THE MYTH OF THE BULLETPROOF WADER. How to buy value and then protect and repair your investment.

I am DLOOP. I fish.

Let’s talk about waders. With 200 plus days on the water per year, I have opinions to share.

“Bulletproof” Waders are a myth.

There is no such thing as waders impervious to blackberry bushes or barbed wire. Simms monomaniacs will crow about how G4s are “bulletproof.” The Rio Gallegos crowd will preach about Patagonian quality all the way from their private trout lodges to the front seats of their Subaru Foresters. Both groups have valid arguments no doubt.

Simms and Patagonia are industry leaders that merit praise for producing quality products. ….but goddamn they’re expensive. Probably overpriced. At more than $500 a piece one must be quite well heeled to don such piscatorial mode. It has to sting just a little bit more when that thorn pierces the $700 G4s.

Despite their superior construction and attention to detail neither Simms nor Patagonia can stop a wayward hook from causing a puncture. There is not such thing as “bulletproof” waders. At best there are waders with additional layers of fabric for additional protection against random pricks and methods of sealing seams that might increase durability.

Your Waders Are Going to Leak. Then What?

Whether you spend $500 at Don Baileys or $50 on Ali Baba, your waders are going to leak. The leak is coming. When it does, you either send the waders away for professional repairs or you do it yourself. For the DIYers amonst us here is a tip: Flashlight.

Not always, but frequently, the toughest part about finding pinhole leaks in waders is identifying the location of the leak. There are various techniques for locating holes including jumping into a swimming pool, filling up the waders with water in a bathtub, or dabbing rubbing alcohol on the waders in search of spots that turn dry quickly. The dry spot indicates the fabric has been compromised. These techniques are fine but involve two much drying time between when the location of the leak is identified and when the repair process may commence. In the case, of the rubbing alcohol technique, its too inefficient a solution for my taste.

The most efficient method for finding a leak in waders is to take them in a dark room with a 1,000 lumen flashlight. Stick the flashlight into the waders and even the smallest leak will glow like a star peering through the night sky. So you know the location of the leak, now what?

Repairs

You have two good options for repairing leaks.

If you are in a hurry and need to get back on the water quick. Buy some GE Silicon, 100% silicon clear. You can buy 10 ozs for under $6 dollars. You could cover a lot of leaks with 10 ozs. Squeeze a small dab over the hole, wait 30 minutes and you will be good to go. It dries clear, it’s flexible, and if needed it can be easily peeled off later to allow for more elegant repairs. Although that might not be necessary because I have had silicon hold up for over a year. Eventually it will yellow and peel but so will almost any home repair. I often carry a small container of GE Silicon for field repairs if I am hiking in some where remote.

If you want to take your repairs to the next level and you care about aesthetics:

1. Use painters tape to construct a border around the area you plan on repairing so that you will have nice clean borders after the silicon dries.

2. Place some wax paper inside of the waders underneath the hole to be repaired so the silicon does not leak through the hole and seal the two insides of the waders together. Easily reversible if it happens by pulling them apart but its still a pain.

3. Squeeze some silicon over the hole.

4. Then place some wax paper over the silicon and then press down with a book.

5. Add some weight to the book.

6. Let it dry for as long as possible up to 12 hours.

7. Remove painters tape to reveal nice clean border.

8. Silicon sets up fast but the wax paper and book on top will slow it down.

If you need to get back on the water quick then wait 30 minutes and go. The waders will be waterproof but the repair will feel tacky to the touch and will collect dirty and sand as a result.

For long term repairs use Aquaseal. It’s expensive but works very well. Plan ahead and buy the bulk size online to save money. Just buy it now before you need it because your gonna need it. After opening store it in the freezer or it will harden. For larger holes or tears follow the instructions above for using GE Silicon with the addition of a small piece of waterproof fabric cut in a circle to cover the hole. Make sure to use a circle because square pieces of repair fabric are more likely to curl at the edges. Place Aquaseal between the hole and the fabric. Let it dry for a few minutes then add additional aqualseal to the top of the patch and around the edges. Then press down with the book. Remember a little Aqualseal will go along way. For added strength turn the waders inside out and repeat on the other side.

For cheap waders, I immediately seal the seams including the booties with GE Silicon and a caulking gun. I tape them up with painters tape so the caulk lines look clean. I apply the silicon and then smooth it out with a plastic knife. It typically ends up looking pretty fucking shitty put it can make a $100 pair of waders last a full season no problem.

Thoughts on Purchasing Stockingfoot Waders

If you are rich or are a fishing guide that needs to signal your credibility to clients then buy Simms or Patagonia. They are undoubtedly the best choice if money is no object. For everyone else, there are options. This is especially true if your primary purpose in purchasing waders is to stay dry.

The best waders have four things in common. An easy to use warranty, durable booties, are constructed from multiple layers of breathable, flexible, and waterproof fabric, and have watertight seams. We will talk about how to find the best value in waders by making some judgment calls about what is just marketing and what is truly essential to finding a reliable pair of waders.

One note before moving forward. This article is focused on breathable waders with neoprene booties, or stockingfoot waders, that require the purchase of separate wading shoes. I understand there are other types of waders like canvas or neoprene waders with built in wading boots. The trend is towards breathable waders so for now I will center my attention on that variety.

