Finding the leak in breathable waders.

I have a very small leak in my hodgeman breathable waders, the leak is
in the breathable material area, not the neoprene. I tried spraying
rubbing alcohol but nothing turned purple. I tried shining a
flashlight but that didn't work either. I also tried holding the
waders under water to see if air escapes but no luck. The only thing I
can think of is to use the whole tube of aquaseal and cover a large
area to make sure I hit the leak.

Any suggestions?

CR wrote:
I have a very small leak in my hodgeman breathable waders, the leak
is
in the breathable material area, not the neoprene. I tried spraying
rubbing alcohol but nothing turned purple. I tried shining a
flashlight but that didn't work either. I also tried holding the
waders under water to see if air escapes but no luck. The only thing
I
can think of is to use the whole tube of aquaseal and cover a large
area to make sure I hit the leak.

Any suggestions?


If you can trap air in the area that has the pin hole, take a spray
bottle with a mixture of water and dish soap (fairly soapy). Trap the
air in the wader and spray the water/soap mixture on the wader, the
soap will bubble at the pin hole. One way to trap air in the wader, is
to put the waders on, blow some air into the wader and then stick a
wading belt on tight around your waist, kneel down so the wader bulges
and spray the area in question
This has worked for finding holes in my drysuits and waders.

YMMV,
JT

From: (CR)

The waders should be wet on the outside when you spray the alcohol on the
inside. The dark spots are likely to be very small.

It's always worked for me.


George Adams

"All good fishermen stay young until they die, for fishing is the only dream of
youth that doth not grow stale with age."
---- J.W Muller

I had a small hole that was tough once. I put air in the leg where I thought
the hole was and held it under. No luck. I put water in the leg to see if it
would leak, again no luck. I ended up finding the hole this way: I turned
the waders inside out. Then I filled the leg with water, held it shut with
my hands, then dried off the area where I thought the leak was. Now keep in
mind that I am drying the inside wader surface off since the wader is inside
out. After a minute, I noticed a small spot of discoloration appear and
gradually grow. I was able to dry the spot off, then the discoloration would
go away. It would come back after another minute or so. . . . .The leak!
Very small and slow but found. From there, mark with pen and repair!

wayne


"CR" wrote in message
om...
I have a very small leak in my hodgeman breathable waders, the leak is
in the breathable material area, not the neoprene. I tried spraying
rubbing alcohol but nothing turned purple. I tried shining a
flashlight but that didn't work either. I also tried holding the
waders under water to see if air escapes but no luck. The only thing I
can think of is to use the whole tube of aquaseal and cover a large
area to make sure I hit the leak.

Any suggestions?

"Wayne P" wrote in message ...
I had a small hole that was tough once. I put air in the leg where I thought
the hole was and held it under. No luck. I put water in the leg to see if it
would leak, again no luck. I ended up finding the hole this way: I turned
the waders inside out. Then I filled the leg with water, held it shut with
my hands, then dried off the area where I thought the leak was. Now keep in
mind that I am drying the inside wader surface off since the wader is inside
out. After a minute, I noticed a small spot of discoloration appear and
gradually grow. I was able to dry the spot off, then the discoloration would
go away. It would come back after another minute or so. . . . .The leak!
Very small and slow but found. From there, mark with pen and repair!

wayne

That worked!

Thanks. The leak was at the seam, on the tape. Maybe that's why I
didn't notice it when I tried rubbing alcohol.

I had a small hole that was tough once. I put air in the leg where I
thought
the hole was and held it under. No luck. I put water in the leg to see if
it
would leak, again no luck. I ended up finding the hole this way: I turned
the waders inside out. Then I filled the leg with water, held it shut
with
my hands, then dried off the area where I thought the leak was. Now keep
in
mind that I am drying the inside wader surface off since the wader is
inside
out. After a minute, I noticed a small spot of discoloration appear and
gradually grow. I was able to dry the spot off, then the discoloration
would
go away. It would come back after another minute or so. . . . .The leak!
Very small and slow but found. From there, mark with pen and repair!

wayne

That worked!

Thanks. The leak was at the seam, on the tape. Maybe that's why I
didn't notice it when I tried rubbing alcohol.

