Plastic Boat Hole Repair?

[mallard83]

My friend owns a 12' Coleman Crawdad boat with an 8 horse Merc that he uses for fishing and it also doubles as our duck hunting boat.

The problem is that there is a couple of small holes scraped into it at the rear of it from years of runing the boat aground. We have tried tons of different epoxies and various "goops" but nothing seems to stay on to long (1 mabey 2 trips). Since the boat is Ram-X (plastic) it flexes allowing the hardened epoxy to chip, crack and fall off. It really slows the boat down with both of us, our guns and decoys when the hull fills with water before we reach the launch. LOL.

We are looking for a durable fix for it, if there is such a thing. This boat has lasted us through about 8 years of jumping logs, bouncing off river rocks and motoring through sand and mud. These are extremely durable boats and if we absolutely have to we will probably just buy a new one. We would rather find a cheap fix for the time being though because money is tight for both of us.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[produce2troutcat]

Have you tried Shoo Goo.It is a pliable epoxy/glue (I think) that you use to repair soles of shoes .

[mallard83]

No, we haven't tried shoe goo yet. It is pliable but I am not sure how well it would adhere to plastic.

I have heard of plastic welding. Does anyone else have experience with this?

[Anonymous]

Yes, welded lots of plastic totes and docks.

About the only thing that works onthat polyethelene plastic is welding. Nothing will stick to it, period. You can get a resonable plastic welder and rods from Harbor Freight.

Plastic Welder

[mallard83]

Yes, welded lots of plastic totes and docks.

About the only thing that works onthat polyethelene plastic is welding. Nothing will stick to it, period. You can get a resonable plastic welder and rods from Harbor Freight.

Plastic Welder

Thanks a ton Bodofish. Harbor Frieght was going to be my next stop if nobody had any reasonable ideas. I love Harbor Frieght and go there often. I used to go to the Everett one on Evergreen until they put one in just down the street from where I work in Bellevue on Northup Way/20th street.

Is it very difficult to weld plastic? Is there much of a difference between plastic welding and metal welding? Does the plastic welder come with instructions on how to weld plastic?

Also I noticed that there are different rods for different plastics. Which rod should we use for the polyethelene?

Sorry for all the questions but we would like to get it as close to right as possible. Thanks.

[Gisteppo]

One other little fix to try is to lightly scuff the areas around the holes with 120 grit sandpaper, then fill the hole with anything you have handy to plug it (piece of wood, plastic salvaged from other boats, etc), then glue it up with 3M 5200 adhesive. There is also a fast curing version, but the slow stuff works as well and is cheaper. Flexible and will work below the waterline.

E

[fishing collector]

You might try some automotive filler for bumpers. It is very flexible and should stick pretty well. Another idea is to call the manufacturer of plastic boats and ask them. I have used Devcon products before with great success. Remember to sand the area due to the problem of non sticking....I would use 80grit.to get a lot of grab. Good luck... Steve

http://www.restockit.com/Problem-Plasti ... var7=100F1

or try this....

http://www.kalyx.com/store/proddetail.c ... 5/file.htm

last item....

http://www.caswellplating.com/aids/solderit.htm

http://www.levineautoparts.com/duflplre6flo.html

[mallard83]

Thanks to all. We are going to try to "plastic weld" it first and see what happens. If that does not work to satisfaction, then we will try the other ideas.

Thanks again,
Josh