[jreising326]

Hi Folks,


I recently purchased an early 90's 12' Hyside to set up for fishing. I've been building a frame and DIY Anchor system. I was told by the seller the raft was rolled up wet and left in storage, so there are bare spots in places where the Hypalon delaminated and so some rather large areas, and one is right were my frame and anchor boom will lay. I've been lurking around here for quite some time and learned some really good things about building frames and DIY options, and about raft repair. I've seen the System 6 and Flexhane threads, but not sure I want to go that route. I'm looking to restore the boat as much as prevent it from getting worse. I read on JPW that I could glue Neoprene patches over these areas, or buy some wear patches and glue them using Clifton Adhesive which I have already.


Boat holds air well, no leaks I'm aware of other than really slow leak from the military valves. Pic here was taken 4 or 5 days ago after pumping up to lay the frame out with.


Any and all advice given is much appreciated!


Thanks!


Joe

 

[jreising326]

Raft Photo this time

Sorry having trouble figuring out how to post the photo, hopefully this works.

 

[zbaird]

You can patch with hypalon, neoprene or whatever. I would probably use hyside material but whatever would work. Figure how much you need and call them up for running feet of it. I would extend the patches a good couple/few inches on each side of where the de-lam is. I would make sure the material is peeled/ sanded back to where it is solid. Good thing about the 90's hyside is that they had great coatings inside and out so as long as the inside coating isn't compromised you should be good. Good luck!

 

[jreising326]

Thanks Zach, I ordered the material as you suggested. I've read on Jack's Plastic Welding that Weldwood Contact Cement can also be used on Hypalon Rafts. I have 4 oz of Clifton but think it will only cover 1 or 2 of the larger patches. The Weldwood Cement is available at Ace Hardware for under $10. Any reason anyone might know as to why not try that on a repair like this, i.e. no leak, no structural issue, just protection? I'd probably prefer to save the Clifton for the D-Rings I want/need to add if I can.

 

[zbaird]

I guess you could give it a go. Re prepping everything if it doesn't stick could be a bit of a pain. I would use Stabond or Clifton of you brought it to the shop. I would think the boat, time, and material investment would warrant using a glue made for the material but maybe the westwood is fine.

 

[jreising326]

Thanks Zach, I think I'll test it out on a smaller patch and use the Clifton on the important stuff with the new material. The boat came with a few patches from a doner raft. If the one holds for a while I can determine whether to use the cheap stuff in the future. I'll use up my Clifton as the shelf life is limited so no sense trying to save it. It is freshly ordered without the accelerator. I'll do the 1 D-Ring I really need and the primary wear area I'm concerned about with with Clifton.


The Weldwood is Toluene based but takes a week to cure to 70% strength, and a year to full strength. I read a bunch of stuff about it and it's been used on Hypalon Dingy's successfully for a long time.


This boat of mine is a $300 boat that I will eventually upgrade as long as I use it enough to justify it. So it's also a maintenance guinea pig as long as I don't ruin it.


Thanks again for your help...

 

[ckirrk]

In the "grand"scheme of things the clifton cement is not that expensive if you consider a patch failure on the water just as you're dropping into Lava or Dubendorf or satan's gut. I'm sure you can add your own names to the list. I once experimented with cheap adhesives. I only did that once.

"There is nothing quite so fun as messing about in boats" or something like that.
Have fun, use your best judgement and a good organic fume mask.

 

[chromefinder]

my advise - life is short so buy that new self bailer i told you about

 

[ckirrk]

my advise - life is short so buy that new self bailer i told you about

What he said"buy the new self bailer"

 

[jreising326]

His real advise was to save the Clifton for a leak and paint it with Krylon and use a Teva Sandal on the anchor boom and stop whining. I was best man in his wedding in 1995 and he is trolling me.. He told me about the self bailer after I bought the Hyside, because that's the kind of guy he is. I hope you choose your friends more wisely than I have..

 

[jreising326]

Although the Hyside Hypalon Fabric arrived yesterday, I found something at the hardware store called Plasti Dip that looked like an exact color match so I thought I'd try it as a temporary fix first. I'm trying to post some pics so hopefully this works:


Here's one of the delam areas, in the back where I was most concerned:

 

[jreising326]

I had similar delam on the front and both wear strips were bare skrim. The Plasti Dip cost $7 and even if it peels off after a year or even a few trips it was worth the time and effort, which was minimal. It's accomplished what I was most concerned about which was more wear and UV exposure on the skrim. I'll update this thread after a few uses if it ends up peeling off. Here's the front end after painting:

A few more pics after completion: