Paddling tips, tricks, news and gear reviews from an Unsponsored point of view
It must be the season for a load of kit damage as over the last couple of days I have had several emails about repairing gear. Probably the glue I have used the most for the repair of gear has been been McNett Black Witch neoprene glue. The Black Witch glue is perfect for repairing rips, tears and nicks in spraydecks, wetsuits etc. It also works well for filling holes on the inside of non-neoprene gear like drysuits or dry tops.
Spray skirts/decks have a pretty tough life but do an incredibly important job. I’d been on the look out for a spray skirt to rescue from an inevitable trip to the bin and found one close to home.
Unsponsored’s little brother River (Militia) has a Palm Kevlar RT rand deck that has seen better days. I had offered to repair it for this post without seeing the total extent of the damage.
In fairness the skirt should have been consigned to the bin years ago or at least set on fire and given a grand send off. However the skirt was in such a bad state that it made the perfect subject for this post as most types of repair were required to bring it back to life.
To put the repair into context most joints on the skirt were compromised and in other areas the skirt had separated from the rand. In two key places the kevlar/neoprene had worn out/through and large holes had appeared. Even the top part of the tunnel had separated from the skirt and was also torn in a couple of places. All in all it was in a sorry state.
Continue readingKeeping on top of kit repairs is pretty straight forward and a little bit of TLC could prevent the damage getting worse.
Holes in most stuff can be repaired with Stormseal which is a clear flexible glue. I’d avoid the larger tubes as this stuff will go-off once opened. Keeping it in the fridge will help but you can get packs of 3 x 5g tubes which are superb.
I few mates of mine have also had good success using the Stormseal instant patches to repair dry tops. For breathable fabric McNett patches may be worth considering.
Stormseal will work great on most things including neoprene but I have found that black witch works even better on wetsuits and decks.
Once in a while your kit gets to a point where it is no longer safe to use or it simply doesn’t do its job as well as it should. When it does it is time to get rid.
© 2024 Unsponsored
Theme by Anders Norén — Up ↑
Recent Comments