# Repair kit question



## Gremlin (Jun 24, 2010)

I wouldn't leave anything behind for a mutliday trip, and I have plenty of room to carry a complete repair kit on day trips. My cat has three chambers in each tube and once,while rigging it from camp, I found the middle of a tube was on a sharp rock. I found out after fully loading, when I saw some bubbles. I really didn't want to derig and do a patch on the beach so I chose to launch with 2 chambers. It rode really well, but if anything would have happened, I knew I had everything I could need to complete the float. If I was down to one chamber and only had Duct tape or Tear-aid and a fully loaded raft, I could have been in trouble. Mine all fits inside a 5.56mm ammo can and is strapped in out of the way.


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## GBWW (Apr 26, 2010)

Although this may sound flip. Buy a bigger pelican case that will hold all your repair gear. This has been where I have found the best prices.

Don't forget, glue has a one year shelf life. I can attest to that after repairing a boat twice in a morning on the Grand. The first time with my old glue and the second time with the glue the outfitter provided with the rental boat...

-Dan



2kanzam said:


> In preparation for the upcoming fair weather rafting season, I was reorganizing my on-river repair kits as I now own rafts made of PVC, Hypalon and Urethane. The PVC now has its own container….but the urethane and hypalon are so similar that the only difference is the raft material and the adhesives. So I want to put the two kits together into one of the NRS barrels that the kits come in…but they won’t quite fit (at least one can of adhesive won’t fit).
> 
> 90% of my rafting is fishing day trips- up to class III and a few class IVs. The rest are multiday camping trips lasting 2-4 days in about the same type of water…traveling 20 miles or so (with accesses in between).
> 
> ...


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## pinemnky13 (Jun 4, 2007)

I have 2 boats, 1 hypalon 1 Aice PVC. they both have separate repair kits that ride on each one in 5.56 ammo cans


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## lhowemt (Apr 5, 2007)

Pick up some liquid lex from sotar. It works great as a temporary (and some say permanent) patch. I was on a day run last year when no one had a repair kit, but someone had some liquid lex. They saved the day.


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## GBWW (Apr 26, 2010)

Carrying Cases | Shipping Cases | Custom Foam Inserts There is the link I forgot to add.



GBWW said:


> Although this may sound flip. Buy a bigger pelican case that will hold all your repair gear. This has been where I have found the best prices.
> 
> Don't forget, glue has a one year shelf life. I can attest to that after repairing a boat twice in a morning on the Grand. The first time with my old glue and the second time with the glue the outfitter provided with the rental boat...
> 
> -Dan


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## 2kanzam (Aug 1, 2012)

GBWW said:


> Don't forget, glue has a one year shelf life. I can attest to that after repairing a boat twice in a morning on the Grand. The first time with my old glue and the second time with the glue the outfitter provided with the rental boat...
> 
> -Dan


 
See and another thought I had is that keeping the glue in the garage could be better for it than exposing it to temp extremes inside the drybox.(not that I tend to push it beyond a year, but certainly assuring that the shelf life isn't _lessened_).


So am I hearing that nobody really bothers with a somewhat temporary solution like tear aid on the river? Most of y'all opt for the full on patch?

I've only had one minor on the river repair necessary-fixed with tear-aid but it was just a tear in the floor of a bucket boat (no air), it held fine for the duration until I got it home and dry to patch it right.


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## slickhorn (Dec 15, 2005)

I don't ever take less repair gear on a multiday trip than a day trip. What's the thinking on that? If anything, I take more repair kit on the multiday trip. 

I have a variety of boats as well. I rely on tear-aid as a first line of defense. There's no glue to expire, there's no glue to mix, and it is a multiuse item for a variety of pieces of gear. A flat sleeping pad or blown neck gasket can impact a trip as much as a pinhole, so repair kits should be built with more in mind than repairing the boat. 

When I carry/use glue, I prefer 1 part glue on the river for field repairs. 

Last year, we had an IK pp a tube on a class V creek run here in WA. Short of heat welding a patch, NO glued on patch was gonna solve this tear, which was on a welded seam where the tube seam met the floor seam. 

Tear aid went on in 5 minutes, got the boater down the run and off the river safely .... and truth be told the boater is still using the boat with the original field repaired tear aid patch holding just fine. 

To me, patching a boat is a pretty basic deal, and if it can't be done, your group should be able to absorb gear/bodies and get everyone out. 

So, I'd put more thought into the other stuff: extra oarlock, valve, valve wrench, split ring, the right wrenches for frame repair/adjustment, etc etc etc. 

I've had at least 2 trips where the hole in a tube exceeded all the combined fabric from all the combined kits on a trip (and we weren't skimpy either). Unless you are gonna carry a spare floor or 30 sq feet of material, there's no such thing as a failproof repair kit.


