Just finished a few. Seams, tears, zippers etc
Happy New Year!

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spindrift

I should get a decent repair to the collar of my much-liked Volte 3/2 backzip.

What do you need done? Send some pics.
Do you still have thin suits you'll scrap for neoprene? Also, the o'neill 4/3mm?

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spindrift

Outside looks good, inside, for whatever reason, I went overboard with the rubber cement. Back zip. Volte.

I've got the O'Neill 4 mm 2xls and several 2 mms not worth keeping.

I can put nice soft 1 or 2mm neoprene seam patches over that ezdz. Definitely smoothe it out, that looks like a chafe monster, especially on the neck. And I'll clean and seal any other areas on suit

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spindrift

Bump! He just finished mine and it was great to not have to buy a new one!!

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"If you love NY, take I-95 north"

That's a fine offer. I think everything else is in good shape.

PM sent

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"The truth is incontrovertible.
malice may attack it,
ignorance may deride it,
but in the end,
there it is." -Sir Winston Churchill

Hey FS: thanks for the bump, bro'. Enjoyed meeting you, I look forward to seeing folks again in the water when I finally get my hip fixed

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spindrift

Can you alter a suit? I have a full that fits me in length and shoulders but the legs are made for massive thighs/knees for a fat guy I guess (2XXL), can the excess material on the leg seam be removed and re-glued?

Hmmm, that's a tough one. I have done it on my own suits, but if it's done wrong its a major malfunction. It would need to be blind stitched to do properly....i can ask my seamstress, but it would be expensive. What brand, model, thickness of suit?

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spindrift

Got a couple more done, smoothed out that ugly spot for ww, nice smooth patch over both sides. And Thanks for the work and your generosity towards my neoprene materials fund sir.

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spindrift

Interior side of collar repair

Exterior. The repair is unavoidably stiffer than the soft original but the surfaces are soft and wearable where my own crude repair wasn't. I expect them to look cleaner after a few uses and rinsings. /the bits of white stuff do not affect the feel.

I've been out of the water with a painful scrape on one foot and a tiny ulcer on a toe. So my favorite wetsuit is back in service. It's allegedly a 3/2, but Volte suits were very lightweight, and I use it like others' 2/2. I wish they were still selling in the US. For a while, they were doing very well. One of mine was a nice sale item at Jack's in Newport Beach.

Edited: 01/23/2023 at 09:40 PM by ww

Did a nice job on my matuse, hoping for many more years of use.


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"The truth is incontrovertible.
malice may attack it,
ignorance may deride it,
but in the end,
there it is." -Sir Winston Churchill

Thanks WG for the kind words.
And ww: of course any glued on patch will be somewhat less soft and supple than the original suit material.
I thought compared to the original repair which was like shoe leather, it was quite an improvement. I went to great lengths to make sure it would be smooth and non chafing.
I satisfaction guarantee all work I do, and will quickly and gladly refund your payment

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spindrift

spindrift, I intended my comment to be complimentary, so I've revised. I was preoccupied with getting decent photos. Wetsuits are about as photogenic as black Labrador Retrievers, and the repair was probably even worse. The discolorations caused by bits of glue show up better in the images than in life, and the slightly discolored areas are as smooth as the rest of the patch.

It did not help that painful feet kept me sitting around the house for a week, so didn't get the suit wet. I think the CVS "clear Advanced Healing hydrocolloid bandages" helped heal what was turning into a miniature ulcer, a little crater on my toe.

Edited: 01/23/2023 at 09:57 PM by ww

Yoooo!! Think you could repair a zipper on a golf bag?? I attached the pic. It's the pocket that holds all the balls. Not a wetsuit but figured I'd ask and keep it in the 2ndL family. Text me if possible 321-544-One two zero three.

Edited: 01/24/2023 at 11:32 AM by TATTOO74

Thank you for the kind clarification ww, I put a lot of work making sure that was as supple and non chafing as I could. Nothing worse than a seam chewing holes in you while surfing. Sorry it's a bit ugly though.
Sorry about your foot, I got some persistent crud on my legs from doing kayak tours on the river. Look forward to more of your photos and intelligent commentaries.
Does the golf bag need a slider?

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spindrift

I found a replacement, thanks for checking!

