How To Repair An Inflatable Kayak

Over the past twenty years, nosotros've received many questions from customers on repairing inflatable kayaks, locating leaks or adding d-rings and mounts. Just recently, nosotros stumbled across a groovy tech sheet put together past Aquaglide a manufacturer of inflatable kayaks, standup paddle boards, and a new Backwoods lightweight, packable kayak serial. We are reprinting the tech sheet beneath – read on to notice out how to locate a leak in an inflatable kayak, what materials and repair methods to use and when to utilise them. As long time retailers of inflatable kayaks and paddle boards, we have expanded this to include some of our own AirKayaks tips.

General PVC REPAIRS – updated 07/30/2020

Annotation: The following instructions are for patching a basic leak on a PVC inflatable, typically a puncture or cut. More complicated repairs such equally those near seams and corners, may crave special repair techniques which are beyond the telescopic of this commodity.

Some Helpful Items and Where to find them

Tear-Aid – Tear-Aid Type B is a self-agglutinative patch cloth that's widely available online and at nationwide retail outlets like Walmart, Ace Hardware, AirKayaks, REI and more. Great for relatively long-term repair of punctures on all types of PVC products. Clear, non-toxic and easy to use.

Aquaseal FD– This is a liquid sealant that tin can exist oozed into very pocket-sized cracks, edges and pinholes. Widely available online and at nationwide retail outlets. This stuff is a piddling messy to work with and may be best practical using a small plastic irrigation syringe from the drug or hardware store.

Shoe Goo, Clear– Yup, seriously. This is a very thick vinyl-based adhesive that can be used for quick, brusk-term plugging of pocket-size holes on low pressure level items. Widely bachelor online and at nationwide retail outlets like Walmart, Lowes, Walgreens, Dick'southward, REI and more.

Fabric Reinforced PVC – Reinforced PVC, or tarpaulin, is commercial form fabric that is the footing for most of Aquaglide'south Duratex products. The strongest and virtually durable repair for Duratex items is by and large to patch with material of the aforementioned type. This cloth can be plant in the repair kit included with your Aquaglide product or purchased from an Aquaglide benefactor. In a pinch, similar material can be found online, or at marine stores where RIB dinghies or whitewater rafts are sold or serviced. If you go this route, Exercise NOT utilise patch material or glue intended for Hypalon, which looks almost identical, just volition result in a gooey mess when combined with PVC.

Contact Adhesive– For those choosing to repair with a reinforced PVC patch (see above), using good glue is disquisitional. Nosotros recommend HH-66 vinyl agglutinative, which is available through Aquaglide, and also widely available online, through Walmart and many local car parts stores where information technology is used to adhere auto emblems. The 4oz and 8oz sizes typically have an applicator castor in the cap – perfect! If not, y'all'll demand a minor disposable brush.

Solvent– Don't skip. While smelly and admittedly hazardous to wellness, it's important to clean surfaces with solvent before making a long-lasting repair. MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) is the best solvent for PVC repairsas it chemically preps the surface, but Acetone will as well piece of work. Rubbing alcohol/isopropyl booze works in a pinch, but is not nearly as good at removing oils on the surface which can spoil adhesion. In North America, all of these products can be found online and at local hardware or domicile repair stores.

Some Other Stuff– For Tear-Assistance or Reinforced Patch you lot will need sharp scissors or a razor knife, a bit of sandpaper (medium dust), pencil or prc marker. A clean rag is helpful for any repair. You may also want liquid dish lather & sponge (to observe a sneaky leak), and a respirator and gloves (to go on the solvent away from you). Please note: Practise not employ steel wool to abraid the surface! It has oils on it which will spread around and mess up the lamination. Likewise, small-scale fragments of the steel will break off and embed in the (relatively soft) PVC surface. Use 120-150 grit sandpaper or (meliorate yet) emory cloth. The emory cloth is better considering it doesn't go out every bit many particles that accept to exist cleaned off.