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## climbdenali (Apr 2, 2006)

My opinion on repair kits for class III-IV day trips- forget it. If you get a tear, strap the tube up as high as you can, and move on. It won't be a great handling boat, but it'll get you down. Then, when you get the boat back to a proper shop, you can put on a one time permanent patch, without having to remove a bunch of glue from a field patch. I'd go so far as to say that depending on the time of day, you might be making your situation _worse_ to try to put a patch on on a day trip- think, an hour from the takeout, spend 2 hours patching a boat, now, instead of taking out at 5, you're out at 7. . .getting cold, dark, etc. And maybe the patch doesn't even hold.

Now, obviously for class V, or for multiday, or for heavy gear boats, you've gotta have a patch kit, but personally, I leave the patch kit at home for less than an overnight.


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## 86304 (Apr 15, 2008)

i don't know. 

take a patch kit so you don't need it.

i'm not superstitious, that's just bad luck!

bob


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## dirtbagkayaker (Oct 29, 2008)

2kanzam said:


> My question is: For these kind of trips, do you guys take all of your material and adhesives just in case…or do you generally depend on tear aid and duct tape to get you to where you need to go, then do a proper repair once you are in the garage? (Leaving the rasp, material and adhesives at home)


I never was a boys scout! tear aid and liquid latex is my repair kit for day trips. I'm with you. I prefer to do long term repairs in my shop. I always prepare for the swim and hike out.


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## OregonRafter (Jan 30, 2013)

I carry both tear aid and a full patch kit. Tear aid takes up so little space, and then you have the best of both worlds. I'd never like to be caught on the river, even a day trip, without a proper patch kit. But tear aid is the first line of defense. It's so easy to put on and you're back on the river in no time. Even if all the tear aid does is turn a decent sized hole into a slow but manageable leak, just top off the chamber as needed. Then do a proper patch at home. Heck I have tear aid for the permanent fix on 2 camp pads that have lasted 3 seasons, and works great. I'm a big fan of doing the proper patch at home in a better environment if at all possible. 

On multiday trips having to derig, deflate, flip, do a traditional glue repair, then rerig is time consuming. You might as well pick the repair site as your camp site if at all possible. Because you're going to be there for a while. 

Maybe it's just me but I can't fathom being on the water anytime without a proper repair kit. The risk potential vs the small weight/space/inconveniece savings just isn't worth it. And +1 on buying new glue every season. That stuff doesn't last a long time, even if unopened. New glue and 303 every spring is some of the best long term insurance for your boat, IMO.


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## billfish (Nov 22, 2009)

86304 said:


> i don't know.
> 
> take a patch kit so you don't need it.
> 
> ...


What he said. I always bring a some sort of patch kit, tool kit, first aid kit, rope kit, toilet kit and an extra spare tire in the bed of my truck. And unfortunately I've needed them all, for me or the next guy at one time or another. I may be obsessive but once you have it, why leave it at home?


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## 2kanzam (Aug 1, 2012)

OregonRafter said:


> Maybe it's just me but I can't fathom being on the water anytime without a proper repair kit. The risk potential vs the small


Very true....

I guess I did not make it clear that I do (and will) always carry the full kit when JUST in either my Revolution or the Hyside...

I guess I was more trying to decide if I should take it all when I take BOTH of the 14 footers...hence needing 2 adhesives and 4 types of material (and one bottle of adhesive doesn't fit). But I have been trying to simplify things by having the Revo fully rigged and the more apt to fail 30yo Hyside basically naked as a paddle boat and at most a cooler on it. 

So I guess after reading this I have more confidence in relying on tear-aid to get me out, but less confidence in leaving an adhesive out...I still feel like I would rather use the quick fix than do a field patch just to remove it and do it in the right conditions...if it is an option-which It may not be. However I've never seen a failure so drastic that you wouldn't have enough material to fix, but it happens I guess, and best be prepared for that. (although I think if that happened to my Hyside I would just forget about it)


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## Schutzie (Feb 5, 2013)

Duct tape. 

If you don't have duct tape you do not have a complete repair kit.

I ripped the floor out of a raft and simply did not have enough patch to cover it all.

Stitched it up, patched what I could, and duct taped the rest. Finished a 5 day trip and it held up fine.

And when I went to do a proper repair after the trip I could NOT GET THE DAMN TAPE OFF without destroying the material. Had to cut it out and splice in new sections.

It also works fine as an emergency repair on tents, sleeping bags, dry bags, boxes, cooking pots (but it stinks until it burns off), surly passengers and tent poles.

And one super stud passenger used it to tape his ribs after a water fight that went extreme; had more chest and back hair than my cat; I figure his experience led to creation of the bikini wax industry.

Seriously. Duct tape or don't bother packing a repair kit at all.


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## wildh2onriver (Jul 21, 2009)

I being the black duct tape made by Gorilla but I haven't had to make a inflatable boat repair with it yet. Good know it may pull the material off when removing. I would try heating it up with a blow dryer or very carefully using a heat gun.


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## wildh2onriver (Jul 21, 2009)

wildh2onriver said:


> I being the black duct tape made by Gorilla but I haven't had to make a inflatable boat repair with it yet. Good know it may pull the material off when removing. I would try heating it up with a blow dryer or very carefully using a heat gun.


Insert **use**


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