Fender Repair

[Sailfree]

I have 2 fenders that have developed small leaks under the rope eyelet position.

I am hoping it's easier to repair them as no chandery near here so apart from cost I need to stay in to accept delivery.

Tried silicone sealant under eyelet but still leaked.


Now trying super glue.

Wondering if Gorilla glue that cures and expands on contact with water will "stick" eyelet in and effectively seal fender may be better.

For those that don't know Portugal there are many massive Chinese shops (3 big ones on our local small town of Bombarral) staffed mostly by Chinese nationals that sell goods from hardware to clothing but only goods tools etc manufactured in China! - it really brings home to you how dependant the West is on Chinese manufacture. I mention this as Gorilla glue is not made in China so Ithink it's unobtainable here and I will need to order it from Amazon.de. At least Gorilla glue will fit and hence easy to deliver to our post box!!

Any other recommendations?

 

[Irish Rover]

When I was a youngster we used to repair leaks in plastic footballs, buckets etc with a red hot poker. Worth a try on one of them if you don't find something else more suitable.

 

[Plum]

I have 2 fenders that have developed small leaks under the rope eyelet position.

I am hoping it's easier to repair them as no chandery near here so apart from cost I need to stay in to accept delivery.

Tried silicone sealant under eyelet but still leaked.


Now trying super glue.

Wondering if Gorilla glue that cures and expands on contact with water will "stick" eyelet in and effectively seal fender may be better.

For those that don't know Portugal there are many massive Chinese shops (3 big ones on our local small town of Bombarral) staffed mostly by Chinese nationals that sell goods from hardware to clothing but only goods tools etc manufactured in China! - it really brings home to you how dependant the West is on Chinese manufacture. I mention this as Gorilla glue is not made in China so Ithink it's unobtainable here and I will need to order it from Amazon.de. At least Gorilla glue will fit in the post box!!

Any other recommendations?

I repaired a fender by welding it! I had a length of white domestic mains cable and removed the white outer PVC insulation to use as my weld material. Used a gas powered soldering iron with a hot-knife tip. Just like metal welding metal, you need to melt together the parent and the weld material without them running away.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I have try to patch my PVC fenders with PVC weld as used in PVC pipe glued pipe fittings and as some as any pressure applied they leak again.

Will try PVC hot air welding as per Plum

Have looked in the past at filling with closed cell flexible foam rubber but not found anyone to do the foam filling

 

[Geoff A]

For a temporary repair fill with expanding builders foam. To go one better use closed cell expanding foam. I did this on a punctured mooring buoy. (the above post was put on while I was typing)

 

[rogerthebodger]

For a temporary repair fill with expanding builders foam. To go one better use closed cell expanding foam. I did this on a punctured mooring buoy. (the above post was put on while I was typing)

What closed cell expanding foam. did you use, can you post a link

 

[Bobc]

Hot knife? Soldering iron?

 

[BobnLesley]

Depending upon the size of your hole, we've had good success with 'pin-hole' inflatable dinghy leaks by injecting a pva/water mixture through the valve (without getting any onto it) and then pumping-up hard to seal from from the inside; no reason it shouldn't work on fenders too, especially with a leak near/at the end..

 

[Sailfree]

Depending upon the size of your hole, we've had good success with 'pin-hole' inflatable dinghy leaks by injecting a pva/water mixture through the valve (without getting any onto it) and then pumping-up hard to seal from from the inside; no reason it shouldn't work on fenders too, especially with a leak near/at the end..

Interesting - how did you manage the injection process please?

 

[BobnLesley]

Interesting - how did you manage the injection process please?

