# Best Thread for Hypalon



## lncoop (Sep 10, 2010)

Trailer 1, Raft 0. I'll spare you the deets and just say in a moment of complete dumbassery I caused a large L shaped slash in my hypalon boat. Should be pretty easy to fix, but given the size and shape I think it'd be prudent to sew it up before patching. What's the bestest thread to use? Any other general tips? Thanks buzzards!


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## OregonRafter (Jan 30, 2013)

Inside/outside patch if it's large, it will hold better. How big is the L? If you end up needing to sew it a sewing awl and dental floss should hold it together to get a patch on it.


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## lncoop (Sep 10, 2010)

Thank you for the advice. Each side of the slash is two or three inches. Would you also sew it up, or just glue the inside of the tear to a patch then glue down the outer patch?


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## DrBigDog (Apr 15, 2009)

*Sewing and patching*

I have a hypalon boat that suffered (because of my dumb-ass landing) a 10" vertical cut in the outer layer of the hypalon. Over time, the material began to bulge. Inflatable Technologies in Denver patched for me, inside and out, having to disassemble that section of the boat. No problems now. Call them about sewing and the patching; Greg @ 303-922-3111.


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## lncoop (Sep 10, 2010)

Thanks Dr. This was a complete cut all the way through. The chamber deflated in a matter of seconds. Looks like it was done with a sharp knife. I bought the boat five years ago for $400 and it would cost at least that much to have it repaired professionally since I'd have to ship it. A friend has an old hypalon raft that I can have for patch material so I plan to order a big can of glue and add some handles while I'm at it. Hopefully the Gear Pig will live again. Poor ol' boat. Given me years of faithful service despite being subjected to countless indignities and this is how I repay her LOL.


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## OregonRafter (Jan 30, 2013)

If it's only 2-3 inches each run I'd just do an inside/outside. The inside patch will take the stress of the air pressure and the outer patch reinforces the repair. If you have to sew it, it will probably leave ripples that will make it more difficult to get a good outer patch over it.


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## elkhaven (Sep 11, 2013)

Don't sew it... they don't sew seams do they? As said above sewing it will only make it difficult to get a good seal with the patches. I had a similar repair on pvc years ago and am pretty sure the patch outlasted the boat.


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## lncoop (Sep 10, 2010)

Okay, hypalon sammich it is, and no sewing. Thank you very much guys! I'll be sure to report back when it's done.


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## DrBigDog (Apr 15, 2009)

*tear repair*

One last thing. Use two-part Stabond glue; it's much stronger.
Northwest River Supplies and Jack's Plastic Welding have excellent information on patching.
Cheers!


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## boyrafly (May 1, 2015)

nice information
thanks all


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## caverdan (Aug 27, 2004)

Stabond is for PVC, not Hypalon. 

Go to the NRS site and download the instructions for a Hypalon repair. Then order Clifton's 8488 glue and accelerator. Use the accelerator very sparingly. A few drops will do ya. You can thin it a little bit with Toluene. DO NOT SEW. 

Make inner and outer patch 1 1/2" to 2" wider and longer than the repair. If you have to, make the cut big enough to work inside the tube as you need to lightly grind the fabric on both sides to get both patches to stick. Prep is everything. DO NOT overgring the fabric. Just enough to roughen the coating without hitting threads. The best thing I have found to do this with as a cordless drill and scotch bright discs. 

Give everything (inside and out) a coat of glue and let dry overnight. give it a second coat and start sticking it together from the inside out. Use a little bit of toluene to seperate the material it it sticks down prematurely. Good luck.


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## Hyside Inflatables (Jul 26, 2012)

*Stabond for Hypalon*



caverdan said:


> Stabond is for PVC, not Hypalon.
> 
> Go to the NRS site and download the instructions for a Hypalon repair. Then order Clifton's 8488 glue and accelerator. Use the accelerator very sparingly. A few drops will do ya. You can thin it a little bit with Toluene. DO NOT SEW.
> 
> ...


Great info here, but just want to clarify that Stabond is great for several different fabric applications. You can most definitely use Stabond on Hypalon and it's the only glue we stock and recommend for our boats. It's a very versatile glue that can adhere different fabrics to each other...for instance, our thwart attachments are plastic, but adhere to our Hypalon thwarts and boats. If you use it, you'll want to clean with MEK rather than Toluene. We stock and sell both.

If you are simply doing a Hypalon to Hypalon repair or say gluing on a d-ring or footcup, then Stabond OR Clifton will do great for the job.


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## OregonRafter (Jan 30, 2013)

One last thing that helps with the inside patch. After the second coat let it dry completely and cover the glued area with wax paper to get it inside the tube and in position, and not stick to the inside glued surface. Remove the wax paper and use a hair dryer or heat gun to reactivate the glue. Heat the outside tube in the repair area for a minute or two, you should be able to get enough heat transfer through the tube material to the glue. Then roll the piss out of it. The advice to have a brush and toluene on standby in case it's misaligned is spot on. 

Another way of heating to re-activate the glue. Jacks Plastic Welding recommends boiling a pot of water and placing it on the repair area, let it sit for a while, then roll. I haven't tried that trick but I bet it would work with hypalon and cliftons just the same. 

Either way you do the interior patch, let it set for 24 hours then bring it up to full pressure to make sure you don't have a catastrophic failure of the interior patch. Then patch the outside. Maybe take some pictures of the process and post back how it turns out. Good luck!


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## lncoop (Sep 10, 2010)

Okay. Thanks again everyone for all the outstanding advice. Quite a treasure trove. A friend dropped off what was supposed to be a donor boat last night. The floor is shredded (another bucket) but he says the tubes and thwarts are bomber. He also handed me a couple of big pieces of hypalon that actually match the Gear Pig. So, once the Pig is repaired my partner in crime and I will turn our attention to the other boat and come up with something that will be the envy of poverty boaters worldwide. Stay tuned!


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## sammyphsyco (Aug 15, 2012)

lncoop said:


> Okay. Thanks again everyone for all the outstanding advice. Quite a treasure trove. A friend dropped off what was supposed to be a donor boat last night. The floor is shredded (another bucket) but he says the tubes and thwarts are bomber. He also handed me a couple of big pieces of hypalon that actually match the Gear Pig. So, once the Pig is repaired my partner in crime and I will turn our attention to the other boat and come up with something that will be the envy of poverty boaters worldwide. Stay tuned!


Be sure and post some pics of the scared up boats in the poverty raft porn thread.


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## timboslice (May 5, 2014)

Inside outside patch is the way to go. For the inside patch seam tape is prefered because it is cut on the bias and will stretch. This is what they use at the factory when building the boat

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