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Repairing plastic/polyethylene boats
Not sure about using hot glue but where I work, we have a plastic welder
that can weld PE,PP,or ABS. We use it to fabricate mainly PP. The way it works is that it is pneumatically fed melted .125 dia. plastic through the gun and out a heated tip. The heated tip premelts the parent plastic and simultaneously lays down a bead of new material. The trick is that the new material does not have a chance to oxidize before it is in contact with the parent material and it is at the correct temp. of course. The problem with the welds is that the physical properties will be different then the molded (?) parent part; i.e. different flex, elongation, etc. All that said, it is an expensive tool; about $2400.00. Obviously not worth it in your case. But I have seen a welder that Harbor Freight sells if I recall. I'm not sure how it works, but knowing their tools, it may sorta kinda work once or twice which may be good enough and cheap. Another option might be to find someone who fabricates plastic chemical tanks. In my past life I worked with platers who used fabricated plastic tanks, and those guys used welders. Good luck - it may be wise to stick close to shore in your polyboat. Rob H "Ignoramus32317" wrote in message ... In addition to my 21 ft boat, I recently found a 4x8 plastic boat that someone put out as garbage. It is kind of doublehulled and seems to be made of high density polyethylene (HDPE), like plastic buckets. I am delighted because I can use this boat on some little lakes nearby. It seems super safe (double hull) and super stable. It does have however a few small cracks in the hull that need repair. What is the right way to repair HDPE? Can I use glue guns with hot melt glue? i |
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