Polyethylene canoe repair

The same chemical properties that make your boat extremely flexible and durable also prevent other materials from bonding to it. How do you patch a kayak? On polyethylene boats cosmetic damage usually takes the form of abrasion, superficial slits, cuts or gouges, and localized dents in the hull panels. ABRASION Abrasion is basically due to wear and tear and if often localized. With a fiberglass canoe or drift boat, you can simply patch over any cracks with more fiberglass and epoxy.

However, polyurethane-based epoxies (as most are) have a hard time adhering to polyethylene.

Login: Password: Register. Repairing polyethylene by melting it together creates a repair that is actually just as strong as the rest of the boat , provided that you melt it all the way through, that you get the weld to mix well, and that your patch is the same thickness as the rest of the hull. Repairs of this nature normally require a patch both inside and outside of the hull. Boats made of this relatively inexpensive material are incredibly durable and abuse-tolerant as well as near maintenance free.

The final repair will be watertight and stronger than the area around the weld repair because of the additional amount of material placed on the repaired area. THIS IS THE ONLY REPAIR KIT THAT WORKS ON POLYETHYLENE CANOES OR KAYAKS. For making structural repairs such as cracks or holes in just about any type of plastic canoe or kayak.

Links to the plastic welder I used.

Wood canoes are easy to repair and live a hundred years or longer when properly cared for and stored in the off-season. Hand-built canoes will be on the higher end of the price scale, but their fans say that if you paddle a well-designed wooden canoe , you never look back. Coleman canoes are made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE), the same stuff that is used for making ice chests and 55-gallon chemical drums. The least expensive way to repair that boat is to buy a new one, and hopefully one made of something other than HDPE. Polyethylene Canoes made of polyethylene are a durable, low-cost option.

The easy molding and lightweight properties of polyethylene make it an ideal material for kayaks , storage tanks and other items. The slick surface quality of polyethylene does not allow you to use epoxy resins to repair cracks or punctures that occur to an object constructed with polyethylene. Another way to address this is to place the canoe right side up, making sure the area of the hull to be reshaped is not firmly against ground or floor.

Fill some flexible bags with very hot water and place them on the area to be reshaped. The heat and the weight of the water can help reform the hull to proper shape. I was given a kayak but it had six cracks in the hull and would eve. Basically most inflatable kayaks and rafts are made of either a synthetic rubber (that used to be called hypalon), or vinyl (PVC). The term “hypalon” is now history.

That basically same material, chlorosulfonated polyethylene (CP), is what most kayak hulls would be made out of today. Although strong and lightweight, polyethylene is not impervious to cracking. When a polyethylene part cracks, you need to repair the part immediately to reduce the chances of the crack growing and ruining the polyethylene part.

NorthWest Canoe is a family owned business specializing in canoe repair , kayak repair and SUP repair along with wood strip canoe building. Health officials state the likelihood of catching the COVID-virus by touching cardboard or shipping packages is very low.

Repair plastic canoes , kayaks and inflatables made from HDPE, LDPE, ABS, PVC or polycarbonate plastic. Iirc, there is a step where you heat treat the surface (like Granitic mentioned above). It was an old wooden canoe that had been fiberglassed over where the canvas had once been.

A big enough chunk was knocked out that we had to either stop and patch or dedicate one paddler to constantly bailing.