Waders sprung a leak. Buy expensive, buy cheap or try to fix?

Four year old Cabelas neoprenes finally cracked at the seam between boot and leg two weekends ago and filled up. Not going to lie, I don't really have the money to spend but I also don't want to miss out on spring goose. The way I see it, the Cabelas ones lasted multiple seasons so I got my money's worth out of them. The neoprenes kept me quite warm sitting deep in the water and I only had underwear and longjohns underneath them.

At the same time, slogging out to the marsh walking 1km was not my favourite part of it. Got plenty hot. So breathable is an option I'm looking at.

I look at the top end waders out there and I've bought cars less expensive than them. I am tempted to just get the same Cabelas waders knowing they'll give me another handful of seasons. What do you think?

I got 3 years out of a $70 pair from crappy tire. I now use a $300 pair from cabelas I got in the barging cave for $130.

I put my waders through a pile of abuse in the salt marsh and just can't bring myself to spend top dollar.

For what it's worth, I hunted with a guy this year that had a seam leak in his $700 waders that a year old. He was pretty pissed.

To each his own and I'm sure someone will use the "buy once cry once" line but when you are on a budget you get what you can afford

I would take them to a dive shop and see if they can repair them. Depending on the extent of the damage, there is also a product called seam seal you can buy. It is an iron on product.

I would try to repair with a neoprene glue like Aquaseal before buying a new pair

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike_R

I would try to repair with a neoprene glue like Aquaseal before buying a new pair

---

And failing that, try MarineGoop.

Gotcha.. I will try that first. Never tried to repair something like this before but there's some youtubes I've looked at already

I think a crack at the place you are talking is going to be hard to fuse together, even for a pro. I looked in to having some custom fabbing done for my son’s neoprenes as he outgrew the boot, but the cost and reliability of the fix meant I decided to buy new. If you go that route, I would stick with the Cabelas or similar. They work and they last, both features that matter in the marsh.

I will try the fix first.. if it lasts me the month of spring goose then it will tide me over until I can come up with some money for next fall .. failing that, will be on the look out for sales

Theres a product called e9000...dont know if they sell it anywhere else, but iv always found it at Walmart. I find it way more durable then goop and shoegoo.

Try a dive shop that repairs wet suits. They will either be able to fix them or not but at least you will have your answer.

Repair for sure. Pricey waders in the marsh don't last much longer than budget ones. I duct tape the weak points around the waders where they will get snagged by vegetation, it kind of acts as a barrier to puncture, but is still flexible enough to bend with the fabric.

https://youtu.be/VikGZ5T-S7U

These are the guys I spoke with: https://www.oceaner.com. They were very helpful and helped me understand what would be required. Like I said, once I priced it out vs the risk of it coming apart crashing around in the marsh and ruining a day hunting, I went with the new option. The biggest issue for me was how to reinforce the seam between the boot and the wader so that it could withstand the force of getting stuck in the mud and pulled out etc. I suppose it can be done as discussed here in an ancient thread https://www.duckhuntingchat.com/foru...?f=12&t=130429. I also found some guys in New Zealand who have apparently done this with some success. Good luck

Give Cabelas a call as most of their brand name stuff has a Lifetime Warranty, can't hurt.

Cheers

SS

Sitka, Cabelas "legendary warrantee" is not really very legendary any more. At the most it is 90 days.

https://www.cabelas.ca/pages/legendary-guarantee

Give Brooks Dive Gear a call @(604) 986-3441.

Update: I tried fixing my old pair. I used a flashlight to try to spot leaks. The flashlight didn't really help but by eyeballing it was able to find one obvious hole in my butt and then the start of three other spots where the neoprene had become worn away - I suspect by just sitting and rubbing against logs etc. I took aquaseal to them and then let it cure overnight. Next day I went into the water in False Creek to test them out. At first it looked like it was successful .. but then one of my boots started filling with water. From the calves up I was dry so my sealing efforts worked for the holes I could find but not for whatever was filling the boot. After examining it after I think there is a spot in the boot edge seal that I wouldn't have been able to find before.

I decided this is a long term project and went out to Basspro that day and got myself a new set. I got another set of Cabelas waders but a bit thinner (3mm) because the 5mm ones I had before I frankly thought were too heavy for the hike out to the swamp. All in all cost me under $200 so if it lasts me another three or four seasons I think that's the standard my first ones set.

Go to Cabela’s and in the boot section by the laces and get a tube of freesol .
worked awesome on my work boots been two winters now

I have Used GOOP ! Great Sealer - Good for Boots too ! RJ

thanks for the tips, gents. Will try to salvage my older pair so I can have a backup

Revisiting my old thread. My replacement 3mm Cabelas waders developed holes in the seat since the last spring. In fact in fall 2019 they had developed holes already but I gooped the hell out of them. Trying it out before this current season of fall 2020 I did another round of repairs and it seems I didn't get them all as I've discovered the past two weekends.

Sad as I wanted to get at least two years out of them. Mind you this last year I wasn't working at all so I went out maybe 40 times so maybe that is just too much use for them.

Time to research new waders...

I have a pair of simms for fishing, no holes/leaks for 10 years. For the marsh i run a pair of TideWe's. Around $150 from amazon.ca, no issues 1 year in.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jagermeister

And failing that, try MarineGoop.

---

Marine GOOP is Excellent ! RJ

I bought a pair at Canadian Tire. I've had 4 or 5 seasons out of them. No leaks. I did put a hook through them a few times but I used Zap-a-gap since I had it for my flies. It's waterproof and I just dabbed it a few times over a couple hours and no leaks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by oilcountry

I have a pair of simms for fishing, no holes/leaks for 10 years. For the marsh i run a pair of TideWe's. Around $150 from amazon.ca, no issues 1 year in.

---

I was looking at those. For the price even if it only lasts one year might be worth it.

Regardless, buy cheap if you are going into a duck swamp with them.

I ordered some Frog Toggs breathables that had decent reviews. My first breathables. Hoping they work out and now have to figure out how to layer better underneath. With neoprenes I was always okay with wool socks and one layer of merino long johns