Warranties

Lets talk about warranties. LL Bean. There really is no need to say more but I suppose I will. If you live near an L.L. Bean then stop reading now go buy a pair of Kennebecs and be done with it. Even though L.L. Bean nerfed their famous warranty you would still be hard pressed to find a better option. I did correspond with LL Bean and they assured me that for regular folks they will still provide the same high level customer service on which LL Bean built its reputation. They said they only changed the no questions asked warranty terms to stop chronic abusers, i.e., the guys that bought one pair of waders 10 years ago and then keep exchanging them after every season whether they needed to or not.

For those of us that do not live near an LL Bean, trying to deal with warranty services through the mail is probably not worth the inconvenience. Most warranty services are not free. Besides a service fee, you have to pay shipping cost. Also, you will probably end up in a back and forth with a customer service agent especially if you try and have the waders repaired more than once. While your waders are away being repaird, what do you do? For these reasons, the warranty does not figure heavily into my buying decisions.

If warranties matter to you, Simms has a robust warranty program that is attractive because it’s transparent. 60 days no questions asked over the counter returns, in the first year manufacture defects are repaired for free, and after that its between $40 and $65 dollars plus shipping for repairs. Most reps will tell you that the first repair with Simms is free even if the damage is clearly the customer’s fault. For access to this kind of warranty service though, you are going to pay a hefty sum initially.

So that leaves us with three remaining decision points: booties, seams, and fabric.

Booties. They are the most important part of waders, but also the easiest to hack.

Your feet are the part of your body that benefits the most from good waders because any time you are wading almost by definition your feet are submerged in the water. The truth is for a substantial number of fisherpersons their feet are the only part of their body that routinely gets wet. How many people routinely wade out very deep? Accordingly bad booties make bad waders. With this mind, it would fair to assume that when making a purchasing decision about waders boot quality ought be a paramount consideration. It’s not. In the next section, I will explain why you can purchase waders with average booties and make them as durable and longlasting as much more expensive options.

Booties wear out due to the friction of rubbing inside of your wading boot while you walk. If a small piece of gravel gets in your boot this process could be expedited to only a day’s time. No bueno. Booties are tough to repair successfully. Avoid this issue and wade stress free with this simple solution.

Buy a $10 pair of fin socks used by divers, 3mm or smaller in thickness. Wear these fin socks over you booties so that the booty never comes into direct contact with your wading shoes. This will greatly increase the longevity of your booties and in turn your waders. With this strategy you can spend less on waders with expensive booties because you will up armor them yourself.

For additional piece of mind for another $20 I buy waterproof wading socks, generic SealSkinz. I wear these as my socks. They keep your feet warm and if you did spring a leak in your booties you would never know because you have a second layer of protection. Now this all requires forward thinking because you have buy to waterproof socks that fit, and then waders with booties that fit over the socks, and then a fin sock that will fit over the booty, and then wading shoes that fit over everything. I know it seems bulky but at least in the cooler climes of the Pacific Northwest the added insulation and cushioning are welcomed.

Fabric

The majority of waders are produced in China even many marketed as Simms. Most breathable waders are 3 ply. There is an outer shell for durability, an middle membrane like Gortex for waterproofing, and then an inner liner for comfort. Top brands like Simms and Patagonia are more resistant to puncture because they add an additional 1 or even 2 layers in the legs. Most Simms are still 3 ply on top to maintain breathability and flexability. Despite all the puffery spewing from the marketing departments, there is not huge differences in the fabrics that are being used by the different manufacturers. The thing that makes the biggest difference in durability is the number of layers of fabric. You will lose some flexibility and breathability but you will get big gains in reliability.

Seams

We have talked about warranties, booties, and fabrics. Now for the really important topic.

Seams are the most important consideration when shopping for waders because seams are the trickiest part of the manufacturing process and are difficult to repair.

Imagine trying to create a waterproof system by aligning two pieces of fabric and then stabbing holes in both pieces. The essence of a sewing is poking holes in fabric with thread. Compromising the structural integrity of a piece of fabric is an inauspicious start to creating a sealed and watertight product. There are glues and seams tapes that are deployed in an attempt to remedy this underlying flaw in the manufacturing process with varying degrees of success. Still It would not be hard to find a waterperson that found that their new waders leaked right of the box. My own brother had a pair of Simms Freestones that leaked on day one. To Simms and Cabelas credit they exchanged them.

To find the best value in waders, avoid sewn seams and look for waders assembled using sonic welding techniques. Ultrasonic welding techniques use sound and pressure waves to melt an adhesive film to bind synthetic fabrics thus avoiding the inherent flaw of poking holes in the fabric that is being waterproofed. Orvis, Reddington, and Hodgman all offer sonic welded waders at prices substantially below what is available from Simms or Patagonia.

One more thought about seams. Don’t wear denim jeans, Kuhls, or 511s underneath your waders. Pants made of rough fabric will abrade the seams causing them to wear much more quickly. Buy some proper wading pants. An Addidas track suit will work in a pinch.

Summary:

A best value in waders will be around $300 dollars, have sonic welded seams, and at least four layers of fabric in the legs. Couple a pair of waders in this price range with some fin socks to protect the booties and your waders will last as long as the marque brands. Whatever waders you purchase you are going to be making repairs so you might as well learn how now or be prepared to pay. Look at Hodgman, Orvis, Reddington, and LL Bean.

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