LOCATING LEAKS

• You may know right where the leak is (lucky!). If not, you first need to locate the leak. To do then, fully inflate the product. Some leaks are difficult to observe at lower air pressures, so re-inflate periodically while looking.
• Use a soapy h2o solution (50%/ fifty% dish lather & water) and a clean rag or sponge to bank check for leaks. Piece of work slowly around the product spraying or swabbing-on soapy water solution. Mind carefully and look for growing bubbles, which betoken a leak. Don't forget to bank check seams and around the valves.
• In one case a leak is confirmed, dry the area well, marking it with a pencil or china marker and prepare to patch.

VALVE LEAKS

Military Valves

• If your kayak has a military machine valve and the leak appears to be coming from around the valve, information technology is possible that your valve is loose! Employ the valve wrench that comes with your kayak to tighten information technology and then cheque overnight to see if that solved the problem.
• If the leak appears to be coming from within the valve, check the interior and push button on the plunger (armed services valve) to make sure that dangling threads or sand is not lodged in the valve flap, impeding a tight seal. Accident hard or apply a soft brush to remove the culprit. E'er remember to screw on the valve cover to forbid sand/particles from getting inside the valve.

Boston Valves

• If your kayak has a Boston valve and the leak appears to exist coming from around the valve, please read our commodity, How to Utilise and Troubleshoot a Boston Valve for Inflatable Kayaks.

PATCHING LEAKS

Delight read through Full general PVC Repairs higher up to run across what materials volition work for your repair.

Tear-Aid Type B: (Easy Options)

1. With the leak located, cut a Tear-Help patch using sharp scissors. Round the corners slightly (approximately ¼" radius). The patch should comprehend 1″ (two.5cm) outside the leak area in all directions.
2. Utilise solvent and rag to clean the patch area. Dry with a make clean fabric or allow to air-dry.
3. Peel back the paper bankroll to betrayal a section of adhesive. Align the patch and apply pressure level to stick in place. Peel back the remaining paper bankroll material. Avoid trapping air bubbles nether the patch.
4. Rub firmly from the center toward the outer edges of the patch, making sure to press all sections firmly in place.

Aquaseal FD or Shoe Goo (These products merely work for modest holes.)

1. Clean with solvent about i" around the hole.
2. With the detail deflated, comprehend the hole with Aquaseal FD or Shoe Goo making sure to comprehend approximately ½" in each direction around the pigsty. With Shoe Goo you may take to employ a slightly wet, gloved finger or tool to press the goo flat.
3. Allow to cure for time catamenia specified past the manufacturer, so inflate.

Using Material Reinforced PVC/Patch Leak

1. Deflate the product. Adapt the work surface so that the repair surface area is well-nigh accessible.
2. Cutting PVC patch material to size using sharp scissors or razor knife. Round the corners slightly (approximately ¼" radius). The patch should encompass one″ (2.5cm) outside the leak area in all directions.
3. Clean with solvent a trivial beyond the gluing area. Besides clean the back of the patch material.
4. Utilize sandpaper to crude upwardly the surface to be patched and the back of the patch textile.
5. Clean with solvent again to rapidly remove sanding remainder from gluing area and the back of the patch.
6. Dry out-fit the patch and use pencil or red china marker to outline where it volition be located.
7. Utilize a small disposable brush, or HH-66 applicator castor to apply a thin, even layer of gum to the repair area. Cover completely, but glue only within the outline.
8. Employ glue to the to the back of the patch making sure to cover the surface area completely.
9. Allow glue to cure briefly (30 – lx seconds) – but until the surface glazes slightly.
10. Echo 7-9 to add a 2nd coat of glue in the same manner.
11. Align the patch over the repair surface area using the outline as a guide. One time the 2 surfaces touch, the bail will exist immediate, and then have care.
12. Carefully apply the patch to the repair area, starting at one corner and working outward.
13. Employ very firm pressure to rub the unabridged patch surface area and the edges of the patch for at least 1-2 minutes.
14. Allow to cure for at to the lowest degree 12 hours before inflating.

You lot tin likewise see our article on Attaching D-Rings to an Inflatable SUP , which uses the aforementioned general approach.

Thank y'all, Aquaglide for taking the time to put together this information!

Source: https://goairkayaks.com/2021/01/26/finding-leaks-options-for-repairing-a-pvc-inflatable-kayak/

Posted by: mcateeexhaf1999.blogspot.com

Share this post