Gluing Pockets

[JBFG]

So apparently i'm getting a 3mm suit as a bday present.
I have this pocket laying around in the basement:
TSP-1 - IST Sports
I hate hate hate the straps.
I'm thinking about gluing it to the 3mm. The pocket is not made of neoprene but of 1680D PU-coated nylon.
Straps would be removed.

Is this doable? What should I use to glue it in place?
Before someone says it, I'm not interested in buying the shorts.

Thanx!

 

[decompression]

As a test, pick up some 3mm neoprene.....cut to fit the pocket. Glue the neoprene to the pocket. If it holds great, now you can glue neoprene to neoprene.

 

[Stoo]

Aquaseal. I stuck a pocket on my suit 3 years ago and it's solid. It's a travel suit but gets lots of use...Aquaseal

 

[JBFG]

thanx.
@Stoo: was your pocket made of noeprene? I'm just wondering if the nylon would bond well with aquaseal.

 

[JBFG]

As a test, pick up some 3mm neoprene.....cut to fit the pocket. Glue the neoprene to the pocket. If it holds great, now you can glue neoprene to neoprene.

I like that idea, except i'm not sure if I can find some scrap 3mm here. and I certainly don't want to buy a suit just to cut it off.

 

[Stoo]

thanx.
@Stoo: was your pocket made of noeprene? I'm just wondering if the nylon would bond well with aquaseal.

Partly, but Aquaseal works really well on fabrics... You might rough up both the suit and the pocket with some course sandpaper first. It's commonly used for patching nylon/neoprene and tri-lam drysuits in these parts.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Getting it to stick is not going to be a problem. Getting it to stretch when it's on your leg is. The lack of a neoprene back means that the suit will not be able to stretch where the pocket is. That could be uncomfortable at best and possibly ruin the suit at the worst since there will be stress points where there should not be. You might even be able to cause a seam to fail. The pockets I sell and have used on four of my own suits and several customer suits stretch thanks to the neoprene backing they have.
And fer chrissakes don't take sandpaper to the neoprene of a wet suit. Use it on the pocket and you stand a very good chance of severing the threads in the fabric so when you go to stuff something in there it will fail. I can't imagine that nylon is very durable to that kind of abrasion.

 

[JBFG]

Thanx Jim as always. I was not going to use sand paper.
Hmmmm now I'm rethinking this. Maybe I should try and get some 3mm and glue that back like Jay mentioned

 

[Stoo]

Thanx Jim as always. I was not going to use sand paper.
Hmmmm now I'm rethinking this. Maybe I should try and get some 3mm and glue that back like Jay mentioned

Geez you guys make this little project sound like brain surgery! ;-)

All I can tell you is that I did exactly what I said three years ago and the pocket is 100% solid. As Jim mentioned I do notice a little bit of pulling because the pocket isn't as flexible as the suit is. I keep a wet diopter in that pocket so I'm in and out of it constantly during a dive and never had any issues with it.

Regarding the sanding, I'm not suggesting taking a grinder to the suit! In my case the back of the pocket had some kind of coating on it so I roughed that up a bit and very lightly did the same to the suit where I was going to glue it. I certainly didn't sand over any threads because that would be stupid!

Once that was done, I ran a bead of Aquaseal around the edge of the pocket and then a few dabs on the back of it, placed it on the suit, sat a couple of books on it overnight and it's been bombproof. Just make sure you mark the position while you're wearing the suit before you start gluing anything. Once that glue is dry, it won't come off again without making a mess.

Worst case is it doesn't stick well and you would notice that with a corner lifting or something. I can't see that happening, but if it does you would just be able to pull the pocket back off again and go to Plan B whatever that is.

Anyway that's my two cents worth!