Does anyone have experience with complete pad teardown/rebuilds?

[frankentender 0]

Hello all! I've searched posts here looking for what I'm after but I haven't found it yet, so I figured I'd start a new topic and ask other minds. Who else has made frankenpads?

First off, the backstory:

I'm rebuilding my decrepit but beloved Heaton helite 5 pro customs. I got them 11 years ago, second hand, and I haven't fallen in love with a pad since. The problem is, they're falling apart to the point that I'll never make it through next year with them. They're barely fit for ball hockey.

Enter the ringer.

One of my friends is a talented leathercrafter, and had offered to re-skin my pads for me over the summer for cost of supplies and beer. However, upon discussing the project with him on the weekend, it became quite clear that we both had bigger plans for this project. He wants to re-stuff and foam the pads with lighter, more modern materials to offset the weight of using natural leather. I want to add inches to the top of the pad, increase the size of my thigh wedge, add knee risers, re-route my toe straps underneath the pad face, etc.

My season ends in a week, and after they dry out from that, we'll be tearing them down. I'm asking now to get ahead of the game a bit. Who has done this? There has to be other beer league dudes with a love of their dinosaur 12in wide, stuffed leg pillows who's pads have fallen into disrepair! We're goalies, it stands to reason there are other mad engineers in the crowd. Do you recommend any foams or synthetic stuffing? Any warnings or cautions?

If anyone seems stoked on this, I'd love to share pictures of our progress.

[EvilPepe 24]

I'd head over to the GoalieStore forums - you'll find a fair number of people have attempted this, many with some considerable success.