Wetsuit Repairs Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff

We repair dive suits, wetsuits, hoods, gloves and booties for Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff from our workshop in Ocean Grove. Point Lonsdale is 12 minutes away. Queenscliff is 15. Drop a suit in, get a free written quote with photos, and nothing happens until you approve it.

Most of the work that comes to us from these two towns is dive gear, not surf gear. That is the difference between this stretch of the Bellarine and everywhere else we service. Port Phillip Heads sits right there, and the people putting suits under strain at Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff are mostly divers running thick suits, hoods and gloves in cold, moving water.

Dive suits fail differently to surf suits. A surf suit usually dies from a fin cut or a blown knee. A dive suit dies at the seals and the extremities, because of how many times it gets pulled on and off and what it drags against while it is on.

The Rip is hard on gear, and it shows up in the seals

The Rip at Port Phillip Heads is one of the most serious dive sites in the country. Strong current, deep water, cold water, and a short window to get in and out. Divers there do not mess about with thin suits. They run thick neoprene, hoods and gloves, and they kit up and strip down more often than any other water user we see.

That repetition is what kills seals. Every time a neck seal goes over a head and every time a wrist seal gets dragged over a hand, the neoprene at the edge stretches and the glue line at the facing takes load. Do that a few hundred times in cold water and the seal either goes baggy or the facing lifts and starts flushing. A flushing neck seal is the single most common reason a diver tells us their suit has gone cold. It is almost never the thickness of the suit. We wrote about that in why your wetsuit is not warm.

Seals are fixable, and they are cheap to fix relative to the suit. Collar repairs, new neck facings, full neck replacements, wrist seals and ankle seals are all listed individually on the repairs page, each with a fixed starting price. If the smoothskin surface has gone porous and started to let water through, a smoothskin reseal is listed there too.

Lonsdale Wall and the boat dives

Lonsdale Wall is a drift dive on a vertical drop, which means boat entries, shot lines and ladders. All three leave marks.

Shot line abrasion turns up as a polished, fuzzy strip across the forearms, the chest and sometimes the inside of the thighs. It looks cosmetic. It is not. Once the nylon jersey on the outside is worn through, the neoprene cell structure underneath is exposed and it starts to compress and tear. Caught early, a reinforcement panel over the zone keeps the suit going, and it is the cheapest job on the list for that area. Caught late, you are into a full chest panel or a sleeve, which costs more and takes longer.

Ladder and transom wear sits on the shins and the fronts of the knees, because that is what you land on getting back into a boat. Knee pads can be replaced outright. If the knee has gone through completely, that is a tear repair instead, priced in tiers by the length of the hole.

The piers at Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale

Pier diving is where gloves and hoods get wrecked. Pylons are covered in mussel shell and barnacle, and a glove that brushes a pylon in a surge comes away with a nick in the fingertip or a split seam. Glove finger and seam repairs are worth doing. Replacing a pair of decent 5mm gloves costs more than a couple of repairs.

Hoods fail at the face seal and along the back seam, both from stretch. Hood seams, hood neck seal patches and hood drawcords are all listed individually on the repairs page. Booties take the worst of pier entries because of the shell grit and the walking, and sole repairs, seam regluing, split toes and bootie zips each have a fixed starting price.

The back beach surf at Point Lonsdale

The back beach at Point Lonsdale picks up swell when everything inside the heads is flat, and it holds a punchy bank. Surf damage there is normal surf damage: fin cuts across the hip and thigh, knee wear from the paddle out, and chest zips that get stiff with sand. Fin cuts are our most common single repair and the fix depends on the length. See fin cut wetsuit repair for how we handle them.

Zips on surf branded suits are replaced with YKK marine grade hardware. Chest zips, back zips and slider only swaps are each listed on the repairs page.

Drysuits

We quote drysuits case by case rather than listing a price. Drysuit construction varies far more than wetsuit construction, and the repair depends on whether it is a membrane or a neoprene suit, what the seals are made of, and whether the zip is still serviceable. Send photos or bring it in and we will tell you honestly whether it is worth the work.

Several repairs done at the same time are discounted, which suits divers well. A neck seal, two wrist seals and a hood seam in one visit costs less than four separate visits.

Getting a suit to us

From Point Lonsdale or Queenscliff, driving in is the easy option. We are 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 we are closed. Drop off is free.

Postal repairs are available Australia wide if that is easier, with flat $15 return postage within Australia selected at checkout.

Either way, the suit needs to be rinsed in fresh water and dried inside out for 24 hours first. We will not open a bag of wet dive gear, and neither would you.

Common questions

Do you repair dive suits as well as surf suits?

Yes. Dive suits, hoods, gloves and booties are a large part of what we do, and the repairs are the same craft with different failure points. Thicker neoprene, more seal work, more abrasion.

Do you repair drysuits?

We quote drysuits case by case rather than listing a price, because construction and seal materials vary too much to price blind. Bring it in or send photos.

My neck seal flushes cold water every dive. Is the suit finished?

Usually not. A flushing neck is a seal problem, not a suit problem. A collar repair or a full neck replacement will often fix it outright, and both are listed with a fixed starting price on the repairs page. If the neoprene across the whole chest and shoulders has gone soft and thin, that is a different conversation and we will tell you.

How long does it take?

We do not do same day repairs. Glue cures for 24 hours and rushing that produces a repair that fails. We quote first, you approve, then the work happens.

Is it worth repairing gloves and booties, or should I just buy new?

Repair is usually the better call on 5mm dive gloves and booties, because the cost of the repair against a replacement pair is an easy sum. On thin, cheap booties that have gone hard and perished all over, it is not worth it and we will say so.

Do you charge to quote?

No. Inspection and quoting are free. You get a fixed written quote with photos before any work, and nothing proceeds without your approval. All work carries a 3 month workmanship warranty.

Which brands do you work on?

Every brand. Rip Curl, O'Neill, Patagonia, Xcel, Vissla, Billabong, C Skins, Need Essentials, Quiksilver and others.

See all repairs and book

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.

More reading: wetsuit thickness guide for Victoria, how to make your wetsuit last longer and wetsuit repairs across the Bellarine Peninsula.