A few questions about adding pockets to a wetsuit.

[a4lod]

I am planning on adding two thigh pockets to my wetsuit. Before doing so, I have a few questions that I hope to have answered.
1. What type of glue should I use?
2. Should the pockets be made of neoprene or synthetic fabric (the material BC's are made from)?
3. Is it better to glue the pocket directly on the wetsuit or should I sew it onto a patch (probably neoprene) and then glue that to the wetsuit?
4. What is a good size for a pocket? I would like them to be be DIR and so they will need to fit my wetnotes, sheers, a couple of spools etc.
5. Is it DIR to have the pockets close with velcro or is a zipper okay?
6. Does anyone know where I might be able to find a pattern for a zipper?
If anyone can answer any of these questions or provide any other useful information, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Wendy]

You can buy pockets from FifthD or Extreme Exposure. Also Dive Rite makes a thigh pocket and after you remove the velcro leg strap and harness attachment it is a good pocket for a wetsuit. Also with the dive rite pocket you will need to add side gromments, but you can buy a gromment kit at the hardware or marine supply store.

I didn't glue mine. I've seen some that have been glued and they looked awful. I sewed mine. I hand stitched it. I think this is how my friends did it as well.

First put on your wetsuit and mark where you want the pocket. A good place if you are trying to be DIR is on the outer thigh, so its in your slip stream in line with your shoulders, so that the pocket doesn't create any excess drag.

You can glue it and then reinforce it by sewing. Just get some neoprene glue should work.

 

[Paco]

Do you sew through the neoprene or blind stitch (I think that's what it's called when the needle doesn't go all the way through)?

I'd also guess you'd need to be careful about the thread type -- nylon?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Most of the strenght in the wet suit is in the fabric (lycra on most suits) and you really don't gain much by sewing all the way through - you just get more leaks.

I have not sewed a pocket onto a wet suit but I have repaired numerous seams over the years. Trident markets a neoprene cement that works well. As for thread, I normally use a nylon upholstry thread and you should be able to find it in several colors at Wal-mart. A curved needle is much easier to blind stitch with than a straight one and you will get much better control regarding depth of the stitches.

Zippers can be found in various lenghts. You want a non-detachable zipper with as teeth as large as possible. The large plastic YKK zippers work well and can be shortened to any lenght required by cutting to lenght plus what ever is needed to secure the ends, removing a few teeth from the section to be secured and adding a pair of crimp on zipper stops at the desired end point.

One thing to consider with a thigh mounted pocket is that, depending on your leg size versus the suit size, there can be a substantial amount of stretch in the area. You want to allow for this by ensuring the pocket will stretch as well. Sewing the pocket by the edges is preferable to gluing on a pocket with a back on it. The constant stretching has a tendency to do bad things to the glued surfaces over time.

 

[Dryglove]

http://fifthd.com/cgi-bin/merchant2...5AG&Product_Code=Xshort&Category_Code=01-5DSI