Wetsuit Repairs on the Bellarine Peninsula
The only dedicated wetsuit repair workshop on the Bellarine. Ocean Grove based, covering Barwon Heads to Queenscliff, Portarlington and St Leonards.
The Wetsuit Repair Shack·
The bench · Ocean Grove
The Bellarine has water on three sides and no wetsuit repairer. Until now.
Surf on the ocean side, flat water and dive sites on the bay side, a river mouth in the middle, and a population that mostly owns two or three suits each. For years the only options were posting a suit interstate, asking a surf shop to send it somewhere, or buying another one.
We are in Ocean Grove, roughly in the middle of all of it. Every town on the peninsula is inside twenty five minutes.
Where we are relative to you
| From | To the shack |
|---|---|
| Barwon Heads | 7 minutes |
| Point Lonsdale | 12 minutes |
| Queenscliff | 15 minutes |
| Drysdale | 15 minutes |
| St Leonards | 20 minutes |
| Portarlington | 25 minutes |
| Geelong | 35 minutes |
9 to 11 Sinclair Street, Ocean Grove. Open Thursday and Friday 11am to 5pm, Saturday 9am to 1pm. Drop off available when closed.
Two coastlines, two kinds of damage
The Bellarine is unusual because the ocean side and the bay side wreck suits in completely different ways, and a lot of people here use both in the same week.
The ocean side
Ocean Grove, Barwon Heads, Thirteenth Beach, Collendina. Beach breaks, coarse sand, crowded on a good day.
What arrives: fin cuts to the thigh and calf, knee panels sanded thin, and shoulder and underarm seams that have given up from people hauling cold suits on and off in car parks. Thirteenth Beach in particular produces the heavy stuff, being exposed and sharky with waves that hold people down.
Both of those towns have a page of their own. Wetsuit repairs in Ocean Grove covers our home beach and walk in drop off, and what the Barwon Heads river mouth does to a suit covers the silt, the zips and the seven minute run over the bridge.
The bay side
Point Lonsdale, Queenscliff, Portarlington, St Leonards, Indented Head. Diving, snorkelling, flat water paddling, and the open water swimming scene.
What arrives: zips destroyed by neglect, because bay users rinse less than surfers do and salt sits in the track until the slider gives out. Seal failures on dive suits. Fingernail tears through the inner liner from people dragging a suit on without rinsing the sand off first. And a lot of thin skin triathlon neoprene, which tears if you look at it wrong and needs a different patching method from surf rubber.
Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff divers working the Rip and the Heads bring in the most interesting damage on the peninsula. Cold, deep, strong current, and gear that gets used hard. There is a full rundown of dive suit and seal repairs for Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff if that is your end of the peninsula.
What we repair
Everything a wetsuit can need. Tears and fin cuts at any length, seam reglues and restitches, full suit re-tapes, zip sliders and complete zip replacements, neck, wrist and ankle seals, knee pads, chest and back panels, booties, hoods, gloves, and alterations when a suit stops fitting the person in it.
Dive suits, surf suits, triathlon and open water suits, spring suits, vests and junior suits. Every brand.
Current prices are on the repairs page, listed job by job. Inspection and quoting cost nothing, and nothing goes ahead until you approve a fixed written quote.
Clubs, schools and fleets
The peninsula runs on clubs. Surf lifesaving at Ocean Grove, Barwon Heads and Point Lonsdale, nippers through summer, dive clubs out of Queenscliff, surf schools working the beaches, and swim squads across the lot.
We handle fleet work. A hire fleet or club gear store comes in at end of season, gets sorted into repair, alter and retire, and goes back as one batch with one invoice. For a surf school that is the difference between buying twenty new suits and buying three.
Talk to us through the trade page.
Why there was never a repairer here
Because repairing neoprene properly is slow, and most businesses would rather sell you a new suit.
A seam repair done right means opening the run, cleaning both faces back to bare rubber, regluing under clamp pressure, waiting 24 hours for it to cure, then restitching to match the original construction. That is hours of bench time and a day of waiting. A surf shop cannot do it between customers, which is why most of them hand the suit to someone like us and add a margin.
What you get from a dedicated workshop is the whole menu rather than patches, every brand rather than one, a written quote before anything happens, and someone who will tell you when a suit is not worth the money.
The bit that matters locally
Neoprene does not break down. There is no recycling stream for it anywhere in Australia, and a binned wetsuit sits in landfill for centuries.
On a peninsula where a typical household owns three or four suits across surf, dive and swim, and where kids grow out of one a year, that adds up quickly. Repair and alteration are the only things that actually change the number. A junior suit let out rather than replaced gets handed down twice more.
Our piece on where old wetsuits go has the global figures if you want them.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a wetsuit repairer on the Bellarine Peninsula?
Yes. The Wetsuit Repair Shack is at 9 to 11 Sinclair Street, Ocean Grove, open Thursday and Friday 11am to 5pm and Saturday 9am to 1pm, with drop off available when closed. It is the only dedicated wetsuit repair workshop on the peninsula and covers every town from Barwon Heads to Portarlington.
How far is Ocean Grove from Queenscliff or Barwon Heads?
Barwon Heads is about 7 minutes, Point Lonsdale about 12, Queenscliff about 15 and Portarlington about 25. Geelong is roughly 35 minutes.
Do you repair dive wetsuits as well as surf suits?
Yes. Dive suits, surf suits, triathlon and open water suits, spring suits, vests, booties and hoods all come across the bench. Thin skin triathlon neoprene uses a different patching method and is priced separately.
Can a surf club or school bring in a whole fleet?
Yes. Fleet work is sorted into repair, alter and retire, then returned as one batch with a single invoice. End of season is the usual time. Get in touch through the trade page.
What should I do before bringing a suit in?
Wash it in fresh water inside and out, then dry it completely on both sides. Glue will not bond to salt residue and a wet suit cannot be properly inspected.
Bring it in
Send a photo first if you want to know what it needs before you drive over.
The Wetsuit Repair Shack, 9 to 11 Sinclair Street, Ocean Grove VIC 3226. Open Thursday and Friday 11am to 5pm, Saturday 9am to 1pm. Drop off available when closed. Postal repairs Australia wide.
