the hole with braid fishing line then put the adhesive. best thing about this is it cures in 5-10 min with a hairdryer and its stretchy like a wetsuite but strong, if you try to tear it even without stitching the wetsuite will tear where the adhesive is not located.

 

If I'm understanding right, you have a split seam and not really a hole? I probably wouldn't use a patch, I would just coat the repair you've done in aquaseal. Or if you're feeling cheap and adventurous, I've think I've heard of using Plasti-Dip instead (no promises on that one).

 

Or this instead of Aquaseal, sounds better

 

When I was about 22 I did the whole winter in a 4/3 with a chinstrap hood. On the coldest day of the winter on one of the coldest winters we had- water 39/ air -2, I surfed well into hypothermic hallucination. After the 2nd hour I thought I was warming up. Good thing my house was in view of the break at that time cause when I got home my neighbor had to open my front door for me. then I sat in my living room wrapped in blankets with the heat on high looking purple for like 2 hours. Im still not right from it. Be careful hypothermia is sneaky and when the adrenaline is pumping its even sneakier.

 

Have noted several times to people that liquid seams look just like P-dip. I've used that stuff a lot in construction projects and on my vehicles to refresh rubber moldings. I would think it has immense applications to these cases. Thanks for the reminder.

 

Dudeski JUST use the adhesive - get the rubber cement /contact cement kind. It will hold without stiching or a patch. I have never had any kind of success with that iron on patch, except that the iron could/will ruin your suite.

 

Duct tape and shoe goo is a good age old fix. Sewing it with dental floss with a thing layer of shoe goo covering it is a solid fix as well. Depends on how bad it is. Patching it with a piece of old wetsuit can do the trick. Be careful using shoe goo on the inside cause if its not smooth it will annoy your skin. It can be uncomfortable in some spots, like your under arms or neck. Good luck. I dont buy new suits till mine looks like one of grand ma's old quilts and is pretty much falling apart.

 

This is an interesting topic for me because I try to suck ever bit of life out of a wetsuit. Instead of dental floss sewing I've used fishing line and neoprene cement. You actually know the strength of the fishing line because it's printed right on the label. I'm assuming you could also use one of the those new braid lines which has much more strength to diameter ratio.