Fishing Forum

Does anyone know of a wader repair service out there. I have several pair of Caddis breathable where the leak in in the neoprene bootie, but for the life of me, I can't stop them.  Thinking maybe the neoprene has simply lost its integrity.  I hate buying new waders when the uppers have no issue whatsoever!  Any thoughts or am I simply relegated to buying a new pair...or accepting that my feet will be wet?

Fill the feet with water, observe where the water leaks out, mark the leaks with permanent marker. Then dry them completely. Use aqua seal and cover the leaking areas with 1/2 inch overlap with a uniform thin layer. Unless the entire foot area is leaking, you should be able to isolate and stop the leaks. Years ago I replaced the entire feet on a pair of waders using Aqua seal and I used those waders for several more years. Good luck
Mildog out

(03-02-2021, 02:37 PM)Mildog Wrote: [ -> ]Fill the feet with water, observe where the water leaks out, mark the leaks with permanent marker. Then dry them completely. Use aqua seal and cover the leaking areas with 1/2 inch overlap with a uniform thin layer. Unless the entire foot area is leaking, you should be able to isolate and stop the leaks. Years ago I replaced the entire feet on a pair of waders using Aqua seal and I used those waders for several more years. Good luck
Mildog out

Thanks for the tip.  I will give it a try and see how it works out.

You've had some good tips on finding the leaks and marking them with a sharpie.  

One thing I've found is the leaks in the neoprene feet are the hardest ones to find and the best way I found to find those little weepers is to fill the leg up to about the knee area with water and then kind of raise and lower the wader so the neoprene stretches and contracts.  Do this several times and then wait and watch for awhile.  Sometimes it takes awhile before the water starts to seep through.  Focus mostly on the taped seams where the booty attaches to the wader and the ones down the heal. 
 
I have had so many leaks over the years that made up a short piece of hose to use for leak testing.   

(03-02-2021, 01:36 PM)MWScott72 Wrote: [ -> ]Does anyone know of a wader repair service out there. I have several pair of Caddis breathable where the leak in in the neoprene bootie, but for the life of me, I can't stop them.  Thinking maybe the neoprene has simply lost its integrity.  I hate buying new waders when the uppers have no issue whatsoever!  Any thoughts or am I simply relegated to buying a new pair...or accepting that my feet will be wet?

Be careful as to how much water you put in the foot as you can blow out the seams.

(03-02-2021, 01:36 PM)MWScott72 Wrote: [ -> ]Does anyone know of a wader repair service out there. I have several pair of Caddis breathable where the leak in in the neoprene bootie, but for the life of me, I can't stop them.  Thinking maybe the neoprene has simply lost its integrity.  I hate buying new waders when the uppers have no issue whatsoever!  Any thoughts or am I simply relegated to buying a new pair...or accepting that my feet will be wet?

Just a thought... I had a leak in both neoprene sock areas of my breathable waders and could not locate the source... and water was streaming in pretty good, so I was expecting to find an actual hole somewhere. Nothing. Kept leaking (bad).

Searched around on-line and found that the most common source of leaks in the neoprene area is right where the tip of the toenail on your big toe is located. Almost always an issue with tight-fitting boots and/or long toenails. It actually wears/crushes the neoprene within and shows no signs of damage on the outside of either surface.

Feel around that area on your neoprene... if it feel like there's a hollowed out section around there... bingo, leak found.

I did this and found it to be the issue on both feet (toenails clipped short, but tight boots)... I packed the softened areas (on the outside) with a copious amount of AQUASEAL... let it dry for 24 hrs... and both leaks stopped completely. This was about 4 years ago. Still using them regularly without issue.