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Glued Repair

We actually had someone call from Israel last year wanting us to ship him two cans of boat glue. Forgetting for the moment that our minimum order for something international order is far larger than the price of two cans of glue, it still leaves the question of how he expected it to be delivered. If it went through slow mail via boat, there was a good chance the cans would have leaked or been degraded before they ever got to him. And again, air shipping on flammables is prohibitted.

UPS handles smaller amounts of glue with ORMD labels, but if you want to eliminate any chance of leakage or a mishap, buy a Nalgene container (we have them in this section) for us to pour your glue into. Lids can leak due to pressure changes if your shipment makes a journey over, say, the Rockies.

We sell rubber glue (for neoprene, hypalon, EPDM, and nitrilon boats) and pvc/urethane adhesives. We are not buying directly from the glue manufacturers anymore since the quantities we've sold the last few years have decreased dramatically, and we have actually lost money since 2000 almost every year because we have had to discard so much outdated adhesive. Thus, we're only carrying each glue in one or two sizes.

A Few Hints about patch kits: There are a few important items that a lot of whitewater boaters either leave out of their repair kits, or, they have them but may not realize why! You don't need a whole hardware store in the kit, but here are some things to pack along with the glue, brushes, and burnisher:

1. Absorbant cotton rags- if you get a rip through an air tube or inflatable floor, water will get inside; if you don't have rags or a sponge, how will you get the rip area dry enough to repair? Avoid nylon rags if you plan to use MEK or toulene. These solvents will melt nylon rags.

2. Valve removal tool (for Halkey Roberts & Leafield) or screwdriver (for military valves)- a spare valve won't do any good without a way to change it. If you drive an AIRE or other kayak using the B7 Leafield vlaves, which do not come out of the boat, you may also need an old fashioned tobacco pipe cleaner. These usually come in a little bag of a dozen. Take one and bend the last 1/4" or 3/8" ninety degrees with a pliers. Now you have a little cleaning tool for knocking off bits of sand and debris from the internal valve cup and sealing edge that it sits against down inside the Leafield. This cleaning must be done with the valve in the open position.

3. Cigarette lighter- no, it's not to light the recreational drugs while someone else does the repair. A lighter is handy on cold, damp days to dry out and warm up the repair area a little before you start applying the glue. Otherwise, on winter days you may have big problems with adhesion. Don't use it after the glue is applied though!

4. Mixing jar- if you have 2-part glue or 2-part Aquaseal.

5. A pen- not critical, but if you trace the patch outline before you begin, you won't slop glue all over. Alternatively, you can also use masking tape around the repair area to keep things neat.

6. Needle & heavy thread- for AIRE or other bladder boats only. Otherwise it's a bad idea.

7. Duct tape- sure, every one carries it, but why? Let's say you get a rip longer than 2". Big rips require an inside patch, because without one the exterior patch will start to blow off as soon as you reinflate the boat. The problem is that doing an inside patch is hard enough in your garage; out on a rocky river bank it's all but impossible unless you have an AIRE brand boat. Here's where the duct tape comes in handy. If you use it for the inside patch, the all-important function of keeping air pressure off the back side of the exterior patch is still achieved, yet you don't have to sand, apply glue, and try to get an unwrinkled patch down inside the tube through the rip hole. Instead, you can use a piece of duct tape about 2" longer than the tear to hold the rip shut from the inside. It's still quite tricky, but with tape you can keep redoing it until you get it perfect.

One last issue is the quality of the duct tape. The thin, plasticky junk so predominate at hardware stores is almost worthless. There are two places you can usually find the "good stuff". The first is the olive green military tape carried at most decent army surplus shops (a.k.a "100 mph" tape). A second source is the small rolls of "radiator hose repair tape" sold at automotive stores. Both are excellent and infinitely superior to the Home Depot crap.

8. Pre-sanded patch fabric- why do it out on the river?

9. A 21-piece socket set- of course we're just kidding here, but we are amazed how many people take wrenches down the river. What for? Maybe a pliers could be handy for a stuck valve or pulling up a bad patch, but otherwise leave the tool chest at home.

10. A waterproof container to put it all in- wet sandpaper is utterly useless.

Repair adhesives / glues from Clifton and Shore for rafts and other inflatables, replacement valves, boat maintainence products, Aquaseal, 303 Protectant, repair tools, fabric, and repair advice is found in this section. This section was updated March of 2010.

Please Note: we have a $25 minimum for orders being shipped, so we can't send just one valve cap or tube of glue.

