Does anyone know how to cheaply and effectively repair the rubber rand on a whitewater spray deck? There aren’t any paddling stores around here that do that type of repair. This a gray and yellow Wildwasser (Prijon) deck. The rand is broken at the seam where it’s cut at an angle. I thought about carefully pulling the neo loose and wrapping the seam in a thick tire patch. Bad idea?
Thanks ahead for any responses. 
MC
Send it back to Prijon? NM
I’m having difficulty visualizing the
tear from your description, and so I don’t understand your proposed fix. A tear where the neoprene deck meets the rand is quite difficult to fix, because it’s a very high stress area. You might be able to get either bicycle rubber or quality neoprene to bridge the gap. I prefer neoprene cement, but sometimes Aquaseal works well, especially if there is a gap to be filled.
Thanks!
I’m talking about the rubber rand itself. There’s a break (seam) in on the back and it’s broken. It looks like it was (cheaply) “spot welded” from the factory.
Glue won’t hold
It might for a while, but it probably won’t last long.
The proper way to make, or repair a joint is to hot vulcanize it - essentially melt it together. Difficult to do yourself without the proper tools.
A car windshield repair shop might still have the equipment necessary to do it.
I think he might have a chance with
a good quality bicycle tube patch. He’s going to have to use something to bridge the break. There’s no way he can just weld or glue the break together without a bridging patch of a very similar material.
If he were here, I would cut the rand of an old skirt I have so he could try to use that as a patch. But a bike tube patch, or a piece of bike tube, are good possibilities.
How long have you had this…
…I have 3 Prijon/wildwasser skirts and they are tougher than a boiled owl.
This could be a warranty issue.
Well, I’ve had it a long time
but I don’t use it that often, I don’t even remember what the warranty is on it. I got a hold of Wildwasser in Boulder and they said they’d fix it for $10 plus shipping. I think I’ll probably just do that rather than risk ruining the deck. This deck was relatively expensive and I’d hate to trash it.