1st - I have a small hole (maybe a few mm in diameter) in the left armpit of my 3 year old Helix. As I put the suit on and stress this area, it stretches way out and I worry that I will tear the hole open even more. I have fixed a couple other small fingernail tears with a wetsuit repair silicon, but none of those went all the way through. Is a through-hole fixable in a similar manner? How detrimental to performance is this in terms of letting in water, etc?
2nd - The wetsuit fits snugly all around, but when I stand up on my way out of the water, I feel the legs balloon out a little bit with the water that was in the suit being pushed down by gravity. Does this say something negative about the fit, or is this normal?
I have found in a pool swim in it back in April that I do seem significantly faster in the wetsuit than without it so it cannot be that bad of a fit. There was no hole in it then though.
I would suggest avoiding glue in areas that are stretched a lot. The glue will harden a little bit and then you risk actually tearing another hole when you stretch the suit.
A tiny patch could hold it together. I would put it on the liner side of the suit. This should reduce the chance of it getting worse. Is it on a seam?
You are feeling the water flush out of your suit. This is normal, but can be limited with a good fitting wetsuit. If the suit is 3 years old, it is very possible that it has stretched a little bit over time.
Use IronMend to patch the jersey fabric from the inside, then use AquaSeal to fix the neoprene (or just take it to a surf shop). I have an older Helix; great suit, but the seam gluing/stitching was weak in some areas, so I’ve had to patch it a few times.
BTW, a little water running down the inside of the suit makes it much easier to peel the legs off (makes the suit slide instead of suctioning to your lower legs).
thanks, everyone. Upon closer inspection, it looks pretty gnarly. It is on a seam. The hole grew to about 1cm over my last race and it looks like a just a light pull might just blow the whole thing out! stitches in a few inches in either direction of the hole seem to be holding on by a fraction of a milimeter of neoprene and it’s all loose. The idea of it ripping out as I am putting it on 20 minutes before the start in Austria next week, or half way into the swim is just terrible! I decided to bite the bullet and get a new wetsuit today.
