Plastic Kayak Repair

Since some recent discussions brought up the topic of kayak repair, here's a neat tutorial from http://urethanesupply.com/kcwelder.html.  The plastic rods and welder are available from Urethanesupply.com.

Step 1 - This is a typical crack that you might find on the bottom of a kayak. The first thing you need to do in any plastic repair is to clean the plastic. Use soap and water to remove any water soluble contaminants. Use a plastic cleaner like our Part Number 1000 - Super Clean Plastic Cleaner to remove any solvent soluble contaminants. Realign the plastic if is has overlapped itself.     

Step 2 - To maximize the strength of the repair, it helps to put a v-groove in the crack. There are two ways you can do this. The quickest way is with a Dremel® tool with a teardrop shaped tip. If you don't have a Dremel, you can melt in a v-groove with your KC Welder. Just turn the welder at an angle and run it down the length of the crack.
   
Step 3 - Using the KC Welder, melt off a "chunk" of the rod into the V-groove. Once the melted plastic rod is applied, make sure to melt it together with the plastic that is already there. This is a slow process. Allow time for the heat to penetrate the existing plastic and stir the melted rod with the melted kayak (or canoe) plastic. Work small areas at a time. Do not rush the job or you will not get good intermixing of the rod and the substrate.
   
Step 4 - Smooth out the repair and you're done.


To repair cracks around edges:

Using the welder, you can melt the stainless steel reinforcing wire mesh down into the plastic. It's like putting rebar in concrete! Here is how it works...
Cut a piece of mesh to span the crack about 1 inch (2.5cm) on each side. Using the tip of the welder, simply (but slowly) melt the wire mesh into the plastic. Once the mesh is buried into the plastic, you can go over it with filler rod.    

Thanks this is great. I didn't think of melting it together like that and the price is right. Now I just hope I will never need the kit.

Mike