Surfing Waves

Hi everyone. I just did a little something with my old wetsuit and would like to share.

I have this 3/2mm back zip fullsuit which I bought for last autumn-winter and haven't used it since. I still remember having troubles with it because water would leak every now and then. And whenever I paddled out in 4+ft. surf, an incoming wave could easily rip the back of my wetsuit open!

Time for a new wetsuit? Of course, I'd love one! I want a chest zip because I know they last very much longer. But I don't have $250-500 at the moment.

Now when I look at a 2/1mm spring suit I bought a few months back, I can see that something is missing. It's the hook strip. This is where I don't know if it wasn't there in the first place or I cut it out myself (I'm crazy ). But since I'm a bit of a DIY guy and like fiddling with my own stuff. So I decide to attach it back myself.


Three things with a hook strip I found around the house ready to be sacrificed.


An umbrella's strap


A gym glove


A boxing handwrap


After deciding what I won't be using anymore, I nearly cut my gym glove (it's too old by the way). Suddenly, I realised I still had an old pair of shorts!


Without a second thought


This sewing kit belonged to the girl who used to share the same house. I'm glad I didn't throw it after she moved out.


can't upload more then 8 pics, to be continued in the next post

Repair, re-use, recycle save money be warmer.
Great stuff.
IMO ought to be nominated for best Friday post

This is the worst/hardest part. Threading a needle!


I did it! Yeewww. I threaded a needle. I wish you could see this, mum.


Thirty minutes later, I got this far. I swear to Duke Kahanamoku, THIRTY MINUTES. It was a lot harder than I thought.


After I took a break, I sewed another time just to make sure.


It's a big mess on the other side but who cares.


The zipper gets stuck a bit because of all those knots on the other side but still works well.






Well, I don't know what you guys think. I didn't know what to expect because the last time I sewed something was back in a class back in high school. It turned out to be quite strong. I tried pulling the strip many times and it wouldn't move at all. I will see what really happens tomorrow.

Oh, and I didn't even spend a cent!

Time to dawn patrol again after having lost the motivation to go out very early in my spring suit for the past 3-4 weeks.

Time to embrace the Aussie winter.

jaffa1949 wrote:Repair, re-use, recycle save money be warmer.
Great stuff.
IMO ought to be nominated for best Friday post

Thanks Uncle Jaffa. I always like to repair my own things. It feels great at least just to give it a try.

Yeh, best post this friday for sure!!

get r dun!
nice work

Jimi wrote:Yeh, best post this friday for sure!!

parrysurf wrote:get r dun!
nice work

Thank you both of you.

I'm here to confirm that it works!

And I'm pretty sure my wetsuit didn't have that strip in the first place. Today I visited a few shops looking for some fins. I found that none of the full suits by O'Neill have that thing.

Firstly well done, that is a very resourceful piece of work. (I cannot understand why my surfing peers always pay £££ to get their wetsuit repaired by a professional when a sew + glue is so easy and fast).

Anyway one question, what does that strip actually go? It looks like it stops the zip coming down, but none of my wetsuits have it and I have never had a problem with the zip (only the infernal velcro coming unstuck).

Rickyroughneck wrote:Firstly well done, that is a very resourceful piece of work. (I cannot understand why my surfing peers always pay £££ to get their wetsuit repaired by a professional when a sew + glue is so easy and fast).

Anyway one question, what does that strip actually go? It looks like it stops the zip coming down, but none of my wetsuits have it and I have never had a problem with the zip (only the infernal velcro coming unstuck).

Thank you. It certainly works. It stopped the zipper only for the first few times but not anymore. It really is strong too.

jaktequila, this really is a great post. I'd love to see more of this sort of stuff on the forum.
I do think your threadwork could do with a little work though