Help finding a leak in my waders.

[Alberto]

After many years of use my waders finally sprung a small leak. It is somewhere in the right bootfoot area. First I thought it was around the sole - applied sealant - no luck. Then I thought it was higher up, where the bootfoot meets the wader, also no luck. Do you have any good tricks/tips on how to find where the leak might be?

It is a slow leak, after a 1/2 day of fishing I just end up with a wet sock - I can still fish but I would like to take care of it.

Thanks in advance,

Alberto

[Wes]

dry em on the outside and fill with water.

[Silver Creek]

I spray the outside of the waders with rubbing alcohol. Turn wader inside out and then look for a dark spot on the inside of boot foot area. Use Aquaseal on the inside of the wader at dark spot will keep your wader looking new.

Fill a bathtub with water and turn the waders inside out. Blow air into the leaky wader leg and twist the top of the leg on the side of the leak waders to keep the air in. Submerge boot foot area and look for bubbles. Repair on inside of boot foot.

[Mike Thomas]

Hi Alberto, both the above will work but you might find it easier and dryer to take the waders in to a dark room, hold a powerfull flashlight inside the leg and any pin holes will show as a pinprick of light. The way you describe the leak it sounds more like a seam problem so I would start holding the flashlight against the seam area then try around the boot top weld. The leak, if in a seam, may be higher up the leg than you think.
All the best.
Mike

[Silver Creek]

The flashlight test is worth an initial try. Try it and repair those leaks. However, if the flashlight test does not show a leak or all the leaks, the reason is that some leaks are not through and through pinhole leaks.

If the leak is not through and through, the light test will not reveal the leak. For example if outside leak, at the seam tape occurs in one location and the water burrows under the seam tape and comes thought at at a distance on the inside of the wader. With neoprene compression leaks can also occur in which the water burrows through the neoprene.

The leak tests that use pressure such as the inflation test or filling the waders with water will show these leaks because the air and water follow the route of least resistance. Light, on the other hand, must travel in a straight line.

[Gadams]

If these are stockingfoot waders with neoprene booties, they are probably not repairable at home. Most likely the neoprene has become porous, and need to be replaced. Probably time for a new set of waders.....they all leak eventually.