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Picture Of The Month



SD2OR with a trophy fall walleye

Topic: Leakage  (Read 2674 times)

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wreglmed

  • Perch
  • ***
  • Location: University Place
  • Date Registered: Mar 2014
  • Posts: 95
That's a good call - would seem easier to go inside out


Trident 13

  • Salmon
  • ******
  • Location: Kent
  • Date Registered: Jul 2016
  • Posts: 791
+1 for the internal fill up test. My trident was a totally dry ride and it stuck it’s nose in and under some waves that were impressive.


YippieKaiyak

  • Lingcod
  • *****
  • Location: Hillsboro, OR
  • Date Registered: Feb 2017
  • Posts: 349
Hey Pete, what's that repair kit stuff you mentioned you're using?  (link?)  You clearly get into sketchier waters than I do but I like to be prepared.
Kayaking without wearing a PFD is like drunk driving.  You can get away with it for a while, but eventually someone dies.


pmmpete

  • Sturgeon
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  • Location: Missoula, Montana
  • Date Registered: Jul 2013
  • Posts: 1989
Hey Pete, what's that repair kit stuff you mentioned you're using?  (link?)  You clearly get into sketchier waters than I do but I like to be prepared.
I've done a lot of multi-day whitewater kayak trips, from a couple of days to two weeks long.  If my kayak or a piece of my kayaking or camping gear breaks or rips on one of those trips, I need to be able to repair it.  So I've assembled a collection of repair equipment, which includes things such as the following:

- A spare drysuit neck gasket and wrist gasket and some Aquaseal or Marine Goop, so I can replace a torn gasket on the river.

- Pieces of waterproof nylon patch material and a small sewing kit, so I can sew or glue a patch on fabric.

- Several strips of raft repair fabric and some vinyl glue, so I can repair a cracked kayak.  Contact cement doesn't bond well to kayak plastic, but vinyl glue forms a strong permanent bond.  Raft repair fabric can do a very effective job of repairing a crack in a kayak on a relatively flat spot in the hull, if you drill a small hole at each end of the crack to prevent it from continuing to get longer.  This works because a crack puts a great deal of stress on the hull's plastic at the very tip of the crack, but if you drill a hole there, it spreads the stress over most of the circumference of the hole.  I protect the raft repair fabric patch from being snagged by rocks with a layer of duct tape, but duct tape only sticks to a kayak if the hull is completely dry.

- A couple of small light tools.

- A length of wire.

- A tent pole repair tube.

- Some duct tape.

I've fortunately never used some of my repair items.  Other items I've used repeatedly.


Tinker

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
Hey Pete, what's that repair kit stuff you mentioned you're using?  (link?)  You clearly get into sketchier waters than I do but I like to be prepared.

You can get a raft repair kit almost anywhere - Dick's, REI, or online, and I'm sure other places offer them, too.  I never carried it with me, but I have one left over from a one-person pontoon boat I once owned.  I'll need to look to see that kind of adhesive they included, but it's a small kit, just a 6x8 sheet of heavy polyester (?) patching fabric and a small tube of adhesive - and now that I know it has a use on a kayak, I need to shove it in the dry bag. It's not doing diddly for me sitting on the closet shelf.
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...


bb2fish

  • Sturgeon
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  • Location: Oregon
  • Date Registered: Feb 2013
  • Posts: 1499
I'd be interested to know what kind of adhesive that was and how well it sticks to polyethlene?


pmmpete

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Missoula, Montana
  • Date Registered: Jul 2013
  • Posts: 1989
I'd be interested to know what kind of adhesive that was and how well it sticks to polyethlene?
Vinyl glue adheres very well to polyethylene. You can buy it in small tubes. For example, I have installed a raft "D" ring on the floor of several of my creek boats to hold a dry bag in place on multi-day kayak trips.  Every time I tried to use contact cement, the contact cement would peel off the kayak and the D ring would come off.  When I glue a D ring down with vinyl glue, it stays there permanently.  On a couple of occasions, when I repaired a crack in a kayak with raft repair fabric and vinyl glue, the kayaker continued to use the patched kayak for several months before replacing it, and the glue held up despite being banged and scraped over rocks.

However, you should be sure to buy a kind of raft repair fabric which works with vinyl glue.


INSAYN

  • ORC_Safety
  • Sturgeon
  • *
  • **RIP...Ron, Ro, AMB, Stephen**
  • Location: Forest Grove, OR
  • Date Registered: Aug 2008
  • Posts: 5411
Take a shop vac and set up the hose to blow out instead of the normal vacuum.  Neck the tube down in whatever way you can fashion it to be able to connect into your drain plug bung.  The shop vac will provide you with high volume/low pressure air that will slightly pressurize the hull with air.  Then spray down your entire kayak with super soapy water and look for exiting bubbles.  Take pictures as you go, so you can go back and fix each leak.
 

