Patch a chunk in hull--Liquid Electrical Tape

[Chip]

I recently noted some ABS smiling through two holes in the vinyl of my royalex Appy. I had some liquid electrical tape out for another purpose and was about to dab some onto the voids, thinking it will be fine for preventing UV damage. I lightly sanded. I cleaned with alcohol. I was about to dab, but had a stray thought: I wonder if there's acetone in this stuff. So, I strolled over to the laptop and asked the Internet. LET has 5 - 10 % acetone.

I think I'll just put some paint on there before I take it out tomorrow, and while I hopefully figure out what's better .

Would that small amount of acetone react with the ABS?

The biggest of the several small chunks is smaller than a dime.

 

[latremorej]

If I remember correctly, I used acetone to clean my royalex hull prior to skid plate installation. I didn't notice anything happening. The royalex color definitely transferred to the rag tho.

I think I would use gflex epoxy on those small holes too.
Jason

 

[Canotrouge]

The best to fix that would be ABS pipe shredded into some acetone to melt it and create a paste that you apply in really light coats, letting it dry in between application... Acetone is bad for RX canoes if use inappropriately. I've used it for many years w/o any damage!

An other thing you can do to is to just paint over the cleaned area. Fusion plastic paint work pretty good! It won't last for ever, but will protect from UV damage and its easy to reapply as needed!!

 

[pblanc]

It is possible that the product could damage the ABS of the Royalex. It is generally OK to use an acetone or MEK rag to wipe a Royalex boat. Keep in mind, if the vinyl layer is intact, you are wiping vinyl, not ABS. But even if the ABS is exposed, the solvent flashes off the surface of solid ABS so quickly it doesn't have a chance to do any damage.

I have definitely seen vinyl D ring patches applied to Royalex boats using vinyl adhesives containing acetone (or more commonly, MEK) do serious damage to the hull if the vinyl adhesive was not used properly. When using these products, the acetone or MEK must be given a chance to "degas" before approximating the patch to the hull. I also know of someone who severely damaged a Royalex hull when he left a cloth that had been damped with acetone lying in the bottom of the boat.

I have tried the ABS dissolved in MEK (or acetone) slurry a number of times and have never had any real luck with it. The material really never bonded to the underlying ABS and just flaked off with relatively trivial contact. I do know a number of experienced boaters who swear by it, so perhaps I tried to use coats that were too thick, or made some other mistake. It looks to me as if the only damage is to the outer vinyl layer. If the solid stratum of ABS looks undamaged you could just cover it. I would remove any loose vinyl around the edges and feather the edges of the intact vinyl with light sanding. You could then just paint the exposed ABS.

If it looks as if the ABS layer has been gouged or thinned, and you have some G Flex at hand, you could certainly apply some to the area and then paint that when cured.

 

[Guest]

Solvents such as acetone wiped on the outer vinyl skin or even the ABS layer below will flash off quickly enough to do no harm.

“Wiped” on and “flash off”. Two non-apocryphal stories not to try at home.

One guy did his own outfitting on an RX Bell. Apparently he slathered some solventy adhesive (Mondobond IIRC) on the vinyl pads and stuck them in place wet. The adhesive solvent dissolved the outer plastic layers and got into the foam core, where it softened the foam and continued to spread out into a wider and wider area. Ruined canoe.

Another fellow simply used acetone to wipe down an area of the hull prior to outfitting. Not a problem. Except that he left the acetone can in the hull. With the cap off. Where it fell over somehow in the middle of the night. The puddle slowly ate its way through the hull. Ruined canoe.

(BTW, he and I had once had a lively debate about solvent damage to foam cores. I had mentioned that such stories were legion among canoe manufacturers from folks damaging their RX hulls, he stating that such tales were myth. Ooops)

Those tales have made me very cautious about how and where I just solvents on RX and about my Vynabond or contact cement technique. And I don’t set the acetone can in the canoe even for a second.

In Chip’s case, without the foam core exposed I don’t think (but don’t know) that 5-10% solvent will have any effect. It might be worth pushing on the areas around the repair to see if they feel “soft”.