Techy Thursdays - Tales from the Man-Cave

With only a few weeks left until the new season, I thought a rainy Friday evening was the perfect time to escape to the man-cave and prepare the gear for the upcoming punishment.

Since my waders have endured some epic adventures and have encountered some of the prickliest bushes around the world, it’s only fair to assume that they may have a leak or two.

Little pin-pricks caused by blackberry, matakauri, gorse, etc, will allow water to slowly seep in – although you may not even notice, as moisture tends to breathe out at a fairly equal rate.

Let’s face it – waders will inevitably leak. Luckily Gore-Tex has a unique little trick up its sleeve to help fast remedy this, in the comfort of your own garage.

Turn the waders inside out – expose the technology within.

Spray all over with Isopropyl Alcohol, available at your local pharmacy.

Look for the freckles! Each of these little black dots represents a tiny little leak – easy to find, easy to fix.

Snap on the glove, it’s about to get a little sticky.

Urethane glue will do the trick, waterproof, flexible, fairly quick to cure and long lasting – “Aquaseal” is the perfect option.

Apply a little smidge on each black spot – wait for half a minute for it to “settle”

Rub it into an ultra-thin layer – you’d hardly know it’s there.

Finish the process over the entire wader and hang up to dry, allow 8 – 12 hours for the glue to cure.

Now the waders are back in business.

Compared to other waders and materials - where finding leaks may require filling the waders with water to see where it oozes out, or dunking them into a bath to see where bubbles form – owning a pair of Gore-Tex waders makes life easy when it comes to maintenance and repairs. Find leaks quickly, fix them easy and be left with almost no trace of the repair – no big clumps of hard dry glue around where you “think” the leak was coming from.

All Simms US made waders are made with Gore-Tex submersible fabrics. From Gore-Tex's long list of advantages; waterproofness, breathability, durability and comfort – for any angler looking for waders for the upcoming season, self-maintenance and easy reparability are certainly key technical features to look for – Simms Gore-Tex comes up trumps again.

I'm sure at some stage in the near future I'll come off second best in a battle against a barb-wire fence. So, stand by for a photo essay on how to easily repair a more substantial tear - spoiler alert: it's easy peasy!