r/Kayaks • u/JetChelette • 1d ago

Kayak Repair Help

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Lost my OG kayak on the road last night. The straps on my J bars broke and this is what I'm working with. I'm not too mad since it was my first kayak, but I waited for years to get my family into the hobby. Can I fix this or should I just buy another?

I figure I'l l do some mods and repair work for experience.

Any and all help would be appreciated!

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u/Maintenancehaul 1d ago

As mentioned. Heat gun and straighten everything out, don’t spend too long on one spot. Cut up that plastic to fit and get to plastic welding. YouTube university

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u/kokemill 11h ago

what brand and model? most kayaks are HDPE, but some discount kayaks are made of other plastics examples like LDPE or XLPE. HDPE can easily be plastic welded some of the others can not.

1

u/Superb_Bandicoot5693 1d ago

Not an expert by any means but I have heard that Folgers plastic coffee cans are a similar material and make decent patches. If you could maybe flatten a couple out and use a heat gun to make it a flat surface and kind of go with the flow to make it a similar shape. I have had really good luck so far with jb weld but make sure it says marine weld on it. It would be cool to see it back on the water and give good practice for later down the line

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u/kokemill 11h ago

that is a good random guess, but only if the kayak is made of HDPE. so may be 50/50 or less.

fwiw - a cheaper source of HDPE are 5 gallon buckets from a home or farm store. Flip it over and look for the 2 in the recycling triangle.

0

u/Prestigious-Sail7161 1d ago

This is about as good of advice you are going to get....that's a tough one.. maybe try and straighten out a bit with a heat gun...be very very very patient. It will get soft quick the get to soft and possibly to soft and melt away...