I wore mine after repair the other day.
Very nice, could be new 'cept for the waxed ass,

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"The truth is incontrovertible.
malice may attack it,
ignorance may deride it,
but in the end,
there it is." -Sir Winston Churchill

Thanks for the kind review, WG! Definitely took extra care to keep the new seam tape around the neck soft and comfy.
I'm doing neoprene dive suits these days as well, if anyone needs, thanks!

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spindrift

I've had the repaired Volte suit out on cool mornings. The neck repair is not noticeable. Just an entirely smooth neck, as good as my newest wetsuit.

I need to have a wetsuit top repaired. The inside of the wrist area is all torn up from wearing a watch underneath. I'm leaving town today so I'd love if you could fix it for me while I'm gone! Give me a text or call at 9546675424

Wore a shorty to the beach this morning. Old one. Coming back to town, I noticed bits of rubber all over the car seat. The seam-covering stuff is failing, as it did on a nice old Quiksilver. Interesting what you find doing cool-morning late-season equipment checks.

Ditto. An O'niell Mutant 4:3 The flat, black, rubber-like stuff covering the seams on the entire thing (inside and outside) is cracking and flaking off. It's a GREAT suit! I don't have coin for gear like that... My Bro gave it to me. I really like the suit and remembered someone on here used to work for O'niell (I think) and repaired suits. Haven't been on here in ages and my email from time of sign up is defunct. (I couldn't find a contact for 2ndlight - maybe it's on here somewhere...) So... no way to reset password. Without it, my potential wetsuit repair was thwarted. Dead End. Brick Wall. Shut Down. Skunked. Anyway... I had no recourse other than perform the so-unlikely-that-it-would-be-incredible-to-bordering-on-Miraculous memory feat of recalling the original password (I have since lost it) from like...?!??? Uhhhhh. Somehow... after some serious synaptic stretching, I pulled it out for the WIN! Or... Maybe not. Can you fix it spindrift? `'"~

Weird. I opened the image, copied its 2ndlight address, then copied that into the "image" window, the little frame between underlined U and http. Even simpler, just copy the address and put into the frame. I have a Mutant. It's great.

Edited: 10/24/2023 at 10:45 PM by ww

Hi JonEB, yeah, I can fix that. I scrape the old yuk off, then seam tape where it needs it.
I'll have to see how much it needs to price it, maybe $50ish
Send a pm with your contact info. Thanks

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spindrift

My neck is 16.5. Otherwise well-fitting wetsuits seem to be built for 16 or a bit less A Buell chest zip is about 12". Of course it's expected to stretch, but this was reminding me of losss of circulation to the brain from wearing neckties. Modification might be a good idea.

The buells you showed me were not worth the struggle for my fat ass to squeeze into.
But, if someone out there needs a coupla reeeally nice chest zip , xls and super soft suits at a great price.
Those super nice dakine no zips kinda same drill, super soft, super nice, but an ordeeal to get on....without a wardrobe assistant.
I might put a zipper into that mondo 6/3.
Anybody's interested in these, let me or ww know.

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spindrift

I put the closet in the water during this week's cool spell. Best performers are my two (expensive) Feral backzips, which remain well-fitting, un-leaky, and no water balloons at the ankles despite losing about 30 pounds. A stray Patagonia that had been a clearance item at Cleanline in Oregon (and an aspirational fit) now comes on and off easily and has a great zipper. 3.5/3 chest zip hooded. Compared to Feral, I do not appreciate Patagonia's fuzzy carpet-style lining, which makes it heavy when wet. I need to do a comparative drying test, but I bet the Ferals do it better than most. I think DaKine is working diligently on wetsuits, but like most others, it's using a lot of inside fur. I'll be happy to get that bunch of DaKine (mostly XXLS) and Buell (XLS--in their size system, take a look at their size chart, where their XLS is a bit more like others' XXLS and LS like XLS) into someone's possession. Can ship. Not really sellable, so the purpose is to find new homes. Feral is a tiny San Francisco company I heard of them because they sponsored a program at Florida Surf Film Festival, and made a good impression.

Baby it's cold outside......fix that suit!
Fresh materials, just cranked out a big batch.
Starts at $35.....get another season out of that favorite.....
holey rubber steamer

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spindrift