Fitting and Sizing Waders, and our used waders

Fitting waders 

Waders look great when new in the shop, but in time many start to leak, and all too often this problem is avoidable. Common leakage points for all waders are the ankle, where the boot or sock joins the breathable material, at the knees and at the crotch. After testing many leaking waders over the years we see the same problems time and time again, yet this is not a manufacturing fault. It may be that fault of the owner or the tackle shop salesman!

When trying on waders in a tackle shop we tend to be wearing our shopping clothes and not our fishing clothes, so we get an unrealistic fit for the waders. Additionally, standing in the shop does not really give a proper idea of how the waders will be worn, or the stresses that may be placed on them. When we size waders for you we take clothes into consideration, but when you receive them and try them on remember they have to be loose fitting if wearing normal clothes. 

CHECKING YOUR WADERS FIT YOUR SIZE AND ENVIRONMENT

Try the waders in a number of positions, positions that you would realistically have to get into whilst fishing. So kneel down in them, as if unhooking a fish. Sit down in them, like you will in the hut or on the back of the car whilst pulling on your boots. Make sure you can get your foot onto a chair, like stepping out of the river and onto the bank. Then finally kneel down on the floor and sit on your heels. With your hands on the floor slowly push them forward on the floor. This is the longest position your waders will be in. In this position it should be just pulling tight over your backside.

If doing any of these manoeuvres you feel the waders pulling very tight say at the knees, or over your backside, then the waders do not fit you properly and you will need the larger size or a wader with a different cut. These restrictions in movement put strain on the seams and all the stitches in them. You are far stronger than the wader and can put so much strain on the seam, when you forget to hoist them up, when unhooking or landing a fish for example, that you can strain them to the point of leakage. Sitting down, without relaxing the waders down will put strain on the ankle seam, where the sock joins the fabric, you will feel this as a tightness at the back or front of your leg, often at the knee or heel.  Wearing the proper size of wader, with a belt to support it, is the best way to make sure you do not strain the seams, thus avoiding a very common wader leakage problem. Remember to adjust the belt and braces before the exercises, if they are restricting movement then perhaps a braces adjustment is all thats needed.

Following these simple instructions should prolong the life of your waders, and will explain why some anglers get years out of their waders, and some anglers get weeks out of them, before they start leaking.

Not every wader is suitable for all environments. As an example for rock hopping in salt water, or jungle fishing in gorse and thorns a lightweight or travel wader won't last an hour.  A heavy neoprene boot foot is not ideal for travel. Bottom of the range light waders are really not suited to the harshest environments, that's why the manufacturers make heavier more expensive waders. There is generally a sweet spot, a wader that is tough enough to survive well in the harsher environments, without all the bells and whistles we often don't need, that's priced well across a broad range of budgets, and thats where our experience, seeing every wader on the market, and keeping nots on the regular weak points really helps, both anglers and suppliers. 

Custom Fitting Waders

To alter your waders we generally need 3 things. We alter the width of the body by adding material down each side of the wader, we alter the leg length under the gravel guard, as the neoprene stretches and the leg does not, it also tapers, so shortening on a  taper would not be possible

So we need

1, How much extra material you need down each side of the wader, generally 2-4 inches per side. Please be accurate and give me one number. If you say 2-4 inches I can add 2, or 3, or 4, just let me know.

2, Sit in a chair, with the wader and your usual fishing clothes on and measure how much slack you have at the ankle. Under an inch is not worth doing. We can generally only shorten them by 4 inches. If we need to do more we will need to use a different process, and would need to re quote.

3, I need to know if the socks fit or not. They don’t need to be exact, they come in size ranges, so 3-5, 5-7, 7-9 and so on. All I need to know is go down a size, up a size or they are fine.

Photos don’t help me unless they have a tape measure against it, and even then I really just want a number to work to. Measuring with your phone does not work, you will need a tape measure and you will almost certainly need an assistant to help.

Finally we do this so you get the right size of wader. We can generally only alter them once, and by law if we alter them we don’t have to change them if they don’t fit. This is why I want exact measured sizes. I have never had one wrong yet, but have had to go back to folks many times to get them to actually measure and not randomly guess numbers.

Our Used Waders

Our used waders arrive and leave very fast, they are super popular, and its not really possible for me to get them on line to sell them. When you contact me about buying used waders, just follow the instructions on our wader sales price, and include your budget and i will match you to all the new and used waders that will fit your sizes and needs/requirements and budget. It may be i can source a new wader in your budget, or perhaps can find something that perhaps you had not thought about or did not know about. We will do our best to match you to the right wader for your needs. 

 phone  07970041452 - Monday - Friday, between  0900 to 1700 only please,  email  out with these times 

dave@wader-repair.co.uk         or    dave@davegordon.co.uk