[Muddy Water]

Ok with the spate of cracks maybe its time we start a thread to discuss repairing or patching?

I'll start with a few plastic repair videos I came across on youtube. Experts chime in.

 

[WOOSAB]

I had a hole about 6 inches in mine. I'll post pics when I get to my office tomorrow. There is a solution recommend in the owners manual. I can't think of it off the top of my head. But I used it to patch the hole in mine and 3 weeks l8r still holding great. I'm in Dallas and the only place I could purchase was west marine. It's designed specifically for plastic. Works great so far

 

[WOOSAB]

This is what we used to fixed our damaged ski. West Marine is the only place i know that sells it.

 

[serpent710]

Aaahhhhh...did you leave it l like that or sand it down? Different stuff than what another poster used.

 

[wizzer]

Is the top deck considered the hull? That could be fixed so you would never even know it was broken. Many ways to do it but Id say the service manual way would be perfect for that damage. One other thing I was thinking about is using expanding foam in areas like that to strengthen it from impacts . When hit it just flexes in till it gives way. A foam backing would help support the plastic.

 

[GizmoK]

This is what we used to fixed our damaged ski. West Marine is the only place i know that sells it.

Keep us posted on how it goes

 

[BTMG]

Welding plastic, is that a viable fix for a crack of the magnitude we have seen? The videos seem to demonstrate smaller fixes?

 

[Pazio]

Hi

A have small one scratch but guite deep ( about 3 mm ) - How to fix it ? is there any "ready for use kit stuff" that I Can youse myslelf ?

Thanks for help

 

[wizzer]

Ive repaired a broken wear ring with the cheap harbor freight plastic welder kit. Its held up well Of course I did reinforce the area with the wire mesh supplied in the kit. If it can handle the immense pressure of the jet pump the hull will be no problem.

 

[philmo]

Sharing my experience from another cracked hull thread

6 inch crack in the hull near the bow
So we fixed a seadoo crack a few weeks ago and it is holding up with no issues. I'm disappointed the dealers (in my area) seem to have no knowledge of this option. The pictures are ordered 1-4, in the order of the repair. We did not opt to take the top off. If this doesn't hold, we'll go that route. The weld felt like the material is one piece again. This is not glue or epoxy that's going to come out. Just drilled holes on both ends (stop the crack) of the crack and used a sharp drill bit to make a small groove in the crack. There's also a method to put a stainless mesh backing in the weld to make it even stronger. The welder has adjustable heat so you are at the right temp with the plastic. Once we were done we sanded to rough it up and then used a small flame to glaze. It turned out pretty darn good. You can't really tell there was an issue. If you repair it from the inside, you can make it look even better (see videos). From the inside you can add all kinds of reinforcement. In my opinion, a kit like this is awesome for all kinds of kayak, and plastic repairs. I'm loving it.

Got a plastic welder kit here and it worked very well. $180
http://www.tooltopia.com/urethane-supply-5700ht.aspx

Nice training videos from the tool maker
http://www.urethanesupply.com/Airless-Welders-1/5700HT/


Flotation
If you look inside the bow of the spark there's no flotation. Someone posted that it's near the rear of the vessel (engine compartment). If seadoo could reinforce the bow with flotation (spray foam) or honeycomb components, a front impact would be minimized. Now that we have this plastic welding kit and a little confidence, repairing smaller cracks and such really should be no big deal.

The dealer estimate was 4k to repair this (hull replacement). We spent 200 and have a kit to fix other stuff. We would have gladly paid $500 to have an expert pull the top and repair it. It would be a good idea for the dealers to sell the kits at least.

 

[Trials]

Yikes! What a Mess!
Did the epoxy peal off yet, I give that repair about a 3% chance of staying in place for more then 1 season.

Why would you not want to attempt a patch repair like that on the inside first it would look way better as well as hold better .

Plus, using epoxy on urethane plastic, those 2 materials are totally contrary to each other. they don't even shrink and expand at the same rate! If these parts are made from urethane plastic, why not use a urethane based material for your patch material :/ like urethane rubber maybe?

Has anybody seen the p-tex sticks you use to repair the base of a damaged snow ski?
If you facilitate a big cobbled up repair on the inside and leave the outside flush, you could at least cover the damaged area on the outside with a big sticker :nerd: or maybe some 3M adhesive backed carbon fibre sheeting.

 

[philmo]

a closed cell spray foam backing of some sort would be a nice.

 

[Swatson1]

I used JB Weld on mine. Worked great.

 

[Nunner]

I used JB Weld on mine. Worked great.

Witch type of JB Weld did u use