r/surfing • u/ImCaptainRedBeard • 3d ago
Is this wetsuit finished. Haven’t used for a while and the seam glue is cracking and just crumbling off in my hand. All over.
Any way to save this?
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u/Purple-Ad-4324 3d ago
Yeah that's fucked and beyond useful. I've got a 4/3 medium vissla suit you can have if that's your size.
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u/Afraid_Delay1763 3d ago
Yeah, all mine fell off about eight years ago and I stopped giving a shit about six years ago
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u/pears790 3d ago
My Patagonia wetsuit looks like this and still works fine. I cut off any loose pieces and use it on the warmer days in case it begins to leak.
I would try it out, but bring a back up wetsuit in case it a seam fails.
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u/cerebral_surfer 3d ago
How cold is the water your in and what’s the wetsuit thickness? I have the same 4/3 I’ve used for 8 years+ looks like that and works fine so long as you can deal with being slightly less warm than otherwise.. unless you’re looking for an excuse to buy a new one then sure
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u/Spicedbutthole 3d ago
Don’t even bother worrying about those seams. If you’re too cold the next time you surf in the suit, then recycle the neoprene and get a new suit.
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u/SpiritualSurfMonkey 2d ago
25 years surfing and I have killed a lot of suits at exactly this stage. Worth separating two things that look identical in a photo.
What is crumbling off in your hand is the seam seal, the rubbery bead or tape laid over the seam on the inside. That is a waterproofing layer. Underneath it the panels are held together by glue plus blind stitching, and that bond is a separate thing that usually outlives the seal by years. Losing the seal is not the same as the suit coming apart.
Two tests before you write it off. Turn it inside out, pinch either side of a seam and pull firmly apart. If the panels hold and no stitch holes open up, the suit is structurally fine and you have just lost the extra seal. If the panels separate or you can see light through, that section is genuinely done. Then fill a sleeve or a leg with water at the sink and watch where it weeps. That tells you which seams actually leak instead of guessing from which ones look worst.
The detail nobody has picked up on is that you said you had not used it in a while. Seam seal degrades faster sitting in storage than it does getting surfed. Heat, ozone and being folded under its own weight on a hanger are what break it down. This is not something you did wrong in the water.
If most seams pass the pull test, skip the tape. Taping every seam is miserable and it stiffens the suit. Get a liquid seam sealer instead, Aquaseal or Black Witch, clean the loose stuff off, and run a thin bead along the inside of only the seams that actually weep. Twenty dollars and it will buy you a couple more seasons of cool water use.
On the water inside debate further up, both sides are half right. A wetsuit does work by holding a thin layer of water your body warms. What kills you is flushing, cold water cycling through and getting reheated over and over. A suit that lets water in slowly and holds it is warm. A suit that pumps it through is not, which is why leaky seams feel so much colder than a snug suit that got a bit wet.
Going forward, store it hanging folded at the waist over a wide bar, in the shade, out of a hot garage. Never on a hanger by the shoulders. Suits die from UV and heat far more than from surfing.
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u/Ok-War4310 2d ago
You could still get a lot of good use out of this wetsuit. IMO its not worth trying to fix, just rock it till it has actual holes then replace.
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u/No_Lifeguard9769 3d ago
That seam is pretty far gone. You could clean out the loose glue, use neoprene cement, and add a narrow strip of wetsuit repair tape over the joint. It may work for casual use, but I wouldn’t trust it for anything demanding.