Anybody got any tips for the old jelly legs on the wetsuit?

At the moment Im alternating between pulling the legs halfway up my calves but thinking in the long term this will probs stretch out the ankle sphincter, but does seem to work well to stop spray shooting up the wetty leg.

I also have those velcro ankle straps, but finding that they tend to slip off after a while which is a bit annoying, thinking I might head to the local seamstress and get a loop sewn onto the ankle like the mystic wetsuits have.

Considering punching a hole just above the ankle gasket but don't want to be too hasty with that one, just in case the water flows the other way when I am using the wetsuit fr other stuff like surfing, spearfishing etc.

Any good ideas for a home fix for some one way valves etc that anybody has successfully installed?

Cheers,

Chris

Long arm short leg, it doesn't get that cold in Australia

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cauncy said..
Long arm short leg, it doesn't get that cold in Australia

Hah, yeah nah I'm in NZ and I just got a new Oneill Psycho, so taking scissors to it not an option. AND it's my surfing wetty as well, need those long legs

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cauncy said..
Long arm short leg, it doesn't get that cold in Australia

Says the man who doesn't live in VIC or TAS.

Booties fixes the water up the leg problem. Normal high ankle booties in winter and highish ankle reef boots in warmer weather. Tuck the ankles of the wettie into the wetsuit and problem solved. With the reef shoes draw the ankle cord fairly tight around your ankle.

Some people put a hole through the ankle of the wetsuit to allow the water to drain out.

The other solution is to ride a foil. I never get water up the leg of my wettie on a foil.

If you get wider velcro they don't slip. It very easy... get 50mm velcro from Clarkes Rubber or Spotlight, cut 150-200 mm of both the hook and loop strips, stick them together offset by halfway. You then have a 50mm wide ankle strap. Round of the ends. These aide in stopping the water shooting up your wetsuit leg however to stop elephant leg you still need to punch 2 small holes about 1/3 of the way up the calf section of the wetsuit (I use a leather punch). Use a very small (1-2mm) punch. The holes enlarge when you put it on. Its hard to start putting holes in an expensive wetty but that is what is needed and done by manufactures regularly. In fact if you put holes in the wetsuit calf elephant leg ceases even without ankle straps though the ankle straps add to the anti elephant leg effect and stop flushing and rollup.

Epic Surf NZ make good ankle straps

Problem with ankle straps is you forget to remove them before taking off your wettie. Nothing worse than having your suit around your ankles with the velcro straps still on.

My pet hate is velcro on wetsuits. It can grab the stitching or nylon lining and make a hole in the suit. It sticks like glue to the fleece lining. It's much worse on expensive high stretch suits. I've had damage repaired a couple of times because of this. It's worse because the hole is ragged and you can't easily patch it. Fortunately that was when RipCurl used to give outstanding service and they replaced a leg (from the knee down the first time) and the top half of a suit (the second time).

One of my Mystic wetties has the perforated wetsuit material down near the ankles. It helps drain that water away.

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Gorgo said..

cauncy said..
Long arm short leg, it doesn't get that cold in Australia

Says the man who doesn't live in VIC or TAS.

Booties fixes the water up the leg problem. Normal high ankle booties in winter and highish ankle reef boots in warmer weather. Tuck the ankles of the wettie into the wetsuit and problem solved. With the reef shoes draw the ankle cord fairly tight around your ankle.

Some people put a hole through the ankle of the wetsuit to allow the water to drain out.

The other solution is to ride a foil. I never get water up the leg of my wettie on a foil.

From the UK living on the north sea, so accustomed to crap temps
Kited marrawah in tas in the winter, was so epic I didn't feel the cold, as long as your core temp is well maintained it ain't so bad
Was a SW army search trained diver, I can show you what cold is , 8 cups of tea gave a nice supply of warm water for a couple of hrs
grab a mystic star5/4 if your a bit of a girl, with ankle vents to let water out or wrap some gaffer tape just above base of leg

After punching a couple of small holes around the calves area, using a lighter, carefully cure the cut edges with a flame. This is super effective in stopping the holes getting bigger and works really well.... it's difficult to do the first time after buying a new wetty, however, it's the first thing I do now and it's effective. I'm surprised some of the kitesurfing companies haven't produced a full wetty with holes professionally cut and stitched in already. Elephantitis during a session is a real bugger!!

