Came here looking for ideas. I am going to try a heat gun. That should melt the plastic easily and can probably put on patches rather then little pieces.

I did get some useful information from this video. I didn't know the type or grade of plastic or where th o get it, until now. But, how did he know? Why not clean kayak inside and out? Apply patch materials inside and out; sandwich patching. I think because of the potential of scraping the boat bottom on hard surfaces like a rock. I think sandwich patching adds not only strength but helps to keep the patch in place longer. Could keep a leak slow, instead of loosing patch altogether. Yes, I am aware of hard place to get to, but I am going to try mine. Where to buy and prices, glad that was pointed out too.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks for the tip!

Thanks for sharing!

Can you send a link to what you used?

No no no! You fix plastic with plastic! Hot plastic sticks to hot plastic!

Not quite sure, and unfortunately, Wyatt is no longer with us.

Awesome - thanks for watching!

Glad we could help!

Your 100 percent right and a no brainer.

I would also add that the stainless mess should have been welded to the kayak before adding the top layer. There shouldn’t be any reason that this isn’t a permanent solution.

Thanks for the feedback

@@Saltstrong Thanks for the video! I successfully repaired my kayak over the weekend because of this.

Sweet!

No, it wouldn't bond. Better to use a fiberglass repair kit. Plenty of videos and super satisfying.

Thanks for sharing!

gator guard

It's hard to let go!

Check out the full blog on our website and post your question there. That way, our coaches can respond back directly with their input and recommendation. You can find that here: www.saltstrong.com/articles/fix-hole-in-kayak/

That’s a really good idea. I think one of the mistakes made in this video is not cleaning the area well enough and seeing that there had been multiple repairs attempted made it difficult to really prioritize the leak itself. Cleaning the area and even drilling at the two ends of the crack are a good way to ensure the damage doesn’t spread. Covering the whole thing in plastic like “plastic duct tape” doesn’t help very much. Using whatever material the kayak is (HDPE in this case) and bonding it to the damaged area and attempting to fill it in are way better ways to actually fix the issue. The mesh is really helpful in areas that are are either many multiple cracks or a massive, structurally compromised, crack.

Thanks for the feedback

Let us know if you try it out!

Great question! Make sure to ask this over in the Community (www.saltstrong.com/) where the coaches spend their time.

It is if the kayak is rotomolded polyethylene, the most common material used for kayaks, and the plastic bottle is marked with a recycling triangle with a 2 inside it and the letters HDPE below it, which stands for high-density polyethylene. They are both the same type of plastic, chemically identical which is what's important in dealing with plastics. There are also plenty of other consumer products packaged in #2 plastic, most notably milk bottles and white vinegar jugs. You certainly wouldn't want to do this on a fiberglass or Kevlar kayak, and I've been seeking advice on whether I can do it on my ABS plastic kayak. I have friends with rotomolded poly kayaks who have successfully repaired cracks using a soldering iron like they use to securely close plastic shorebird bands so they don't come off or partially open such that the band could potentially injure the bird's leg, or lead to something like fishing line or an old net getting caught in the crack, which could have all kinds of negative repercussions for the bird. I'm actually in the process of obtaining some scrap plastic from the manufacturer of my kayak, of the same type from which it's made, so I can experiment with the soldering technique before actually trying it on my kayak.

@@bethwright8595let me know if you’re able to get the abs. My line is an ABS Line at work, I have access to both ABS virgin pellets and pelletized ABS regrind. Both do need to be heated and dried in a specialized industrial “dryer” to remove moisture but do have access as well to the tubes we make which wd most likely be what u use to melt n patch, but ABS doesn’t adhere to itself from a extruder running at 400 degrees to formed product quite like other plastic. Even at a hot temperature (to hot, ABs will bind and burn turning a burnt color from a natural color). When our line goes down we often run the ABS part out of the tanks and just walk new part slowly down by hand (yes hot as f) through the tanks into the puller because trying to stuff pipe “lets call it a pipe) is a praying game hoping when u start the puller that holds the already made pipe, the hot material straight from the extruder u just stuffed into it holds in there. Because it literally does not melt to itself. I hope this makes sense. Obviously wishing you the best of luck with it.

@@bethwright8595i just thought about this further, we have another plant that does assembly for our client attaching a abs part to an abs part. You need a special chemical bonder to bond the ABS to itself with the scrap u are using to the Kayak. MEK is a binder you can use. I am not sure how to advise on how to use it all for your project in particular but hope this all helps

Buy one from Gator Guards and apply it yourself.

It held up for him 🤷