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My wetsuit has a seam that's come undone. Is it easy enough to home repair of should I get it done professionally? If home how? Tape ? etc
I've had a similar problemwith a wetsuit and I 'needed' it the next day. Repaired it with Black Witch glue (added 4 layers in about 4 hours). At best I thought it would be a temporary fix, but it lasted longer than the wetsuit.
This stuff works really well. www.oceanearthstore.com/surf-accessories/ultimate-wetsuit-repair-kit/
Glue the seam with the seal cement. Patch over it with the iron on patch. Good as new.
Follow the instructions fairly closely. It's easy to do.
With the iron on patch you need to have the iron at the right temperature. It is easy to start cooler and keep raising the temperature until the patch welds into place. It's really obvious when it's done right.
The seal cement has two advantages compared to other glues.
1. It paints on fairly neatly using the supplied brush. The others stick to everything in sight and make a mess. (You can rub the excess off the brush when it dries and use it again.)
2. You can close the tube and use it again and again until it is finished. It doesn't go off in the tube (well mine hasn't yet).
You can buy the kit at most surf shops, or you can order the components from McNett who make it.
If you decide not to fix it yourself, these guys are just over in Blacksmiths and did a great job on one of my suits:
wetsuitrepairxperts.com/
From their website looks like that repair is $35 (ie same price as the repair kit)
I have always had good results from NeoRez with gluing thr seam, then gluing on some cloth and then more glue spread over.
Better than a "pro" repair from a BIG wettie company that had to be done twice and still splits.....
I say spend the $20 on neorez or similar....
Sikaflex 227. It comes in black or white and is about $16 from Bunnings (or local hardware store). Buy some throw away gloves too as you don't want this on your skin as it will have to wear off your skin. Use your finger to smear it on and you can clean up with mineral turps. It hardens but remains rubberized. Also great to repair boom grip if you take a chunk out. If you take your time and be careful you can do a pretty good job with this stuff and it even sands back on your boom. It truly is a wonderful product for repairing anything rubber (just ask my thongs which are about 10 years only now and still hanging together with this stuff). Hope this helps.
Cheers
Marty
I just use any contact glue I can find...
Something like that but in small tube:www.bunnings.com.au/our-range
Thanks everyone. Will chase some of them up.I've been ignoring it and it's getting bigger.
Maybe I need to use that thinking more..
