Sewing your wet suit

[upthechain]

Has anyone successfully sewn their wet suit or even tried? My wife is going to replace the zipper in mine. I am just fishing for tips.

I stood on the banks of the river and pulled my zipper clear off. Apparently if there are teeth missing the zipper contraption comes off.
The dive shop has a three week turn around and a $75.00 price (half of what I paid for the suit.).I will be at the ocean in two weeks so I ordered a #10 plastic zipper from Steves zipper web site and now I wait and contemplate the installation process.

If anyone has any tips on thread type or technique tips that would be sweet.

Thanks, Matt

 

[spectrum]

Use nylon upolstry thread and a hooked needle so you can blind stitch without penetrating through the material.

Pete

 

[upthechain]

Thanks for the post.

 

[Randy43068]

make sure you take it off first.

 

[mike_s]

Has anyone successfully sewn their wet suit or even tried? My wife is going to replace the zipper in mine. I am just fishing for tips.

I stood on the banks of the river and pulled my zipper clear off. Apparently if there are teeth missing the zipper contraption comes off.
The dive shop has a three week turn around and a $75.00 price (half of what I paid for the suit.).I will be at the ocean in two weeks so I ordered a #10 plastic zipper from Steves zipper web site and now I wait and contemplate the installation process.

If anyone has any tips on thread type or technique tips that would be sweet.

Thanks, Matt

go find an upholstry shop and see what'd they'd replace it for you.

they are better suited to sew thicker material.



I doubt you'll want to hand sew a long zipper like that in.

 

[upthechain]

Take it off. That would have made all the difference in the world. Ah next time a little wiser.

 

[HBO MD]

I was told that terrapin wetsuits do a very good job of repairs and alterations.

 

[qrpc]

I turned a 3mm wetsuit hood into a drysuit hood by cutting off the neck flap and sewing a hem on it. A normal non-industrial machine had no problem with a double thickness of 3mm neoprene.

For the zipper I'd use upolstry thread or button thread and run two lines of stitching down the tape.

Although it's probably not necessary for a zipper, if the end result needs to be stretchy, you need to sew like you are sewing elastic and stretch the material as you feed it into the machine.

 

[paddler3d]

I haven't ever repaired any of my wetsuit by sewing them. After all, it was the sewing that failed in the first place.

What I have done successfully a few times is I have used Neoprene Cement and glued the neoprene back together.

I simply clean up the edges of the two pieces to be joined. Apply the cement, let it dry, and then butt joint the two pieces together. A bit of talc prevents any further sticking.

My oldest repair is going on 4 years.

 

[Dr Neil]

I've done a little sewing with neoprene. I glued the seams and zipper first. I use a sewing awl so I wouldn't pull the thread too tightly.