How To Repair Polyethylene Canoe

Repair Kit & Canoe Repair Nuts

By Jamie Orfald-Clarke, Boreal River Rescue instructor

A practiced canoe repair kit tin can prevent everything from sleepless, mosquito-infested nights to risky and expensive evacuations. But even the most well-stocked repair kit won't do any skillful if information technology's too heavy or big to keep close at paw.

Having the tools to repair gear immediately in the field also prevents further wear and tear, and keeps your gear out of the landfill.

What'south in my canoe repair kit

Here are the essential items that brand upwardly my personal repair kit.

Roofing tape : Incredibly sticky and stiff tape for canoe patches
Patches : stick on and sew on – canvass, nylon and leather. For tents, shoes, sleeping pads, sleeping bags and packs
Five minute epoxy : A very strong and difficult adhesive. Nifty for paddle and canoe repairs in areas that won't experience a lot of flex
Duct tape : Quick repairs on anything! I bring a ringlet of gorilla record, which is stronger than regular duct tape (duct record merely sticks to a very dry surface)
Shoe goo or Marine Goop : Similar seam seal but thicker and more goopy – groovy for repairing things that need to flex
Seam seal : For leaky seams, patching small holes in sleeping pads, drybags, or annihilation nylon, or for sealing the edges of large patches, or hand sewn repairs
Fibreglass and Sandpaper : Combine with epoxy or shoe goo to brand a strong canoe patch
Zip ties : You lot'll find a utilize for them
Sewing kit : Floss makes very stiff thread – hide a needle in the container for the globe'southward smallest sewing kit
Small hardware : – Nuts and Bolts. Bring some long ones as replacement seat bolts
- A few nails (a hot nail can punch holes in a canoe to sew up a big tear)
- Safety pins, buttons, any other replacement parts (pack clips and zipper pulls can be a good improver)
Extra string and stupor string : Yous tin always use extra cord and rope. A length of shock cord could ready a broken tent pole
Scissors : Cutting patches, sewing repairs, etc.
Wire : Swell for various canoe repairs
Small vice grips and screwdriver : Tightening or replacing nuts and bolts
Lighter : Always overnice to have extras, and expert to have shut at hand for some repairs
Tent pole splint : A hollow plastic or metallic tube – apply it to span a break in a pole and tape it in place equally a temporary repair. Remove it at the cease of the trip and replace that section of pole
Speedy stitcher/sewing awl: For heavy duty sewing repairs – the thick leather needle and tough wax thread can run up upwardly even the thickest materials

Plastic ABS canoe repair

Canoes are fabricated of many different materials, and each requires different repair techniques. Most modern tandem whitewater canoes are made of a blazon of plastic called ABS.

Different forms of this highly versatile plastic are laminated to make the stiff, flexible material used in whitewater canoes. An ABS cream core is sandwiched between two hard layers of ABS, and so coated on each side with a protective layer of vinyl pigment. This layered construction gives ABS canoes an incredible corporeality of flex and retentivity. After beingness folded in one-half around a rock, they can return to their original shape with niggling visible damage.

The forcefulness of ABS can, however, be compromised by exposure to UV light, when scratches and abrasion remove the protective vinyl layer. Exposure to the lord's day causes the ABS to become soft and breakable, and more susceptible to cracks and tears. Cracks, if not chop-chop repaired, expose the foam core to water; if captivated, the water breaks down the bond between layers of ABS, causing the hull of the boat to delaminate.

A boat that has started to get soft, scissure, or delaminate is likely nearing the end of its life, since the backdrop of ABS make permanent repairs difficult. Good boat care should focus on prevention – treat an ABS canoe a little more like you would a cedar strip or wood canvass, and you'll find it lasts a lot longer. There are, however, several repair options which tin can tiresome deterioration and go on the boat on the h2o longer – especially when cracks are repaired immediately, before delamination occurs.

Canoe repair options

Duct tape

Duct tape can make a surprisingly durable repair. To strengthen the bond between the tape and the boat, consider the post-obit:

Both canoe and tape must be completely dry, or the record won't stick at all.
A boat that has warmed in the lord's day first will form a stronger bond
A metal spoon can be heated with a lighter and then rubbed on the record to cook the glue and further strengthen the bond with the boat

Roofing tape

Roofing tape is a step up from duct tape. Used to patch leaky roofs, it is much thicker and stickier than duct tape, and very flexible. It is more tolerant to damp or cool weather condition than duct record, but a warm, dry out canoe will still produce the best results. Find it in iv-viii inch rolls in the hardware shop.

Epoxy

Epoxy is a 2 role adhesive often used with a woven fibreglass or kevlar fabric to patch cracked canoes. Nevertheless, most epoxy dries to a hard, brittle consistency. Since cracks occur about often in soft parts of the canoe (where ABS has deteriorated), the ABS is probable to flex under the patch, causing the patch itself to crack. Epoxy is more effective for repairing or replacing skid plates, felted kevlar patches which protect the stem of the canoe at each finish. These are places where the canoe is non likely to flex.

Shoe Goo/Marine Goop

Shoe Goo/Marine Goop is a one-part adhesive that dries to more of a rubbery consistency. It tin exist used on its own to patch small leaks, or used with fibreglass or kevlar textile as an alternative to epoxy. It will create a more flexible patch that will seal out water, but is able to bend with the boat.

ABS and acetone

ABS tin can also be used as a patch. When ABS and acetone are mixed together the ABS melts, or dissolves. It can and then be practical in thin layers with a small brush, and the acetone volition evaporate, leaving the hard ABS as a patch. To melt the ABS, it first needs to be cut or shaved into minor pieces. Black plumbing pipes or lego blocks are good sources of ABS.

Sewn with string

Large cracks, normally formed when an older ABS canoe gets wrapped, can exist sewn with cord. This will hold the gunkhole together, only require a waterproof patch (any of the higher up) to stop leaks. A gunkhole that needs to exist sewn back together probable won't exit on another whitewater trip, merely this repair tin can allow the gunkhole to be paddled out.