No one from avid hunters and fishermen needs to be explained that an inflatable rubber boat is a wonderful and convenient thing. However, despite all its undeniable advantages, the "elastic band" is a rather impractical thing. Any snag sticking out of the water, strong overheating in the sun - and your beloved "rubber girlfriend" turns from an assistant and breadwinner into something shapeless and useless. That is why the topic of today's article is do-it-yourself rubber boat repair. After all, unfortunately, not every novice angler knows how to do it right and at no extra cost.
Boat inspection
Do-it-yourself repair of a rubber inflatable boat begins with a thorough inspection for damage. First you need to thoroughly pump all the compartments with air and carefully inspect the watercraft, listening to the probablethe hiss of air escaping from the hole.
If it was not possible to detect damage by sound, you need to cover the boat (entirely) with thick soapy foam step by step: where there are holes, the soap will “bubble”. If a damage is found, circle it with a marker or ballpoint pen.
Repair of rubber boats is not difficult, but very painstaking. Even if it seems to you that you have already found all the damage, do not rush. Inspect the entire surface of the boat - there may be scuffs, abrasions, peeling of seam tapes and other damage that could just about disable a clumsily repaired boat. So if you decide to repair the rubber boat yourself, the seams and the bottom should also not be left without your attention. After you have made sure that you have found all possible damage, you can "bleed" the air and proceed with the repair.
What you need for work
To make repairs easy and the boat last longer, you will need:
- a piece of patching material, similar to that from which the craft itself is made;
- fine-grained "sandpaper" for cleaning surfaces;
- glue for repairing rubber boats - 4508, 4NBuv, 88NT, SV-1-5M, 4010 and others;
- clean brush for applying glue;
- solvent for surface degreasing (alcohol, acetone, Kalosha gasoline); note: do not use motor gasoline - it contains oil;
- scissors;
- ruler;
- kapron threads;
- thick needle;
- pencil, marker or crayon;
- building or household hair dryer;
- roller for rolling or any other rounded object - spoon, knife handle, bottle, etc.
Sealing punctures
As already mentioned, the repair of rubber boats begins with a thorough inspection and detection of damage. If a small flaw in the form of a puncture is found, then proceed as follows:
- measure the diameter of the damage with a ruler and cut out a patch of the appropriate size; note - the size of the patch should be at least 2.5–3 cm larger than the damage site and have rounded corners;
- apply a patch to the damaged area and circle with a marker;
- with fine sandpaper, carefully but carefully clean the marked place and the overlay itself;
- carefully remove all the resulting debris and dust and degrease the surface well;
- glue both parts.
There are two ways of gluing - hot and cold, let's look at each of them.
Hot:
- using a brush, carefully apply glue to the patch and the puncture site; it is best to put a sheet of paper or cardboard under the patch, then its edges will not twist into a roll;
- wait for 15-20 minutes until the glue dries a little, and apply a second layer;
- again keep the set time, usually 10–20 minutes, and heat both surfaces to 50–60 ˚С;
- now we connect the heated surfaces betweenwith ourselves and strongly press them to each other;
- using a roller or any rounded object, roll the entire surface of the patch in order to eliminate excess air;
- clamp the repair site with a clamp or press down with any even and heavy object and leave it to dry for at least 24 hours.
Cold
This method is almost no different from hot, except that the surfaces are not heated, but are glued to each other cold. This method is used only when heating is not possible.
Sew up cuts
As you can see, repairing rubber boats is really a simple matter. However, if your rubber assistant is seriously torn, then you will have to apply a little more strength to “treat” her.
In the event that the gust or cut on the boat is quite large, then after sanding it must be carefully sewn up. In this case, you need to ensure that the edges of the cut do not tighten too much.
If the gust has torn edges and it is not possible to sew it up, then gluing must be carried out both from the outside and from the inside. We have already figured out how to apply an external patch, but you will have to tinker with the internal one. To make it more convenient to work, you need to do this:
- we spread the patch with glue not completely, but only up to half - this is done in order to make it more convenient to insert it into the hole;
- carefully place the patch inside the gap, after which it needspress, and roll the place of gluing with a roller;
- after a while, with a brush, coat the second half of the patch; so that the edges do not interfere - they must be carefully lifted and held with a ruler or knife;
- repeat the gluing procedure;
- now glue the top patch in the usual way.
Re-gluing oarlocks
No repair of rubber boats can do without a thorough revision of the oarlocks. The fact is that this node is subjected to the greatest load during operation and gradually begins to peel off over time.
The gluing process itself is exactly the same as for patches, but there are some subtleties:
- in order to easily tear off the oarlock, it must be heated with a hair dryer;
- it is necessary to glue a new spare part when the cylinder is deflated, otherwise the connection will be loose and will not last long.
Replacing the tape
In order to repair a rubber boat along the seam, you will need a special tape. It is also easy to re-glue the protective tapes on the cylinder. This is done in a hot way for a better connection of surfaces. There are also little tricks here:
- rubber boat repair tape should be cut at a 45˚ angle and made of rubberized fabric;
- it is best to replace the tape when the balloon is full - this will avoid deformation after drying, and the seams of the boat will not “lead”.
Repairing the bottom
Sometimes it happens that your "rubber girlfriend" requires serious, thorough "treatment". Repair of the bottom of a rubber boat can be attributed precisely to such work. Let's break this rather laborious process into several stages:
- First of all, it is necessary to fully inflate the cylinders and mark with a marker the place of gluing the tape and carefully remove it from the outside and from the inside.
- Mark the location of the bottom with the same marker and carefully remove it. To make the process as efficient as possible, you need to start with the bow, and for easier separation of the parts, you can use a hair dryer.
- Now you need to carefully clean and degrease the surfaces marked with a marker, thereby preparing them for gluing.
- Turn the filled balloons upside down and start gluing a new inner tape. Please note that you only need to glue half the area between the marker marks. Since the boat is upside down, you need to start from the bottom mark and apply glue in a strip to the middle. According to the already familiar technology, the glue is applied twice with a break of 15-20 minutes. You need to start gluing the tape from the bow of the boat, and do this only half of its width.
- Now start attaching the bottom. Since you need to glue rather large surfaces together, you can divide the work into several stages. First, we connect the surfaces on the bow and stern of the boat, and after that we move on to the sides. Glue, as you remember, is applied twice, with a short break. There is more hereone small nuance - when gluing the bottom, you need to carefully monitor that the part of the inner tape left free also sticks to the bottom.
- The last step is to stick the protective tape on the outside. Here it is necessary to ensure that the boundaries of the adhesive layer correspond to the width of the tape.
Small subtleties of the process
As you can see, repairing a rubber boat with your own hands is not such an overwhelming task, however, there are some nuances to keep in mind:
- work should be carried out with good ventilation, but you should not do it on the street - there dust and dirt will always get into the place of gluing, the quality of the repair in this case will not be too good;
- you should not start repairs when the air humidity exceeds 60% and the temperature is 25 ˚С; if the temperature drops below 15 ˚С - you need to additionally heat the room;
- if repairs have to be carried out in the field, move the boat to the shade, or rather, build something like an “operating room” out of a tent - this will help protect the damage site from dirt and dust.