Adhesives & Containers: Flammable liquids, including all raft glues we carry, can only be shipped by UPS ground. Even if you order a boat like an AIRE from us that comes with a screw-top can of glue in the patch kit, if you happen to live someplace like Hawaii the glue needs to be removed before the boat ships. We can sneak small tube-packaged items like Aquaseal and Barge Cement through the Post Office but we would still rather avoid air delivery. If you are on the east coast and are in a big hurry for your glue, you'll need to buy it elsewhere since we cannot ship it via airplane.

We actually had someone call from Israel last year wanting us to ship him two cans of boat glue. Forgetting for the moment that our minimum order for something international order is far larger than the price of two cans of glue, it still leaves the question of how he expected it to be delivered. If it went through slow mail via boat, there was a good chance the cans would have leaked or been degraded before they ever got to him. And again, air shipping on flammables is prohibitted.

UPS handles smaller amounts of glue with ORMD labels, but if you want to eliminate any chance of leakage or a mishap, buy a Nalgene container (we have them in this section) for us to pour your glue into. Lids can leak due to pressure changes if your shipment makes a journey over, say, the Rockies.

We sell rubber glue (for neoprene, hypalon, EPDM, and nitrilon boats) and pvc/urethane adhesives. We are not buying directly from the glue manufacturers anymore since the quantities we've sold the last few years have decreased dramatically, and we have actually lost money since 2000 almost every year because we have had to discard so much outdated adhesive. Thus, we're only carrying each glue in one or two sizes.

A Few Hints about patch kits: There are a few important items that a lot of whitewater boaters either leave out of their repair kits, or, they have them but may not realize why! You don't need a whole hardware store in the kit, but here are some things to pack along with the glue, brushes, and burnisher:

1. Absorbant cotton rags- if you get a rip through an air tube or inflatable floor, water will get inside; if you don't have rags or a sponge, how will you get the rip area dry enough to repair? Avoid nylon rags if you plan to use MEK or toulene. These solvents will melt nylon rags.

2. Valve removal tool (for Halkey Roberts & Leafield) or screwdriver (for military valves)- a spare valve won't do any good without a way to change it. If you drive an AIRE or other kayak using the B7 Leafield vlaves, which do not come out of the boat, you may also need an old fashioned tobacco pipe cleaner. These usually come in a little bag of a dozen. Take one and bend the last 1/4" or 3/8" ninety degrees with a pliers. Now you have a little cleaning tool for knocking off bits of sand and debris from the internal valve cup and sealing edge that it sits against down inside the Leafield. This cleaning must be done with the valve in the open position.

3. Cigarette lighter- no, it's not to light the recreational drugs while someone else does the repair. A lighter is handy on cold, damp days to dry out and warm up the repair area a little before you start applying the glue. Otherwise, on winter days you may have big problems with adhesion. Don't use it after the glue is applied though!

4. Mixing jar- if you have 2-part glue or 2-part Aquaseal.

5. A pen- not critical, but if you trace the patch outline before you begin, you won't slop glue all over. Alternatively, you can also use masking tape around the repair area to keep things neat.

6. Needle & heavy thread- for AIRE or other bladder boats only. Otherwise it's a bad idea.

7. Duct tape- sure, every one carries it, but why? Let's say you get a rip longer than 2". Big rips require an inside patch, because without one the exterior patch will start to blow off as soon as you reinflate the boat. The problem is that doing an inside patch is hard enough in your garage; out on a rocky river bank it's all but impossible unless you have an AIRE brand boat. Here's where the duct tape comes in handy. If you use it for the inside patch, the all-important function of keeping air pressure off the back side of the exterior patch is still achieved, yet you don't have to sand, apply glue, and try to get an unwrinkled patch down inside the tube through the rip hole. Instead, you can use a piece of duct tape about 2" longer than the tear to hold the rip shut from the inside. It's still quite tricky, but with tape you can keep redoing it until you get it perfect.

One last issue is the quality of the duct tape. The thin, plasticky junk so predominate at hardware stores is almost worthless. There are two places you can usually find the "good stuff". The first is the olive green military tape carried at most decent army surplus shops (a.k.a "100 mph" tape). A second source is the small rolls of "radiator hose repair tape" sold at automotive stores. Both are excellent and infinitely superior to the Home Depot crap.

8. Pre-sanded patch fabric- why do it out on the river?

9. A 21-piece socket set- of course we're just kidding here, but we are amazed how many people take wrenches down the river. What for? Maybe a pliers could be handy for a stuck valve or pulling up a bad patch, but otherwise leave the tool chest at home.

10. A waterproof container to put it all in- wet sandpaper is utterly useless.

How To: Install D-Rings and Footcups