Inflatable Repair Adhesives Guide

When repairing your Pennel Orca (Hypalon), PVC or urethane inflatable, or your plastic or composite kayak, it’s vital that you choose the right adhesive and solvent for the job. Using the wrong materials will result in a poor repair and wasted effort.

In this video, Josh from NRS Repairs shares an inflatable-repair adhesives guide to help you understand when to use such glues as Clifton Hypalon, Shore, Stabond, Clifton Urethane, HH-66, Aquaseal and G/flex Epoxy. Solvents for repair prep are important too; you’ll also learn when you can use toluene, MEK, acetone and alcohol. The video discusses the three stages of each repair: mechanical preparation, chemical preparation and repair application.

Each of the adhesives has video and/or printed instructions linked on the product page. Be sure to check them out before starting your repair job. Most of these products contain toxic ingredients, so it is very important that you follow the recommended safety procedures.

For synthetic rubber materials, the combination of Clifton Hypalon Adhesive and Clifton Hypalon Accelerator is highly recommended for air-holding repairs and attaching high-stress items like D-ring patches, handles and foot cups. This combo is what we use to build NRS Pennel Orca inflatables. Clifton Hypalon and Shore Adhesive can also be used as one-part glues where you don’t need the extra strength.

For PVC and urethane repair we offer Clifton Urethane, HH-66 and Stabond adhesives. Stabond can also be used to bond PVC-coated materials to synthetic rubber-coated materials.

Aquaseal bonds well to Hypalon, other synthetic rubbers, PVC and urethane materials. It can be used as an adhesive and an abrasion-resistant coating.

G/flex Epoxy is an excellent product that bonds to many different materials and is more flexible than other epoxies. It also bonds to polyethylene, which resists most other adhesives. This is great since many kayaks are made of high-density polyethylene.

We also offer both toluene and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) solvents, which are the preferred solvents for inflatable repair.