Inflatable dingy sealant

[MCOS]

Any suggestions for hypalon dingy leak sealant? Looking for something like Toobseal but want something that will remain flexible to allow deflating and will not cause tube to stick to itself. Thanks!

[JPA Cate]

Nope.

We have always patched the dinghy holes. When the hypalon gets too old, and the scrim is exposed, it is basically beyond repair. The product with which we had the most success was SC2000, now SC3000. It is commercially used as conveyor belt adhesive, a two part deal with catalyst one keeps in its tiny bottle in the fridge. Made by Rima Tip Top. A liter can lasts a long time. One time we met a guy who could sell railroad tank cars of it (for the commercial coal loading conveyor belts).

One sands the area, washes it with MEK or acetone to get rid of the dust. Then mask, and paint on the first coat. Second coat after the first has lost most of its tack when you touch it with the flat of your fingernail. Your patch needs to have like a 2" diameter circle for just a pinhole leak. It is prepared the same way as the tube. Long tears, require stitching prior to patching. When you go to place the patch, use waxed paper between the layers of adhesive, because, you just attach an edge at first, then carefully, a little bit at a time, smooth the patch over the hole. Finally, you put as much pressure as you can onto the patch to help the bond. Let set about an hour, and re-inflate, but not to normal pressure, it should stay quite soft overnight, at least, but okay to reinflate to normal pressure the next day. It will get you home to your boat, but not planing till tomorrow.

I've read of using inner tube sealant inside dinghy tubes, but we never tried that, so can't really comment on that.

We have tried all kinds of adhesives over the years, and the SCtwo or three thousand has worked well below the water as well as above. It's designed for rubber.

Ann

[Jim Cate]

^^^^^
The new version of SC2000 is actually SC4000. The change was due to the solvent in the 2000 being toluene which has earned a bad reputation as a carcinogen.

Jim