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Drysuit hole repair

scott_f

Paddler
Joined
Apr 2, 2010
Messages
162
Location
Victoria
I just found a small hole about pencil diameter in my Kokatat Goretex suit. The Kokatat repair kit is just patches and Aquaseal. I figure neoprene seam tape should be a good substitute for whatever their patches are. I have used it with Aquaseal to patch spray decks before, but never a drysuit.
I don't really want to send the suit in to Kokatat. It's in otherwise good shape and it's cheaper to repair it myself.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
 
Seems ok to me. [meaning and pun intended], but what about just cutting off a piece of a patch and aquasealing that.
So 2 options.
 
I should have mentioned I am trying to avoid buying the official Kokatat repair kit as it's a bit expensive for what you get, but I'm sure a place like MEC has Goretex patches.
 
If you can go without for a few weeks, I would consider sending back to Kokatat. They have a service for like $20 where they will leak test and patch the suit for you. So they'd patch that one, plus any other pin holes they find.

I replace wrist gaskets on my own, but have them do necks (and leak test at the same time). Kayak Academy may be a little cheaper/faster on gaskets, but don't offer the leak test.

And you never know - seems to be a significant number which are sent for testing are found to have delaminated, so the sender gets a new dry suit out of the deal.
 
Hey Scott,

I hope you are well. I picked up that "expensive" ($7), Goretex branded, patch kit from Ocean River Sports. My repairs have held up remarkably well for more than 2 years now. I did not use Aquaseal; just a hot iron to seal up two holes in my Kokatat drysuit.

Cheers,


Mario
 
I obviously have no idea what you paid for the suit nor do I mean to be an a**hole, but I must wonder why go on the cheap with a potentially $1000 dry suit? I concur with the recommendation to send it in to Kokatat or at a minimum use the proper patch material.
 
Peter-CKM said:
If you can go without for a few weeks, I would consider sending back to Kokatat. They have a service for like $20 where they will leak test and patch the suit for you. So they'd patch that one, plus any other pin holes they find.
As the saying goes: "Your mileage may vary!" :D :yikes:

Encouraged by stories of friends getting new suits, and tired of my suit 'wetting through', I sent my drysuit to Kokatat in 2015.
Kokatat phoned me and asked if I wanted them to replace the wrist gaskets, since they were 'looking a little tired'.
$75 USD for that.
Since I can do wrist gaskets myself (even though they are more difficult than neck gaskets), I declined.
They said they couldn't see any evidence of wetting through, but found a couple of pinholes in the legs, which they patched with iron-on tape. $20 USD
A couple of weeks later, I got the suit back in the mail and found that one wrist gasket was completely shredded. The attached tag said: "Wrist gasket failed during water test."

BTW, the shipping adds up (to about $100 CAD) when cross-border is involved.

Live and learn.
 
semdoug said:
I obviously have no idea what you paid for the suit nor do I mean to be an a**hole, but I must wonder why go on the cheap with a potentially $1000 dry suit? I concur with the recommendation to send it in to Kokatat or at a minimum use the proper patch material.
The real question is why would I pay 10% the price of a new suit to fix a tiny hole? I replace my own gaskets, why not a patch. Even if it was the same price I would rather do it myself and learn a new skill from the experience.
I did call Kokatat - the patch and test service is $35 USD plus as John said, gotta pay shipping both ways from/to Canada. I might have considered sending the suit in if there were any delamination signs, but after 5 years the suit looks mint on the inside.

Hey Mario, I was referring to the "official" kit on the Kokatat site (as suggested by the Kokatat phone rep) https://kokatat.com/product/field-repair-kit-accfrkc. In USD this seems really expensive to me. I could certainly handle the $7 OR kit! :)

Anyways, a big thanks to John A. He hooked me up with some of the Kokatat iron-on patch today. Awesome :big_thumb
 
Agreed, I wouldn't bother sending it in either if the suit is five years old. Would have been good to know in your original post.
 
Peter-CKM said:
If you can go without for a few weeks, I would consider sending back to Kokatat. They have a service for like $20 where they will leak test and patch the suit for you. So they'd patch that one, plus any other pin holes they find.

I replace wrist gaskets on my own, but have them do necks (and leak test at the same time). Kayak Academy may be a little cheaper/faster on gaskets, but don't offer the leak test.

And you never know - seems to be a significant number which are sent for testing are found to have delaminated, so the sender gets a new dry suit out of the deal.

Kayak Academy does leak tests. And they can ship loaner suits while you wait.
 
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