Xcel wetsuits and warranty issues

[usedtobe69]

depends on what you expect i guess,

if you're the kind of person who runs a couple of marathons then takes their nikes back to the shop because the soles have worn out then then yeh worth a punt?

if you surf a lot(not weekend warrior) ANY suit is gonna be a bit haggered after a years use, just the way it is, boards wear out suits wear out, the tyres on your car wear out(quicker if you drive hard).
i buy a new winter suit every year, and sell the old one to take some of the damage, i accept this as i surf my ass off and expect stuff to wear out after a certain amount of usage.
you can do a lot of damage to suits taking em off sloppily, over stretching the seams leads to leaks on any brand, some quicker than others.

last years xcel was the best i've had in the last 8 years, could easily do anther winter for me, so the billabong argument is bollocks from people who like to regurgitate shit to make them sound cool.

[swiggy]

you can do a lot of damage to suits taking em off sloppily, over stretching the seams leads to leaks on any brand, some quicker than others.

Yeah I'll agree with that, some people are retarded at taking off suits and its their own fault they fuck it up, I do see wetties as a consumable item too. Was talking to a guy in the car park the other day who tried to return a suit that he had ripped open on a reef, pretty dishonest IMO, its hardly the manufacturers fault you got dragged over a sharp reef, does he want a kevlar coated suit or something?

Saw on another forum some dude was complaining that matuse wouldn't fix his suit, it got chewed on by a wild animal after leaving it in a tree overnight. Yeah thats Matuse's fault... That sort of returning suits just makes them more expensive for everyone else, especially for smaller companies who have to factor that into their pricing..

[henryg]

Just for the record the suit has not been heavily used. I surf mainly in North Wales which is not exactly the most consistent surfing area in th UK and last winter was even shitter than most. If I'd used it every day then I wouldn't expect it to last more than a year. I bought it end of last November and wore it til about the beginning of May then it came out on a few cold days over the summer. So all in all it has had about 5 months of light to moderate use.

[SurfOnYourBum]

...I have a suit less than 1 year old which is leaking on a few seams, nothing too bad but noticable...

If you are not overly worried what it looks like you can reseal seams yourself very cheaply using liquid latex which is available from all good art shops or for ten times the price at all good sex shops, if you get the stuff from the art shops though (which is actually better suited to the task) it is worth also getting some black acrylic ink to add to it as it makes it look a whole lot better (without it you might look like you have tried to seal your suit with elephant jizz). Wash and dry your suit then just use a small brush (the type you get with kids watercolour sets are ideal) and paint over your seams with the latex (it will take a few coats) and you will have lovely and dry seams again.

This also works on cheapy crappy wetsuits with unsealed seams to seal the seams and make them a damn sight warmer (great for kids suits if you don't want to spend on an expensive suit that won't get much use before they have grown out of it).

[mountain man]

So just ask for liquid latex, or a particular kind?

[danny1]

...I have a suit less than 1 year old which is leaking on a few seams, nothing too bad but noticable...

If you are not overly worried what it looks like you can reseal seams yourself very cheaply using liquid latex which is available from all good art shops or for ten times the price at all good sex shops, if you get the stuff from the art shops though (which is actually better suited to the task) it is worth also getting some black acrylic ink to add to it as it makes it look a whole lot better (without it you might look like you have tried to seal your suit with elephant jizz). Wash and dry your suit then just use a small brush (the type you get with kids watercolour sets are ideal) and paint over your seams with the latex (it will take a few coats) and you will have lovely and dry seams again.

This also works on cheapy crappy wetsuits with unsealed seams to seal the seams and make them a damn sight warmer (great for kids suits if you don't want to spend on an expensive suit that won't get much use before they have grown out of it).

Good tip man.

Bumped into two skilled goatees at the weekend. Surfing heavy barrelling waves. Looked in the same league as dan

[WP101]

what about sikaflex, cheap as chips , used to hold car windscreens in, black liquid rubber

[SurfOnYourBum]

So just ask for liquid latex, or a particular kind?

Just ask for liquid latex, the only slight thing to look out for is if they only have moulding latex rather than liquid latex. Moulding latex is just liquid latex but with a setting catalyst already mixed in, this will still work but you will have a lot less time to work with it.

Bumped into two skilled goatees at the weekend. Surfing heavy barrelling waves. Looked in the same league as dan

There re some damn skilled paddlers up your way these days including the rather good Harvey brothers (Chris & Adam). I also think the general level of surf kayaking has improved massively thanks to great resources like surfkayakskills.com and partly just due to the publicity in the kayaking world of surf kayaking and how to do it right. This does not mean there are no numpties that will turn up without a clue and cause chaos, of course there are but the same could be said for any surf craft, hopefully though there are a lot less of them as concepts such as surf etiquette are a lot more widely understood.

what about sikaflex, cheap as chips , used to hold car windscreens in, black liquid rubber

Well I see no reason why it wouldn't work but I would have thought it would be damn easy to get into a hell of a mess and end up with an unwearable ball of neoprene and rubber.

[mountain man]

Alright, nice tip there will give it a go!

[WP101]

what about sikaflex, cheap as chips , used to hold car windscreens in, black liquid rubber

Well I see no reason why it wouldn't work but I would have thought it would be damn easy to get into a hell of a mess and end up with an unwearable ball of neoprene and rubber.

just dont trim the nozzle and use lots of spit to tool the bead in

[SurfOnYourBum]

what about sikaflex, cheap as chips , used to hold car windscreens in, black liquid rubber

Well I see no reason why it wouldn't work but I would have thought it would be damn easy to get into a hell of a mess and end up with an unwearable ball of neoprene and rubber.

just dont trim the nozzle and use lots of spit to tool the bead in

Tell you what, give it a go and let me know how it turns out ;P

[SurfOnYourBum]

Alright, nice tip there will give it a go!

Let us know how you get on, I love keeping my kit going as long as possible and since discovering the magic of liquid latex I have been keeping neoprene kit going so much longer than I could before. I have an old kevlar and neoprene river spaydeck that takes a lot of abuse that is getting on for ten years old now which has had it seams resealed 4-5 times now (and holes and tears repaired with dental floss and aquasure), this is admittedly a spare now but it still works fine.

[Kenny]

Thought I´d feel foolish asking for liquid latex. Just typed it into Ebay search - readily available.

[SurfOnYourBum]

Thought I´d feel foolish asking for liquid latex. Just typed it into Ebay search - readily available.

It is a pretty standard art supply item, it is used with a hardener (setting catalyst) to make moulds and is used by watercolour painters as a mask (they paint it on the canvas in areas they don't want to take paint at that point then peel it off) hence it is readily available and inexpensive.