This problem came up long time ago here. As I can recall there were also issues about the different TT's which drive water up.

I've gone through the different ideas. Punching holes did not work for me, because, unless the hole is really big, it will not drain quick enough. Eventually, here in sunny WA, I simply cut the calf part of my steamers.

However, even in the cold, you don't loose much heat through that area, but you need to protect the knees from cold. For that, you just need to close the opening of legs below the knees with something elastic.

Small holes in the bottom of the leg aka some Mystic wetties, just don't try and use a drill it will mess it up. You don't need big holes <1mm but 3 or 4 at least.

Otherwise pull the wettie legs up to the calves.

Booties with ankle straps seem to keep water out as well (but appear to have the opposite effect when surfing)

Perhaps you can experiment:
1. Put a few 1mm holes in an old wetsuits or even in a plastic bag;
2. Pour one or two liters of water in.
3. Count the minutes how long it takes for the water to drain.
(be patient)

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cauncy said..

Gorgo said..

cauncy said..
Long arm short leg, it doesn't get that cold in Australia

Says the man who doesn't live in VIC or TAS.

Booties fixes the water up the leg problem. Normal high ankle booties in winter and highish ankle reef boots in warmer weather. Tuck the ankles of the wettie into the wetsuit and problem solved. With the reef shoes draw the ankle cord fairly tight around your ankle.

Some people put a hole through the ankle of the wetsuit to allow the water to drain out.

The other solution is to ride a foil. I never get water up the leg of my wettie on a foil.

From the UK living on the north sea, so accustomed to crap temps
Kited marrawah in tas in the winter, was so epic I didn't feel the cold, as long as your core temp is well maintained it ain't so bad
Was a SW army search trained diver, I can show you what cold is , 8 cups of tea gave a nice supply of warm water for a couple of hrs
grab a mystic star5/4 if your a bit of a girl, with ankle vents to let water out or wrap some gaffer tape just above base of leg

Got the mystic star 5/4, best wetsuit ive ever had ( had all the major surf brands over 40 + years ) its now 5 seasons old and still as good as new, the mystic is my autumn and winter go to, it came with velcro ankle straps to keep water out but I usually wear booties if I'm in the 5/4. I use ankle straps on my other steamers for kiting.

Axis foot straps also make great ankle straps, wide and long enough.

Im use to Vicco cold water, but just started diving again and using a 7mm, friggin cold down at 18m.

Old problem jelly legs.
plus one for 40-50mm Velcro sewn in the middle to wetty seam then just wrap around.
Remember to undo before removing thanks Gorgo.Hahaha

Simple solution and it works perfect. Get a soldering iron and punch two or three small holes just above the ankle. The heat of the iron will cauterize the neoprene and stop it from further tearing. It's not an issue surfing. I have done this with all my wetsuits over the years since I first started kiting and it's worked every time. Water drains away without any issue

Yep. Soldering iron or heated up nail. Be sure to put the hole in a spot where your less likely to put your toe through it

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THE DONG said..
Yep. Soldering iron or heated up nail. Be sure to put the hole in a spot where your less likely to put your toe through it

Indeed, I should have clarified a little better. I put mine on the inside of my legs 50mm up from the end of the leg of the wetsuit and the other two holes above them 25 mm apart. Toes won't catch.

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Tbaggn said..
After punching a couple of small holes around the calves area, using a lighter, carefully cure the cut edges with a flame. This is super effective in stopping the holes getting bigger and works really well.... it's difficult to do the first time after buying a new wetty, however, it's the first thing I do now and it's effective. I'm surprised some of the kitesurfing companies haven't produced a full wetty with holes professionally cut and stitched in already. Elephantitis during a session is a real bugger!!

They have. I actually choose Mystic or NP over ONeill or Rip Curl just for these features. They both have Aqua Vents and an attached loop with velcro straps at the ankle. It's so much more comfortable when kiting. A wide attached velcro straps almost prevents water shooting up the legs in the first place and the few times it does it drains out quickly.

