Got bored today so decided to tidy up my ascend fs12t. Happened to be looking through drain hole and saw some light coming through the keel area. Last summer it slipped and fell off the back of my truck and hit pretty hard on concrete. I thought it had only put a little dent in it.....but apparently it's so thin now I can almost see through it!! Checked out some videos of plastic welding and pretty sure I can repair this with some plastic welding rods and heat gun. My question is what rods to get? Will any hdpe rods do? Any help would be appreciated!
HELP ! Kayak repair
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Harbor freight has a $20 plastic welder. I have used it with success on some outdoors rotomolded totes.
I don't know the Ascend kayak plastic. Is it rough and a little soft or smooth and a little hard?
Mine is the rough rotomolded one... and believe it or not, it's the same type of plastic as a Tide detergent jug.
Do a search for HDPE....
Get outdoors provision in Greensboro did some great plastic welding on my son's Native Magic. They are artists. They charge $50 an hour for kayak welding.... A lot of work on my kayak, and it was 2 hours. If you can get it fixed professionally for $50 or $100.... it might be a good idea to do that.
I don't know the Ascend kayak plastic. Is it rough and a little soft or smooth and a little hard?
Mine is the rough rotomolded one... and believe it or not, it's the same type of plastic as a Tide detergent jug.
Do a search for HDPE....
Get outdoors provision in Greensboro did some great plastic welding on my son's Native Magic. They are artists. They charge $50 an hour for kayak welding.... A lot of work on my kayak, and it was 2 hours. If you can get it fixed professionally for $50 or $100.... it might be a good idea to do that.
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What Len Said, any hdpe will work you can also ask for waste at kayak outfitters, like the holes cut out for placement of hatches, if it is much of a crack or in a stressed area some stainless steel mesh is advisable. You can use a piece of screen for screen doors. By sure to drill a hole at the ends of the crack lots of you tube but I like the info on this link as well. https://aquamarinesports.com/5-diy-kayak-repairs/
Darrell
Darrell
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Just some fyi, Milk jugs are hdpe and so are a lot of your other liquid cartons. You can use a putty knife and a propane torch or stove of some kind. I have the Hobie plastic welder(just like the others but has a hole in the middle you can fill from) and a heat gun. Basically most plastic containers with the recycle number 2 are hdpe.
I am at best a jack leg when it comes to everything, but I welded mine, was easy, and did not take long. I don’t know you but I am certain you can do this. I think I bought a small kit, probably from Amazon. In my case, I had a 6” rip (caught a sharp piece of rip-rap on the Frenc Broad while smallie fishing. Anyway I used my Dremel to smooth out/even out the tear. Was more fun than hard. Good luck.
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Mike33h is on the mark. Check out Steve Moore's KayakHack on YouTube. He is a big kayak guy in our fly fishing club and he knows his stuff. His hack deals with all things Kayak plus spinning rods and fly rods. He shows you how to do it on his own kayak. It's worth checking him out. He will answer questions, too. He's a good guy.
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If the whole area is thin I think you need more help than some welding-that is for minor cracks or holes. You may want to try looking into something like http://www.keeleazy.com or https://keelguard.com/megaware-keelguard/ that will protect from further damage and abrasion, keeping leaks from happening. I'm going to install the keeleazy on the nose area of my pro angler this year because of launch ramp rash wearing down that area.
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I had the same thing happen on my fs12t. I could pole my finger through it it was so thin. We built it up with plastic weld and it worked well for a while but eventually wore back through. The proper fix is to weld mesh over the weak spot
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https://youtu.be/Drk0KUT_BbI
This looks like an simple, robust enough repair. I will be trying this tomorrow. I'm also gonna use a bucket lid. I'm hoping I won't need to use any wood support, gonna see if the thin spot is gonna fall through once heated. Thinking with a larger patch I can heat enough area around it to weld properly....we shall see!
This looks like an simple, robust enough repair. I will be trying this tomorrow. I'm also gonna use a bucket lid. I'm hoping I won't need to use any wood support, gonna see if the thin spot is gonna fall through once heated. Thinking with a larger patch I can heat enough area around it to weld properly....we shall see!
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https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002...?ie=UTF8&qid=1516057134&sr=8-5&keywords=gflex Simple to use, great stuff!!!
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