At Immersion Research, we try to do our part to reduce the environmental impact of the products we create. Part of that mission is to repair, which helps reduce the environmental cost of our gear by making it last. This particular skirt repair done by our Confluence, PA repair technician George Boss perfectly exemplifies that.
Stephanie reached out to us from Canada to see if there was something we could do with her spray skirt to turn it into something else because it was destroyed. After a quick phone call, she created a support ticket and attached some photos so we could see what we had to work with. Upon seeing the damage, we had a pretty good idea of what happened. Stephanie confirmed it was the result of a hospital visit.
"My skirt was cut off me in the hospital because I went in with a broken back. So hospital scissors did the damage." - Stephanie
Once we received the skirt in Confluence, we were able to confirm that a full-repair was possible. The hospital staff who removed the skirt had cut a nice line creating what turned out to be a relatively clean and straightforward repair.
First, we removed the old handle and cut rand. The rand we removed was re-joined the same way we do it on new spray skirts. While that was done, the skirt deck and tunnel were re-joined and re-taped. Finally, the rand was replaced, and a new handle attached. The result was a slightly tighter fitting skirt with a story behind it. This repair was done free of charge as part of our one year warranty, and we were happy to help out a paddler in need.
When we reached out to Stephanie about this blog post, this is what she had to say, "I know that myself and many of my friends are super stoked on how well the repair turned out. In fact, most people don’t even notice the repair unless I mention it! I can’t thank you guys enough for doing the repair for me. I use the skirt more days than not, and its rock-solid!"
Here's a photo of Stephanie's skirt back in action
Not every piece of gear is repairable. But, we pride ourselves on taking steps to keep equipment alive while also finding the best solution for our customers. If you have a piece of gear you want to be fixed, you can create a support ticket here. Hopefully, we can help you out too!