I'm no expert on waders, but my fly fishing group had a wader expert
talk at a meeting. He said that filling waders with water and lifting
them up stresses the seams and causes leaks. Makes sense, that's a
lot of weight. Suggestion by that guy for finding leaks in gortex
waders is to wipe them down with rubbing alcohol. Leaks show up as
dark spots and areas, which you then put wader repair stuff on. When
the alcohol dries, the spots go away, so their not permanent.

Don't know if it works with neoprene.


Mel

On Sun, 14 Jun 2009 12:39:05 +0200, Stig Arne Bye
wrote:

riverman wrote:

My waders are seeping near the ankles, but I'm not entirely certain
that its the ankle seams. Is it common or likely that the neoprene
that the booties are made from can leak? I've been pretty careful
about not stressing them (pulling them off wrong, etc), but I know the
top of the ankles can take a beating from gravel, etc.

Although there could be a tiny hole in the neoprene material itself,
it's usually the seams that leak.

To find the leak, you may use the following method I've use myself and
that may reveal even small leaks:

Pull the waders inside-out, and make sure the inside are completly dry.
Then, fill the waders with water up to above where you suspect the leak
to be. Hang the waders up and carefully watch where you can see water
seeping through and forming a wet spot on the material. Because of the
gravity, the leak is usually found close to the top of the wet spot.



Stig Arne Bye

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