"If I was ever stranded on a beach with only hand lotion...You're the guy I'd want with me!"   Polyangler, 2/27/15


pmmpete

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Missoula, Montana
  • Date Registered: Jul 2013
  • Posts: 1989
Take a shop vac and set up the hose to blow out instead of the normal vacuum.  Neck the tube down in whatever way you can fashion it to be able to connect into your drain plug bung.  The shop vac will provide you with high volume/low pressure air that will slightly pressurize the hull with air.  Then spray down your entire kayak with super soapy water and look for exiting bubbles.  Take pictures as you go, so you can go back and fix each leak.
Some people who use this shop vacuum cleaner/soapy water technique make a plug which goes in a round kayak hatch, and cut a hole in the plug for the shop vac's hose, so they didn't need to neck down the hose to a smaller hole.

Be cautious about filling up a kayak with water, as water is heavy and puts stress on the hull.
« Last Edit: May 15, 2018, 01:54:30 PM by pmmpete »


INSAYN

  • ORC_Safety
  • Sturgeon
  • *
  • **RIP...Ron, Ro, AMB, Stephen**
  • Location: Forest Grove, OR
  • Date Registered: Aug 2008
  • Posts: 5411
Take a shop vac and set up the hose to blow out instead of the normal vacuum.  Neck the tube down in whatever way you can fashion it to be able to connect into your drain plug bung.  The shop vac will provide you with high volume/low pressure air that will slightly pressurize the hull with air.  Then spray down your entire kayak with super soapy water and look for exiting bubbles.  Take pictures as you go, so you can go back and fix each leak.
Some people who use this shop vacuum cleaner/soapy water technique make a plug which goes in a round kayak hatch, and cut a hole in the plug for the shop vac's hose, so they didn't need to neck down the hose to a smaller hole.

Be cautious about filling up a kayak with water, as water is heavy and puts stress on the hull.

Using the hatch opening for the low pressure air supply would void any seal checks on that hatch, thus using the drain plug.   I suppose using the drain plug would also void the seal check there as well, but drain plugs have much much less surface area to leak from. 

Each to their own.  :-\
 

"If I was ever stranded on a beach with only hand lotion...You're the guy I'd want with me!"   Polyangler, 2/27/15


Tinker

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
Take a shop vac and set up the hose to blow out instead of the normal vacuum.  Neck the tube down in whatever way you can fashion it to be able to connect into your drain plug bung.  The shop vac will provide you with high volume/low pressure air that will slightly pressurize the hull with air.  Then spray down your entire kayak with super soapy water and look for exiting bubbles.  Take pictures as you go, so you can go back and fix each leak.
Some people who use this shop vacuum cleaner/soapy water technique make a plug which goes in a round kayak hatch, and cut a hole in the plug for the shop vac's hose, so they didn't need to neck down the hose to a smaller hole.

Be cautious about filling up a kayak with water, as water is heavy and puts stress on the hull.

Using the hatch opening for the low pressure air supply would void any seal checks on that hatch, thus using the drain plug.   I suppose using the drain plug would also void the seal check there as well, but drain plugs have much much less surface area to leak from. 

Each to their own.  :-\

There's a Hobie video of how to use low pressure air to pop out a dent in the hull here (Okay, NWKA doesn't seem to want to let me paste in the URL.  Sorry about that.).  Wouldn't it be the same principle when doing the air pressure/soap bubble method of finding a leak?  Hobie pumps the air in through the drain plug hole and it looks like a lot less work doing it that way than trying to plug a hatch - but what do I know?  I think I think too much...    >:D


« Last Edit: May 16, 2018, 01:33:41 PM by Tinker »
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...


craig

  • Sturgeon
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  • Location: Tualatin, OR
  • Date Registered: Jul 2008
  • Posts: 3814
Just cut an paste the web address into the body of your message.

Low pressure leak test on a Hobie and, imagine that, the hatch leaks.  ::)



I got hammered on Saturday in the Outback heading out through the surf as I punched through a curling wave.  Loads of fun, but I had probably a half gallon of water in the hull by the end of the day.  I am sure most of it got in while punching through the wave.

Also, if there is any water at all on my center hatch of any of my Hobies, as soon as I open the hatch to get something out, all that water conveniently pours right into the hatch.  If it wasn't for the Mirage Drive, no one would own a Hobie for fishing (IMHO).  I know I wouldn't.  I say this as someone that has owned an Adventure and currently two Outbacks and a Revo.  The Ocean Kayak designs are superior (and sexier).
« Last Edit: May 20, 2018, 09:27:33 PM by craig »