Washington Fly Fishing Forum banner

Big hole in waders

2 reading
14K views 49 replies 23 participants last post by  GOTY  
#1 ·
I got a hole about the size of a quarter in my waders. Any way to repair this or am I screwed?
Its right above the foot so not in a high stretch area and is basically a perfect circle so I can't just aquaseal it

I dont care how it looks just don't want it to leak
 
#7 ·
And here I thought you were asking about wearing waders in the Big Hole. After the Bacon teaser, I'm seriously considering pulling the ignore lever on you :D.

OK, now to your question. If they are Simms, call them and they'll send you an RO# to ship them back for repair or replacement. I had torn a flap in my first pair of Headwaters which were a couple years old and they opted to just send me a brand new pair. If their not Simms, why not? (just kidding). You can try the patch material along with the UV cure Aquaseal product and likely have success... I did on a few previous waders which were made by Hodgeman. I would recommend letting them dry completely before doing the repair.

Good luck.
 
#10 ·
Years ago, my wife put my waders out it the garage and a mouse ate a hole in the waders just above the waste. I used neoprene and silicone to patch the hole. It looks awful but they haven't leaked in over 15 years. If you are using breathable waders instead of neoprene, I would consider using a piece of pack cloth or Cordura (or similar fabric) and glue it to the inside of the wader with aqua seal and after it is dried, then on the outside of the wader put a layer of aqua seal over the pack cloth with about an inch overlap and then put another layer of fabric over that. The sandwich should make a water tight patch.

Another option would be to use tear-aid with a layer on each side of the wader.

After you find a solution---please post it, I am certain many would like to hear about your success.
 
#15 ·
Years ago, my wife put my waders out it the garage and a mouse ate a hole in the waders just above the waste. I used neoprene and silicone to patch the hole. It looks awful but they haven't leaked in over 15 years. If you are using breathable waders instead of neoprene, I would consider using a piece of pack cloth or Cordura (or similar fabric) and glue it to the inside of the wader with aqua seal and after it is dried, then on the outside of the wader put a layer of aqua seal over the pack cloth with about an inch overlap and then put another layer of fabric over that. The sandwich should make a water tight patch.

Another option would be to use tear-aid with a layer on each side of the wader.

After you find a solution---please post it, I am certain many would like to hear about your success.
Thanks this was helpful
 
#11 ·
That bacon thread was awesome!

Thanks for the replies everyone. My waders are orvis and there's no way any kind of warranty will cover a hole that was clearly burnt haha.

They came with this repair tape stuff that is super sticky and clear...could I use this as a patch on the insside, then aqua seal over it? I'm just worried this hole is too big and needs something better than this tape + aquaseal. On the bright side I could put like 5 layers of aquaseal and the stiffness won't bother me since this section is basically on my shin

Image


Image
 
#14 ·
Gore-tex Patch material would be my first suggestion.
The clear tear aid would be next.
Barring both being available, find a piece of vinyl or some other thin yet water impermeable material.

Patch should have adequate overlap of damaged edges on both sides. Clean the char up and trim to good material if you can.

Hell, a well placed multilayer duct tape patch may fix your problem if you have no other options, there are better materials though.
 
#18 ·
G-man44,

Back in days gone by we used to just use a piece of J & J waterproof first aid tape. Inside and out. It's white and looks ugly, but it lasted a long time between replacement. Why are you making this so hard?

Sg
 
#20 ·
G-man44,

Back in days gone by we used to just use a piece of J & J waterproof first aid tape. Inside and out. It's white and looks ugly, but it lasted a long time between replacement. Why are you making this so hard?

Sg
Thanks salmo. I'm not trying to make it hard, just pissed at myself cuz of how fucking stupid I was. Its my first pair of waders and I've never had to repair them so just want to make sure I do it right
 
#24 ·
Do a temporary fix then take or send them to Rainy Pass Repair in Seattle. They will repair all kinds of outdoor gear and clothing and are an authorized GoreTex repair facility. You can even request a quote on their website so you'll know the approx. cost.

http://rainypass.com/
Never heard of them... good to know since just about every damn thing most of us own these days is GoreTex or like material.
 
#26 ·
Simms sells a repair kit with the adhesive you need and a couple of large pieces of breathable repair material. I think one side would be enough. Use your scissors and carefully cut out the damaged material so you have nice clean undamaged surfaces to glue. Clean with a little rubbing alcohol and let dry. Glue both surfaces and put wax paper on the surfaces and weight them with a stack of books.
My advice don't try a temporary fix. Do it right the first time, because all the temporary glue, etc will just make it harder when you fix them right.
jesse
 
#29 ·
Yea it had 1 star out of 5 with a good # of votes with most comments being about the kit being designed for pinhole leaks, not a big hole like what I have.

I went with using those stickers on each side and in a few minutes ill aquaseal the final patch on the outside. Ill post pics when done
 
#31 ·
Quick update: Pretty sure they are fixed...testing them out tomorrow and we will know for sure. Hopefully this post can help someone else in the future who is dumb enough to do what I did. Thanks for the help bro chachos, saved me $150

Step 1) Turned them inside out, cleaned the area w/ rubbing alcohol, and put on one of those patch stickers from the Orvis repair kit. Aquasealed the edge of the sticker and let it sit for 8 hours.

Image


Step 2: flip them and put a sticker on the outside, just as before, and aquaseal it.

Image


Step 3: Put a patch over the outside sticker to add durability. Cut this from a pair of $30 clip-on boot waders. Aquasealed the bottom of the patch to act like a glue, then aquasealed the edges.

Image


Basically now there are 3 layers of waterproofed material instead of a hole, and the outermost layer is a durable wader material mainly to protect the stickers/inside patches. Sure its ugly but the last thing I care about is how I look when fishing. Also this was easy as hell, popping a hole in your waders is not nearly as bad as I thought it was originally.