Vinyl repair

Advice
#1

I loosened the edges of the offending old d-ring patch on the bottom of my Mohawk Odyssed, fastened vice grips to it and with a mighty pull,likened to “the man of steel” I pulled it from the inside of my canoe. Holding it aloft and smiling with joy I was elated.

Then I looked down, Ooooops, there was a piece of vinyl the size of the d-ring patch missing from the inside of my boat.



I am not opposed to putting a new d-ring patch down if it will hold to the exposed white foam core???



Or… what should I do. Missing vinyl is about 4" x 6".



Thanks

Darryl

#2

Get some West G-flex and use it to both
fill in for the missing vinyl and to glue down a new D-ring patch. G-flex is an epoxy, safe for both vinyl and the exposed ABS.



What you MUST NOT do is get any Vynabond or similar vinyl adhesive on that exposed ABS, or you will soften it and mess it up. Don’t use acetone, either. Water or rubbing alcohol to clean, then the G-flex.



You can thicken G-flex or you can buy it pre-thickened. A new D-ring patch should be lightly sanded underneath to raise some fibers.



If you ever truly need to remove the vinyl surface layer, rather than heaving it off, use a sharp chisel held at a very low angle. The vinyl will skim off the ABS in one clean pass.

#3

Stabond also works
Either G-Flex or Stabond will bind vinyl to exposed ABS.



Next time you need to remove a D-ring from a Royalex boat, warm it gently with a hair drier or heat gun and work under the edge with a thin paint scraper. Judicious warming and gently pulling and prying will usually get the patch off and leave the vinyl intact.



If you do not plan to put another patch in that location, I would still be inclined to apply a thin layer of G-Flex over the denuded area to seal down the edges of the vinyl, then paint the area lacking vinyl to prevent degradation of the exposed ABS by UV.

#4

Removing D-Rings
Yup – first try a little heat - that will sometimes loosen the glue and allow the vinyl patch to be peeled off. If not, I take a razor blade and cut off the nylon webbing which holds the D-ring leaving the vinyl patch in place. You can glue right over the old vinyl patch. You can see some of the old vinyl patches still in place in this picture of my old WW boat.



http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2152237420075003331KvVVjJ

#5

Vinyl Repair
Thanks very much I will proceed with caution.



Darryl