That cheap drysuit repair kit I swore by almost got me killed at 60 feet

I used this $20 vinyl patch kit from Amazon for 2 years on my old drysuit. Thought it was fine because it held air on the surface. Then last month during a wreck dive off Port Angeles, a patch let go at 60 feet. Water flooded my suit fast and I had to abort the dive in a hurry. Turned out the adhesive doesn't bond well with cold water over time. Anyone else had a repair product fail on them deep?

2 comments

2 Comments

spencer7822d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, no kidding. That cold water flexing kills cheap adhesive.

seth_shah2d ago

Man, that's a hell of a story and I'm glad you made it up okay. I had a similar thing happen with a $15 patch kit from a hardware store, except it was on a lake at 40 feet. The patch held fine for a season and then just peeled off like a sticker when the water temp dropped. In my experience, cheap repair kits are a gamble because they're not made for the constant pressure and cold water flexing that happens at depth. The adhesive gets brittle, especially with vinyl, and it loses grip over time. Stick with the name brand neoprene or vulcanizing patch kits, and always test a new patch at depth in a controlled environment before trusting it on a real dive. Your mileage may vary but I won't touch those Amazon kits ever again.