How to Double Wrap a Headphone Jack

As someone who has owned dozens of underwater headphones I highly recommend this to extend the life of any pair you buy. This method was shown to me by a top pro for protecting where your coil cable enters the coil but works on headphone jacks too.

1/ Its easiest to do this with the jack on the machine. Disconnect the coil cable so you can wrap freely. Cut a strip of rubberized tape about 6” long. You can choose to do the front flange crack and the back wire end separately or use one long piece of tape—maybe 8” long. Cut on a diagonal. Separate the backing by nipping off a corner with your teeth. Hold one long corner down against the plastic flange crack. (Not the metal one that turns). Then wind the tape around and stretch it to twice its original length. As you come around on your first turn get it to contact where you are holding the first point by laying it down over top. Then go around once or twice to complete the seal. Pull on a corner and lay it flat to finish the wrap. The metal flange should turn freely but the tape should cover where the plastic flange connects the body of the plug to the front carrier.

Do the same at the back wire end making sure to pull extra hard to go down to the wire size. There should be no gaps between the back of the plug and the wire.

Then get some electrical tape and starting from the front again, wrap the entire plug tighly. Again pull hard to go down to the wire diameter. This second layer is to protect the more fragile rubberized tape and stop it from unraveling.

This will prevent any underwater headphone jack you use from leaking. Its more necessary if you plan to hunt a lot but it’s ten minutes well spent. When a plug leaks, water can wick up the cable–making it very hard to re-solder. Here’s how the finished product should look:

The outside layer can be changed if it gets damaged or starts to unwind. What’s important is to create a good seal on the front flange thread and the back where the cable comes out.