Help! Got a Leak, Taking on Water - FIXED

[TimmyT140]

I think I found the culprit, any tips on fixing this?

[kickingback]

Lots of YouTube videos with repairs just like yours. Just watch them all and pick the best for your application and money.
It looks to me to be repairable for sure.

[TimmyT140]

I'm gonna let that dry out and get out the trusty old soldering iron. I am a professional welder, have been doing it for a living for the last 37 years, so I know a thing or two about melting stuff together. I fixed a crack in a tupperware bowl with the soldering iron and a zip tie for filler not long ago. Think I'll try to find some more appropriate filler this time.

[TimmyT140]

Oh yeah, the guy in the sticky thread welded his up with a soldering iron, too!

I need to find some orange filler bucket.

[TimmyT140]

haha, Wilderness Systems sells colored plastic welding rod.

[rbdavis3591]

haha, Wilderness Systems sells colored plastic welding rod.

When I needed plastic to fix my 2014 Predator 13 kayak Old Town sent me the plastic rod I needed for free. Not sure if Wilderness Systems will do the same or not.

[TimmyT140]

Too late, all done! I didn't leak test, but the edges are all wetted in and it's nice and solid, should be good to go. That was easy. I took some chips off on old bucket and melted them with the 45 watt soldering iron, as soon as it gets hot enough to melt, it fuses right in with the kayak.

[TimmyT140]

I guess you guys aren't too impressed with my welding skills.


edit: I just tested it, and it's holding water!

[CoachFlex]

I guess you guys aren't too impressed with my welding skills.

I am! Nice!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

[kickingback]

Well done! Now put some thick tape on the bow to protect it from further scratching! I say use simple duct tape but you can find some tough stuff around the house I'm sure.

[Chubs]

Hey that is pretty nice. Good to know that is fixable as mine is getting a wear spot there as well. Not a leak yet though.

[TimmyT140]

Don't some yaks have a metal plate on the keel to prevent this from happening? I guess I need to go ahead and make up one of those wheelie thingys.

[TimmyT140]

Well done! Now put some thick tape on the bow to protect it from further scratching! I say use simple duct tape but you can find some tough stuff around the house I'm sure.

I think it's a little late to worry about scratching, this thing is tore up!

[TimmyT140]

I think I'm going to melt some more bucket on there tomorrow, that trailing edge is looking pretty beat.

[kickingback]

I think I'm going to melt some more bucket on there tomorrow, that trailing edge is looking pretty beat.

That's what I was talking about.... It ain't gonna take much to gouge it again. The more layers you put the better.

[TimmyT140]

Yep, I need to build that up some more.

[Ron Mc]

At some point you may need to get enough heat on there to make sure your drips have fully fused with the base PE on the kayak.
A wider heat source than a soldering iron may help (possibly a clothes iron? - maybe a cheap garage sale, i.e., not your wife's). Heat gun?
Dripping the molten PE from the bucket onto the cold PE of the kayak without providing equal heat to the hoped-for fusion zone in the yak PE is going to be a cold joint - it may look good but may be LOF without strength.
I'm a metallurgist, the other kind of PE, qualify weld procedures and welders, and have seen plenty that didn't pass.
Commercial PE fusion temperature is about 240oF.

I've also seen HDPE supposed-to-be-fused pipe joints that didn't come close, but in that case, nobody that "did" the work was qualified, but also shouldn't have been able to win the contract (every city-water joint in the neighborhood had to be dug up).

One individual I know has a lot of experience repairing cracked yaks - TG in San Marcos. I understand his insurance required he stop providing the service, but he may be a good person for you to contact with questions, and he's a member of this forum.
http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/foru ... le&u=23159

[TimmyT140]

I didn't just drip it on there. Once I got little dab of it melted and applied, I worked it around with the iron, smoothing it out and wetting the edges and the the underbead in. Melt a little dab with the iron, smear it on and work it around, it worked fine.
I was the CWI on this job, I qualified the welding procedure and witnessed the work as it was done, and signed off on it when the hydrotest passed. Case closed.

[kickingback]

Wow. He, I and others are only trying to help. Guess you don't really need or want anyone's help.
Later daze...Never will respond to you again.

[TimmyT140]

Whatever. It seems to be a rule on the internet that any time someone makes a post doing something there always has to be that one guy that comes in and takes a dump on it.

[TimmyT140]

In the interest of truthiness, that weld cracked, I just got done scraping it all out. That old bucket was very brittle, I thought it would be OK when re-melted, but I was wrong. It was all tied in at the base, I think the filler was just bad.
Gonna try again with some bona fide plastic welding rod.

I apologize for being snippy.

[TG05]

You need something like a KC Welder. You've got to melt the edges along the crack on the kayak and the repair plastic so they flow together and fuse.

[Ron Mc]

I still recommend contacting TG with questions - in addition to the widest kayak inventory in Texas (including hand-laid boats), he runs a livery on San Marcos river with hundreds and hundreds of rent boats, and has repaired Many cracked boats.

[TimmyT140]

Thank you. I just looked at his details, he hasn't been on here since December.

[TimmyT140]

Did this yesterday with the plastic welding rod, no cracks yet. The bucket weld cracked overnight.