Cool, Glad to hear it!

wayne

"Wayne P" wrote in message
...
I had a small hole that was tough once. I put air in the leg where I
thought
the hole was and held it under. No luck. I put water in the leg to see
if it
would leak, again no luck. I ended up finding the hole this way: I
turned
the waders inside out. Then I filled the leg with water, held it shut
with
my hands, then dried off the area where I thought the leak was. Now keep
in
mind that I am drying the inside wader surface off since the wader is
inside
out. After a minute, I noticed a small spot of discoloration appear and
gradually grow. I was able to dry the spot off, then the discoloration
would
go away. It would come back after another minute or so. . . . .The leak!
Very small and slow but found. From there, mark with pen and repair!

wayne

That worked!

Thanks. The leak was at the seam, on the tape. Maybe that's why I
didn't notice it when I tried rubbing alcohol.

Cool, Glad to hear it!


Me too! Apparently my 'pool experiments' stressed my waders somewhere, and
now I have a small leak on one of the lower legs too. I was going to do what
I do to test raingear: put on some long underwear and see where the wet spot
forms (no jokes, puh-leeese!) But I like your method better.

Funny thing happens to me often, though. Maybe I'm just paranoid about
getting leaks, but everytime I wear my waders and I'm standing in water, I
can SWEAR that I feel water trickling down the inside, near my ankles. And
my socks are often a little bit damp, but its nowhere near the amount that I
imagine, and is probably just sweat and not even a leak. But I always can
feel it: I suppose it might be from the water currents moving the material
around, but it always makes me feel fatalistic (Damn, there go the waders!)

--riverman

On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 16:53:53 +0100, "riverman"
wrote:


Funny thing happens to me often, though. Maybe I'm just paranoid about
getting leaks, but everytime I wear my waders and I'm standing in water, I
can SWEAR that I feel water trickling down the inside, near my ankles. And
my socks are often a little bit damp, but its nowhere near the amount that I
imagine, and is probably just sweat and not even a leak. But I always can
feel it: I suppose it might be from the water currents moving the material
around, but it always makes me feel fatalistic (Damn, there go the waders!)


That happens to me, mainly when the water temp is below 70.
Sometimes it feels like a section of the waders is wet and it
isn't.

Greg.

"Wayne P" wrote in message
...
I had a small hole that was tough once. I put air in the leg where I
thought
the hole was and held it under. No luck. I put water in the leg to see
if it
would leak, again no luck. I ended up finding the hole this way: I
turned
the waders inside out. Then I filled the leg with water, held it shut
with
my hands, then dried off the area where I thought the leak was. Now keep
in
mind that I am drying the inside wader surface off since the wader is
inside
out. After a minute, I noticed a small spot of discoloration appear and
gradually grow. I was able to dry the spot off, then the discoloration
would
go away. It would come back after another minute or so. . . . .The leak!
Very small and slow but found. From there, mark with pen and repair!

wayne

That worked!

Thanks. The leak was at the seam, on the tape. Maybe that's why I
didn't notice it when I tried rubbing alcohol.

Cool, Glad to hear it!


Me too! Apparently my 'pool experiments' stressed my waders somewhere, and
now I have a small leak on one of the lower legs too. I was going to do what
I do to test raingear: put on some long underwear and see where the wet spot
forms (no jokes, puh-leeese!) But I like your method better.

Funny thing happens to me often, though. Maybe I'm just paranoid about
getting leaks, but everytime I wear my waders and I'm standing in water, I
can SWEAR that I feel water trickling down the inside, near my ankles. And
my socks are often a little bit damp, but its nowhere near the amount that I
imagine, and is probably just sweat and not even a leak. But I always can
feel it: I suppose it might be from the water currents moving the material
around, but it always makes me feel fatalistic (Damn, there go the waders!)

--riverman

Send them back and let Hodgeman find it.

I returned three pairs of them before asking for a refund. I found that
using them for long submersion periods was not a good idea. I bought a
cheap pair of neoprenes and then saved money for high quality gore-tex
breathables. Those have not leaked in three years and I fish well over 150
days a year in rivers and float-tubes.

"CR" wrote in message
om...
I have a very small leak in my hodgeman breathable waders, the leak is
in the breathable material area, not the neoprene. I tried spraying
rubbing alcohol but nothing turned purple. I tried shining a
flashlight but that didn't work either. I also tried holding the
waders under water to see if air escapes but no luck. The only thing I
can think of is to use the whole tube of aquaseal and cover a large
area to make sure I hit the leak.

Any suggestions?