Repairing a "plastic" dinghy

[lydiamight]

I have been given a 10 foot "plastic"--not fibreglass--dinghy which will be used for fishing on a small lake. It has a 2 foot gash down one side, about 1-1/2 inches wide.
Can anyone reccomend how this might be repaired?
I had thought of buying a fibreglass repair kit but I am not sure how this would adhere to the plastic hull.
All suggestions would be welcomed.

 

[status]

Not the answer you want but it depends.....

What is the plastic?

If polypropylene fibreglass will not stick, polyethene much the same, PVC possible with a primer.

Best bet would be to get it welded up with a hot air weld gun, look up local plastic fabricators and they should be able to help. Would offer but Kent is south of the Watford Gap!

Stuart

 

[Baddox]

Ask at your nearest canoe and kayak shop. Most modern kayaks are made from plastic and can be welded.

 

[Lodesman77]

Could be polypropylene like a kayak or perhaps ABS - like the Tehri boats - and can easily be welded. Use a heat gun with a Sealey plastic welding nozzle and the appropriate filler rods.

 

[macnorton]

Car body shops repair plastic bumpers, I would let one have a look and see if they can do it?

 

[Talbot]

I have heard of leak stops using sikkaflex.

 

[nigelmercier]

What is the plastic?

Indeed, this is the important question.

As an aside, I remember once using a dinghy made of of Expanded Polystyrene (like the ceiling tiles). It was great fun, until we spilt fuel in it!

 

[Lakesailor]

If it's a Bic the repair kit is about £40.
I know someone who claims to have repaired polypropylene with melted milk cartons. Using a blow torch!!

 

[duncan]

as others have said, plastic welding.....

given the size of the gash the alternative for small repairs isn't going to do it - standard hot melt glue gun. works well.

sikaflex or equivalent will bond, but again it's a large 'fill'.

 

[Cymrogwyllt]

from my kayaking days iirc a linear plastic can be heat welded but a cross linked one can not.

You may find it's linear as x linked is much tougher and I bounced off many a rock and down many a waterfall in a x llinked one.

It's not pretty but (I forget the name, a tape with a bitumen type coating ) can, at a pinch, be applied pitumen side in wet but best wipe with meths first. It's remarkably durable and still the first line of defence as an emergency glass kayak repair.


edit:

http://www.directa.co.uk/site/scripts/product_browse.php?product_id=1809&category_id=1129

we used to cut it in to smaller pieces ready for use.

It needs pressing down on the surface hard (a paddler crash helmet wroks a treat). A riverside repair to a 50 to 75 mm hole lasted a further couple of hours and then a 26 mile paddle the following day with no sign of deterioration.