Awesome replies team, thanks! Bloody good effort

... ummmm, a couple newbie questions,,,,,, what's a 'wettie', what's a '5/4' and why do you need them?

Oh and if ya have jelly legs, it means ya had a jelly attack you so look for one of these guys at your local.....



Cheers for now,

Robbie

ps asking for a friend

+1 for tape. Electrical tape works. It's a bit stretchy for extra comfort, you don't need scissors and if you use the black stuff it blends in well with your wetsuit. Cheap and easy.

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dafish said..
Simple solution and it works perfect. Get a soldering iron and punch two or three small holes just above the ankle. The heat of the iron will cauterize the neoprene and stop it from further tearing. It's not an issue surfing. I have done this with all my wetsuits over the years since I first started kiting and it's worked every time. Water drains away without any issue

Thanks fish.Will do.Definitely sounds better than Velcro straps.Less fuss.

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Andrash said..
Perhaps you can experiment:
1. Put a few 1mm holes in an old wetsuits or even in a plastic bag;
2. Pour one or two liters of water in.
3. Count the minutes how long it takes for the water to drain.
(be patient)

Problem with that is that it doesn't factor in the pressure applied to the water by the stretching of the wetsuit. A loser fit will obviously apply less pressure than a tight fit.

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Leighbreeze said..

dafish said..
Simple solution and it works perfect. Get a soldering iron and punch two or three small holes just above the ankle. The heat of the iron will cauterize the neoprene and stop it from further tearing. It's not an issue surfing. I have done this with all my wetsuits over the years since I first started kiting and it's worked every time. Water drains away without any issue

Thanks fish.Will do.Definitely sounds better than Velcro straps.Less fuss.

Using a soldering iron or heated nail works but it can run away from you. Definitely practice on an old piece of wet suit to get the right technique before stabbing a new $600 wetsuit.

Good old fashion electrical tape, just not to tight or too loose. Tip leave a tag/ end doubled over so you can get it off easily.

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snalberski said..

Leighbreeze said..

dafish said..
Simple solution and it works perfect. Get a soldering iron and punch two or three small holes just above the ankle. The heat of the iron will cauterize the neoprene and stop it from further tearing. It's not an issue surfing. I have done this with all my wetsuits over the years since I first started kiting and it's worked every time. Water drains away without any issue

Thanks fish.Will do.Definitely sounds better than Velcro straps.Less fuss.

Using a soldering iron or heated nail works but it can run away from you. Definitely practice on an old piece of wet suit to get the right technique before stabbing a new $600 wetsuit.

Yes mate a few trial holes on some offcuts.
otherwise it could be ugly.

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horey69 said..
Good old fashion electrical tape, just not to tight or too loose. Tip leave a tag/ end doubled over so you can get it off easily.

I know an Electrician who has heaps of tape.:)

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snalberski said..

Andrash said..
Perhaps you can experiment:
1. Put a few 1mm holes in an old wetsuits or even in a plastic bag;
2. Pour one or two liters of water in.
3. Count the minutes how long it takes for the water to drain.
(be patient)

Problem with that is that it doesn't factor in the pressure applied to the water by the stretching of the wetsuit. A loser fit will obviously apply less pressure than a tight fit.

Sure, it doesn't. The point is, however, that you do not stop just to drain the water. If, when you ride, more water enters than drains, you still end up with elephantiasis.... As I recall, no matter what holes and how I made, I had to reach down and drain by hand at every turn... until I cut the whole calf portion down.

I think, the riding style and perhaps board design make a difference too. Not sure how it is on a surfboard, though. I had this problem only up until 10+ years ago while on a TT.

I just got a new suit so no holes or cuts for me. I have to ride boots so use ankle straps. Easy to take on and off...cheap, easy and effective
.www.thewaterman.nz/shop/Clothing++Technical+Clothing/Wetsuits++Neoprene++Boobies/Mystic+Velcro+Leg+strap.html

I've done the DIY with Velcro around the bottom of the legs, and about a 1/2 cm diameter drain hole just above the Velcro on both legs. seems to be working fine.

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Burls said..



I've done the DIY with Velcro around the bottom of the legs, and about a 1/2 cm diameter drain hole just above the Velcro on both legs. seems to be working fine.

hehe