OK we always used a 50/50 water/pva mix for the dinghies; on a fender I might put a bit more pva glue into the mix; we used 1 litre of pva for a 2.7m three chamber rib.. We'd feed a small plastic tube through the valve flap and push a big syringe or washing-up liquid bottle into that tube's outer end and use that to inject the mixture into the dinghy; our fenders had a valve that could be screwed out, so with those sort I'd look to remove/inject/re-install.
Once the mixture's inside, pump up really hard, then shake/turn/up-end your dinghy/fender to coat the inside and if you think you know where the worst of the leaks are, hang it up with that point lowest; that ensures any residual glue settles thickest where said leak(s) are. Leave hanging - preferably somewhere warm - for a minimum 24 hours and preferably 48 and during that period - especially the first twelve hours - release the air and re-inflate it four or five times; pva glue cures by exposure to fresh air, so this changes/freshens the air inside.
After curing, reduce the pressure to normal and pin hole leaks should be sealed; we got another two years out of the first (our own) dink that we treated, though admittedly, it was only deflated/re-folded perhaps two or three times during that period.

EDIT: Lesley tells me we used a 500ml bottle and the mix was nearer 4:1 (25% pva) for our rib tubes.

 

[Boathook]

Could try a hot glue gun with a suitable 'glue' I would allow the 'gun' to heat up for 10 minutes so the the nozzle is hot.

 

[Daydream believer]

For a temporary repair fill with expanding builders foam. )

Have you actually tried it----or have you just decided to make that one up

 

[Sailfree]

If I can get the necessary valves to connect to the inflator point I might try some tubeless tyre repair inflator kit

 

[V1701]

I'd have suggested a blob of CT1 & would be surprised if that didn't seal a pinhole but such may not stick if you've already tried silicone...

 

[rogerthebodger]

If I can get the necessary valves to connect to the inflator point I might try some tubeless tyre repair inflator kit

I drilled out the existing valve and glued in an old schrader valve so I could fit or remove the inner valve to add the required goo to seal the fender

 

[Refueler]

I have 2 fenders that have developed small leaks under the rope eyelet position.

I am hoping it's easier to repair them as no chandery near here so apart from cost I need to stay in to accept delivery.

Tried silicone sealant under eyelet but still leaked.


Now trying super glue.

Wondering if Gorilla glue that cures and expands on contact with water will "stick" eyelet in and effectively seal fender may be better.

For those that don't know Portugal there are many massive Chinese shops (3 big ones on our local small town of Bombarral) staffed mostly by Chinese nationals that sell goods from hardware to clothing but only goods tools etc manufactured in China! - it really brings home to you how dependant the West is on Chinese manufacture. I mention this as Gorilla glue is not made in China so Ithink it's unobtainable here and I will need to order it from Amazon.de. At least Gorilla glue will fit and hence easy to deliver to our post box!!

Any other recommendations?

Gorilla Glue is a brand name for :

Polyurethane Glue ... or PU Glue for short.

Its a builders glue primarily ...

Here's what we have here ... and its a German product .. so maybe you can find it there :

We can buy it in small bottle and as shown here - large bottle.

 

[MontyMariner]

What about the pressurised cans of car / bike tyre sealant? I think that they contain latex.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Given the nature of fender valves, I think that getting stuff inside the fender without damaging the valve might be difficult. If you have replacement valves on hand that may not be an issue,

 

[Refueler]

IMHO ... trying to repair an air pressure fender is a road to failure ... unlike a tyre innertube - there's nothing to support the repair .. and IMHO it woul only take one 'hard' arrival and fender would be leaking again ...

If it was a hole - then possibly one of the tyre plugs might do it ... but not a hole ?? Don't think so.

PU glue is too hard once set ... anything silicon like would never hold ... CA is like PU - too hard ...

The material used in most fenders is not good holding for glues anyway .... maybe a patch and glue from an inflatable may give temp answer ??

I decided a few years back to give some chinese cheapo fenders a trial ... eBay is full of them ... years later - still doing their job as good as the UK Chandler ones I have that were higher cost !!

 

[Plum]

I repaired a fender by welding it! I had a length of white domestic mains cable and removed the white outer PVC insulation to use as my weld material. Used a gas powered soldering iron with a hot-knife tip. Just like welding metal, you need to melt together the parent and the weld material without them running away.

just to add to my earlier post, I repaired my Majoni fender 4 years ago and it has been in service since without a problem.