How to Repair a Wesuit

 

This tutorial may be overkill and I am sure others have their own methods to repair a suit. This method works for me and holds up really well.

 

*Note - Many wetsuits companies have warranties, so check with your company first. Why repair something that they will do for free? Seams are usually lifetime and other materials are one year. Be sure to have or save your receipt.

 

1. The first thing you need to do is to get the materials.

 

Materials:

 

1. Wetsuit Glue - Aqua Seal or Marine Goop <$10

2. Fishing Line or some type of thick thread. <$10

3. Iron On Patches. <$10

 

As you can see, this should be very inexpensive. And, once you buy these materials, they can last for several repairs.

 

Here is a great website that has all of the required equipment

 

Neoprene Repair

 

Here are some pics of the materials:

 

Marine Goop - Is a glue that sticks to the suit.

 

 

Iron Mend - This is an iron on wetsuit patch.

 

 

2. clean the wetsuit. Take it in the shower and clean it really good. Do not be afraid to use a little soap either.

 

3. Once you have all of the materials, the first thing you need to do is to sew the hole/seam/tear. Make sure to sew it nice and tight. You cant really see too well in the picture below because the glue is covering the tear up.

 

4. After the hole is closed, you need to glue it. Put glue on both sides generously. This will probably take 24 hours. You will want to glue one side, let it dry, then glue the other. This glue is amazing and really helps hold it shut.

 

 

5. This is the last and final step. You need to iron on the patch. Be careful and keep it on a low iron setting. I found that I had to put my iron on a medium settings and could keep it on the suit for 5-10 seconds. At one point I started to burn the rubber and quickly took it off with no damage, I just could tell it was at its limit. Be careful. I ended up using the tip of the iron and ironing just the patch slowly until it was on. Directions say to use a piece of paper in between the iron and patch, but this did not work too well for me as the patch would not get hot enough, and I have a high quality iron.

 

Here are some pics of the patch on: