Basic Field Repair - Alpacka Raft Packrafts

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Күн бұрын

www.alpackaraft.com/repair-guide/ -- Alpacka Raft Packrafts -- Excerpt of our Repair Guide for packrafts below; follow the link in this paragraph to see the full guide.
Always bring a Repair Kit and KNOW HOW TO USE IT if you want to make it home on time!
Packrafts are made of lightweight materials and will require maintenance and repair under normal use. Knowing how to repair your raft is essential to a successful packrafting experience. Read the information in our Repair Guide carefully. Be Prepared!
Be patient! Use an extra pair of hands if available. Dealing with tape, glues, and fabrics can easily get out of hand. Think through your repair before starting.
A note on fabrics: Most of our older boats (purchased before 2014) have a urethane coating on both sides of the fabric. Our current fabric (from 2014 on) has urethane only on one side (the outside) of the fabric, which significantly improves tear strength. The inside of these tubes resembles a woven fabric and does not feel smooth like plastic. We call this the “Uncoated” side. It is important to know which type of fabric you have so you are prepared to fix it. Look inside the dump valve, or stick your finger inside and scratch the fabric, if it feels smooth and a bit shiny, then it is double coated. If it looks like looks and feels like a nylon jacket, its single coated fabric.
Tools of the Trade: Get to know your packraft repair materials.
Alcohol Wipes: Basic denatured alcohol wipes available at your local drug store, great for prepping the raft for a successful bond of repair tape or glue.
Patch-N-Go: A strong, easy, and effective repair tape, great for most tube and floor repairs. Provides for long lasting repairs when applied correctly. This is a great product.
Tyvek® Tape: Amazing on packrafts! (Lowe’s® House Wrap Tape works too) We discovered this by accident. You can buy Tyvek® Tape at any hardware store that handles Tyvek® House Wrap. This tape is almost as good as the Patch-N-Go®, it just isn’t as strong. With 15 feet (4.5 meters) of tape, you can literally re-assemble your boat after a Grizzly bear uses it for a chew toy, and it will probably get you home. Consider wrapping a few yards of it around your paddle or around a lighter in your repair kit. The longer you leave it on, the better it sticks! Be sure to remove any temporary repairs that you don’t want to become permanent when you get home. We have seen small Tyvek® Tape repairs last several seasons, though we prefer more permanent methods.
Tenacious Tape®: A strong repair tape for the uncoated side of raft and spray-deck fabrics. Great for backing (inside) tube repairs and spray-deck repair. Can be used for temporary repair of small holes (smaller than 1/2” 1cm).
Gorilla Tape®: For backing the inside of tube repairs and quick spray-deck repairs. Can be used for temporary tube and floor repair in a pinch. Works best on the uncoated side of fabrics, as in the underside of the spraydeck.
Aquaseal®: Aquaseal is an air-curing adhesive sealant. It’s great for patching small holes, reinforcing stitches, sealing seams, and much more. It’s flexible when dry and completely waterproof when properly applied. Requires a minimum of 6-8 hours to dry and cure! Cotol® Accelerator will reduce cure time to 2-3 hours. Does not work well for attaching grab-loops or bonding fabrics, as it needs air to cure.
Aquaseal® UV: Instant curing version Aquaseal. Apply in the shade and then move to direct sun or use a UV light pen and sealant will cure in seconds. Perfect for instant repairs and long lasting, but not quite as good of a bond as regular Aquaseal.
Urethane tube and floor fabric: You should have received small pieces of both tube and floor fabric in your repair kit. Aquaseal can be used as an adhesive in a pinch, but doesn’t bond well sandwiched between layers, as it needs air to cure.
Learn more on our Repairs Guide page.

Пікірлер: 11

@gaylord.b.cockburn 2 жыл бұрын

The first video about packrafts, which shows, that these boats are not invulnerable😉👍

@mostlyguesses8385 3 жыл бұрын

thanks for sharing info on patching rubber boats,,,,,, helpful ,,,, you have helped 100s and me, ,, , , you get to go to heaven God told me, , , , , ,

@matteoscalas4084 5 жыл бұрын

Which one would you use to fix a leak on the internal joint between floor, seam strip and two tube pieces?

@eugeniabragina7301 2 жыл бұрын

In my experience, one should NEVER use aquaseal. I applied it to the tube surface, and it didn't seal anything. I thought that I might have an old tube, and opened new one - still, it was leaking. Then I tried to apply patch-and-go on the top, but aquaseal created uneven surface so patch-and-go doesn't hold. And i'm not sure how to remove it. Very upset and pazzled. Did I ruin my Gnarlwal?...

@theodoremartin6153 6 жыл бұрын

I bought a alpaca back in 2007 . I pounded the piss out of this thing . I risked my life hunting ducks on rivers and sloughs alone . I put a custom twin electric motor on the back and rigged up a 3.5 hp gas engine on the front with a break away motor mount mounted on a aluminum tube frame attached to the tie offs and some customising . Tore the 3.5 right off the front after slamming into a submerged log . Messed up the motor but the Alpaca had enough give to the design to have been unaffectd . No damage , but paddled back to truck . Then I went whole hog and used pink foam rigid insulation to put a fiberglass hull on the bottom to see if that did anything . Made the raft unsinkable , even when deflated , but didnt add any appreciable speed . So far i never got a hole but put a DC raft inflator on so that if I did I would be able to replace leaking air while on the way to shore . I routinely put 400 pounds in the thing and never had a problem . Camoed it up and floated a local slow river and killed 53 ducks and 13 Geese one year . Too easy , lost interest . Put 303 on about 4 times over the years . Some of the glue dried out annd i had to redo a section of the floor to tube bond with polyurethane siding caulk which is also what i used to attach the fiberglass hull . Stays stretchy , sticky as hell .Tested and approved . I put a whole bunch of cracks in the fiberglass hull and just refinished the hull to as new . Need to retape the seam between the tube and the hull in two areas by saturating quilting tape with poluyrethane caulking ,as per my original construction . I can see why alpaca put more inflated area on the back end because i weigh 250 pounds and it made the stern sit lower in the water because the front and back were the same shape . Good move Alpaca . My overall thought is that you folks have designed a near perfect if not perfect tool for wilderness exploration . Small, light weight , tough , easy to patch , increased cargo space( wish i had that zipper thing ) reasonably priced . I personally think that the packraft as designed by Alpaca is a near perfect tool if your the kind of person who needs gear that is bomb proof yet easily and quickly repairable . Im writing this review as pennance for ordering a packraft kit which uses the Alpaca design . Money is tight and by building it myself i figure i have enough experience to get it in the same ballpark as an alpaca . But if I had the money i would not hesitate to buy another Alpaca . EXPERIENCE is a very valuable commodity when your by yourself and holding your life in your hands and are still gaining skills to prevent yourself from drowning . ( Any knee jerk do gooders out there dont like my travelling alone can GFY).I consider this glowing , BUT TRUTHFUL review payment to Shirley and co. for buying a kit that copied here design . In closing after drooling over the latest innovations come up by Alpaca I would say if you can in any way come raise the money , buy from Alpaca and know you got every pennies worth . Its just one less thing to worry about , especially if your a newbie or a pro hoping to survive that one unanticipated situation that only occurs once in a liftime but that a guy survives only because of the experience of the folks who had access to multitudes of first hand experiences and near misses.

@BenHighMeen 3 ай бұрын

wat

@AaronVets 3 ай бұрын

If you hunt, you’re a c***. 🖕🏽

@stormyboy129 2 ай бұрын

I ain't reading all that