Fin Cut Wetsuit Repair

The most common repair on our bench, by a long way.

You come off a wave, the fin catches your thigh or your calf, and there is a clean slice in the panel. Sometimes you feel it, often you do not until you are getting changed in the car park.

Here is the good news. A fin cut is the easiest repair in the trade. The edges are clean, they match, and they glue back together into a join that is usually stronger than the rubber next to it. Twenty minutes on the bench.

The bad news is what most people do next.

Do not surf it again first

A 4cm fin cut sits in one of the smallest tear tiers. The same cut after three more sessions is two tiers up, and sometimes worse.

Neoprene under stretch tears from the ends of an existing cut. Every duck dive and every pop up drags those two ends apart a little further. A cut that starts at 4cm will happily be at 12cm by the end of the week, and once it runs into a seam you are paying for a seam repair as well.

If you have to surf before you can get it fixed, tape it. Wetsuit repair tape or even good gaffer tape on the inside face, pressed down hard, stops the ends running. It is not a repair, it buys you a week.

What not to do is flood it with surf shop glue. Dried surface glue has to be scraped off before a proper repair, and scraping it sometimes takes the liner with it.

Fin cut or reef cut

Two different jobs, and it matters for your quote.

Fin cut. A clean straight slice. The two edges are sharp and they line up. Nothing is missing. This is the cheap repair.

Reef or rock cut. Ragged edges, material often missing, and usually a palm sized area of abrasion around it where the panel has been sanded thin. We trim back to sound rubber, which makes the gap bigger before it gets smaller, then bridge it and reinforce the thin area around it.

If you surf the reefs on the Surf Coast you get the second kind. Our Torquay repair page goes into that in more detail.

How we repair a fin cut

The method matters, because this is the repair most commonly done badly at home.

1. Wash and dry. Glue does not bond to salt. This is the step home repairs skip and the reason home repairs fail.
2. Turn inside out. Almost all patching goes on the liner side so the outer face stays smooth and the repair does not catch water.
3. Clean both cut faces. Solvent wipe back to bare neoprene.
4. Glue and close under tension. Neoprene cement on both faces, left to tack, then the cut is pressed closed with the panel held at natural tension. Closing it slack is how you get a pucker that annoys you forever.
5. Patch the inside. A neoprene patch bonded over the join, with rounded corners. Square corners peel.
6. Cure 24 hours. No shortcut exists.
7. Seal the outer face if the suit has smoothskin panels, so the repair is invisible and does not wick.
8. Pressure test.

Anything past about 10cm gets a patch on both faces. Anything past 20cm gets reinforcement into the surrounding panel, because a tear that long has already stressed the rubber either side of it.

What it costs

Priced by length, which is why we measure rather than eyeball. The tiers run from a puncture or nick, through small, medium and large tears, up to an extra large tear or a full panel blow out. Reinforcement panels are priced per zone. All of them are fixed starting prices, and final pricing may vary with the condition of the suit and the extent of the damage.

Location adds to it when the cut sits in an armpit, a crotch gusset or across a seam junction, because the repair has to flex in every direction and there are three panels involved instead of one.

Return post within Australia is $15, selected at checkout, and drop-off is free. Inspection and quoting are free, and we offer discounted pricing when several repairs are done at the same time. See our guide to what wetsuit repair costs for how the rest of the list works, or book a small tear repair or large tear repair directly.

Measure it before you ask for a quote

The single most useful thing you can do.

Lay the suit flat, put a tape measure or a coin next to the cut, and photograph it. That gets you an accurate estimate by email instead of a guess. Without scale in the photo, every tear looks like every other tear.

While you have it flat, hold the panel up to a window. Fin cuts often come with a second smaller nick you did not notice, and a rash of thin spots on an older suit.

Where fin cuts land

There is a pattern and it is worth knowing, because it tells you where to look.

Outer thigh and hip. The most common by far. Your own board, coming over the top of you.

Calf and shin. Second most common. Usually your own fin on the way through a duck dive.

Forearm and elbow. Someone else's board, or your own on a bad wipeout.

Across the knee. Bad luck, and the one that costs more because knee panels are already thin from wax and sand.

If you find one, check the whole leg. Fins often catch twice on the way past.

Will you see the repair

From the outside, mostly no.

We patch from the inside wherever possible, so the outer face keeps its original texture. On a black suit a repaired fin cut is close to invisible once cured. On a coloured or smoothskin panel you may see a faint line under direct light.

Inside, you will feel the patch. It is a smooth flexible neoprene disc and it does not chafe.

What you should not see is any pucker or bunching. If a repair pulls the panel out of shape, it was glued closed while slack, and that is a repair done wrong.

Frequently asked questions

Can a fin cut in a wetsuit be repaired?

Yes, and it is the most common repair we do. A clean fin cut is glued closed under tension and patched from the inside, which produces a join usually stronger than the surrounding neoprene. It takes about 20 minutes of bench time, and tear repairs are priced by length, with a fixed starting price for each tier on our repairs page.

How much does it cost to fix a fin cut in a wetsuit?

Pricing is by length, in tiers. They run from a puncture or nick, through small, medium and large tears, up to an extra large tear or a full panel blow out, and each tier has a fixed starting price on our repairs page. Measure the cut before asking for a quote. A cut that crosses a seam also needs the seam opened and rebuilt, which is priced by seam length on top.

Can I surf with a fin cut in my wetsuit?

You can, but the cut will grow. Neoprene tears from the ends of an existing cut under stretch, so every session makes it longer and more expensive to fix. If you must surf, tape the inside face to stop the ends running.

Should I use wetsuit glue on a fin cut myself?

Only as a temporary fix, and preferably use tape instead. Surface glue does not bond the two faces properly without cleaning and clamping, and dried glue has to be scraped off before a proper repair, which can damage the liner.

Will the repair be visible?

On a black suit, generally not from the outside. The patch goes on the inside so the outer face keeps its original finish. On coloured or smoothskin panels a faint line may show under direct light.

How much bench time does a fin cut repair need?

About 20 minutes for a small cut, plus 24 hours of curing. The curing cannot be rushed, which is why no honest repairer offers a same day fin cut repair.

Is a fin cut across a seam more expensive?

Yes. A cut that runs into a seam means opening the seam, repairing the panel and then rebuilding the seam. That is two jobs, so the seam work is priced by its length on top of the tear repair.

Get it fixed before it grows

Photograph the cut with a tape measure next to it and send it through.

Book a repair

The Wetsuit Repair Shack, 9 to 11 Sinclair Street, Ocean Grove VIC 3226. Thursday and Friday 11am to 5pm, Saturday 9am to 1pm. Drop-off available when closed. Postal repairs Australia wide.