Inflatable boat repair, What works?

[Buggy]

The bladder on my inflatable pontoon has a small puncture. I have tried Tear Mender but the adhesive won’t bond to the vinyl bladder. Thought about roughing the vinyl with fine grit sandpaper to aid the bond. Has anyone experienced luck repairing the bladder?

 

[tomgamber]

http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/(gk2aizy1qwi1ms55ti33yd30)/productdetails.aspx?sku=2147002504&source=GoogleBase

 

[Buggy]

Thanks Tom, for the link on the tire patch.

 

[tomgamber]

I used to get flats in my mtn bike tires all the time in Idaho because they had these little thorns in the grass. Any patch with a vulcanizing strip around the rim will hold fast. Just make sure its clean and yeah, you should rough up the area around the leak. The bigger the leak the bigger the patch. I wouldn't trust just adhesive on anything. I used a smaller version of this on my float tube inner tube once. Whats nice is you can do it anywhere and be done in minutes.

 

[osprey]

TomG.........I have a friend who works at CANNONDALE in Bedford and i put Buggys question to him and you've literally quoted him so Buggy...............What Tom says. Do you still bike?

 

[springer1]

If the inflatable boat is Vinyl, then a normal patch for rubber inner tubes will NOT work, but there is a special goop/patch that you can get for Vinyl and it works great. I have a set of featherlight Cabelas waters, and this is what I use on them with no problem.

 

[tomgamber]

osprey wrote:
TomG.........I have a friend who works at CANNONDALE in Bedford and i put Buggys question to him and you've literally quoted him so Buggy...............What Tom says. Do you still bike?

Not like I used to in Boise. It may sound weird but its too rural here. I hate to run, bike, walk, lift or basically do any kind of exercise just for the sake of the exercise. I used to bike everywhere in Boise: to work, to the bars, to the store, to friend's homes, fishing... Here anywhere I could bike to I can walk and anything else requires a car. I should though. If I need a long walk I'll go fish a steam that I can walk a long ways on and not spend much time in each hole. My kids are big enough we could all bike together now so maybe I will. I'm not getting the kind of exercise I need right now I do know that.

 

[osprey]

I might be able to get you a good deal on a Cannondale , they are awesome bikes , being a one legged guy i can honestly say they are the best i've ever ridden , they are a little pricey but sometimes you can get one that was a test bike for a real good price. They used to give my friend one to bring out to camp and ride awhile , then they would take it back and go over it looking for problems , x-ray the welds , check tire and brake wear etc. At the time their top of the line mountain bike sold for like $3000.00 a few folks got test bikes for $700.00 which is a steal. The only problem i was ever aware of was when they tried using graphite/carbon fiber , trapazoid shaped frames , which i believe they abandoned for good. The last one i rode had a steel/titanium frame , back to round shaped , i swear to god Tom you could lift the whole bike up with two fingers. I don't own one.......yet , i bought a 4 wheeler after i lost my leg but the next toy purchase for me is gonna be a mountain bike.

 

[tomgamber]

I still have my Trek and I like it fine. Needs a tune up though.

 

[beeber2]

Buggy,

Aquaseal and a piece of cloth for backing. Apply a thin coat to both the cloth and the repair area. Join them together and you should be all set. For extra security, let that dry and then apply another coat over the cloth patch the next day. Use latex gloves to make the cleanup easier.

I've done a repair like that on a 2 inch slice in my pontoon and it's lasted 2 years and should hold up for a long time to come. Goop might work too, but I'm sticking with aquaseal.

By the way, rubber + aquaseal doesn't seem to work for me. I tried to patch a wading boot with a section of inner tube, and the rubber peeled away from the adhesive very easily.