As the great Norman Maclean wrote, “Eventually, all things merge into one, . . . and then your waders leak.” Or something like that. As Tom Rosenbauer explains in this helpful video, if you use them enough, your waders will get poked, scratched, abraded, or even cut, allowing water in. A soaked sock or pant leg can ruin a day of fishing, especially when the water and/or the air is cold.
So how do you fix a hole in your waders? Tom demonstrates two different methods for detecting the location of the leak, and then shows you how to use an Aquaseal Repair Kit to make everything waterproof again.
Nice, info Tom,
I’ve always had trouble finding the leaks just using a flashlight. You’ve showed me what to look for. I once tried to cover all the little stitches, used a whole tube of AquaSeal, and still had leaks. AquaSeal is great stuff, when you can put it on your leaks.
I especially liked Tom’s demo of the blowing soap bubbles with the ShopVac. Next time,
I’ll try with my leaf blower.
As always, your information is always delivered with clarity and humor.
PS #1: one method of leak detection that I wouldn’t recommend is getting into your waders, filling them with water and trying to see where they leak out. I tried that once and it was so heavy that I couldn’t stand. I then got down on my hands, while my wife tried to carry my legs over to the garden to empty the waders on the plants. We wish we had a video of that!
PS #2: I did a slight variant of this by filling one of the neoprene boots (notoriously hard to find the leaks) with water and observing where it seeped out. That worked, and I’ve been dry for this entire season.
Thanks again,
PeterG, Batavia, Illinois