Quick Guide: Rubber Boat Repair Adhesives

ArticleMarch 02, 2012

Clifton Hypalon Adhesive: Excellent for Pennel Orca®, Hypalon®, neoprene and other synthetic rubbers. Used in building NRS Pennel Orca boats.

“Mechanical” adhesion works by creating a bridge bond between two layers of material.
Works well as a one-part adhesive.
Bond strength is significantly increased when using it as a two-part adhesive with Clifton Hypalon Accelerator. Recommended for air-holding patches, D-rings, foot cups, etc. Also shortens cure time.
Thick, “gloopy” consistency. Can be thinned a bit with toluene, but no more than one-part toluene to ten-parts adhesive.
Recommend toluene for use as a solvent/cleaner and to reactivate the glue if it has dried beyond the tacky stage.
Shelf life is approximately one year.
Hypalon Repair Video
Detailed repair instructions

Shore Adhesive: Works on all rubber boat materials.

Stabond Adhesive: Works on PVC and urethane as well as rubber materials

Two-part adhesive
Mix all of the accelerator with all of the adhesive, or mix proportionally for smaller amounts. For smaller amounts mix one-part accelerator to ten-parts adhesive.
Detailed repair instructions

Aquaseal Flexible Repair Adhesive

Bonds to Hypalon, neoprene, latex, nylon, vinyl (PVC), Gore-Tex® and other tri-laminates, plus many fabrics, foams, composites and plastics.
Not recommended for air-holding patches.
Very resistant to abrasion.
Can be used to cover places where boat material coatings have been removed by abrasion, sometimes called a “scrim shot”.
Mixing Cure Accelerator with Aquaseal® greatly speeds up cure time. It is also an excellent cleaner for prepping the repair surface and for removing excess Aquaseal.
In areas where slickness may be an issue (top of a thwart or wear patch) a bit of sand can be sprinkled onto the glue five minutes after applying the last coat.