C-Forum

So, sometimes when outfitting old used boats, I'll need to glue down a D-ring where some past minicell foam has been ripped up. Now, the Vynabond's not going to work without a clean vinyl surface, so do I have any other adhesive options to get a strong bond?

Mike Yee recommends using Stabond to reoutfit Royalex canoes in which the inner vinyl layer has been damaged or stripped. Stabond is an MEK-based adhesive.

Actually, I would just try to get the foam and glue residue off. I have generally been able to do that using a mild abrasive pad (like the green Scotch pads) and either acetone or MEK to dissolve the glue residue. Avoid all but brief contact between the hull and either solvent. Generally, with care and time I can get all the residue off and leave the inner vinyl layer intact and then just use Vynabond as per usual.

If some of the gray vinyl comes off, you can go ahead and use the Stabond, which apparently bonds patches to ABS better than Vynabond does.

Its really hard to go wrong with Marine Goop. Sticks and sticks well to pretty much anything.

The solvents in Marine Goop can do interesting things you probably don't want to see on your personal boat.

Sta-Bond is pretty much standard for retrofitting over old outfitting, but the bond is only as good as what you're putting it on. Scrape and remove everything you can first. As previously noted, if you go down to ABS it's not the end of the world.

Different solvents work on different things, if memory is correct Mineral Spirits will clean up contact cement without too much harm to the boat.