How to repair a rubber boat

Inflatable rubber boats are practical and convenient. Large and load-lifting, they are light and compact in storage. Inflatable boats with a motor can develop quite a good speed. And in an inflated form they are almost impossible to sink. However, they have one minus - strength. Or rather - its almost complete absence. Reeds, snags or fittings sticking out of the bottom, easily turn a puffed boat into a piece of useless rubber. Repair of a rubber boat is not complicated, you can do without specialists, but still it will not come to fruition.

For "resuscitation" will be required:

- The patch. Better of the same material as the boat.
- Glue. Polyurethane or polychloroprene. You can take nairit. But in any case not the cheap "Superglue" in the tube from the transition. If these names are unknown to you, ask in the store or on the market mark 4508.
- Fine nazhdachka.
- Acetone. In extreme cases, alcohol.
- Soapy water.
- Heat.
- Press.

Rubber boat repair , act one: preparation

Blow off the boat. First you need to find the place of breakdown. To do this, you must pour the boat with soapy water and inflate. Place where the bubbles will appear, note. Based on the size of the hole, cut out the patch in shape with a margin of two to three centimeters around. If the gap is large, more than fifteen centimeters, you need two patches. The patch should be round or oval in shape. Next, it is necessary to prepare both surfaces: clean it by nesting (if a boat made of PVC, then this can not be done) carefully and with a margin. Remove all garbage. Degrease with acetone. If acetone is not sold, you can take alcohol.

Repair of a rubber boat, act two: gluing together

Before gluing it is necessary to try to bring the conditions to the ideal. The temperature should be within fifteen to twenty-five degrees of heat. Humidity is as low as possible. Dust in the air should not be at all. If the repair of a rubber boat is made in the field, then you can do without it, but then you will have to redo everything anew. Take the glue. If the boat is made of PVC, it is better to use glue polyurethane, in other cases - polychloroprene. Put the boat on a level place. Cover with a layer of glue both surfaces. For better glue performance, both surfaces should be heated to 50 degrees. You can use a hairdryer or, if nearby there is no hairdryer (sockets), a mug of boiling water. Give the material ten to fifteen minutes to dry and attach a patch. After that, smooth out the result and crush something even and heavy. The time of lying under the press depends on the quality of the glue and varies from a few minutes to a day. Important! Do not let any garbage, air or even water enter the patch, this will seriously damage the strength of the seam. After removing the press, the repair of the rubber boat is over, it is ready to be immersed again!

Important little things

For repair it is best to use a repair kit, which, in theory, comes complete with a boat. If it is not there, the rubber can be cut from the old OZK. If the gap is very large, it is better to paste another patch on the inside of the boat. Gaps in the bottom can be stitched for strength before gluing. Glue the boat better in a well-ventilated room. The whole repair of a rubber boat takes up to 24 hours, but in emergency situations it can be reduced to two to three hours with a loss in quality.