Repairing hold-down on a Royalite boat.

[phreon]

One of the main flotation bag cage D-rings in my Royalite Rival gave up and blew out. I used Sta-Bond on it back when I installed it, but for the life of me, I don't remember why. I installed the saddle and Yee strap system with plain old rubber cement - those haven't gone anywhere.

It's time to fix the ol' girl up and get back on the water - my neck crunchiness is "controlled". Any reason why I can't or shouldn't install a replacement ring with cement? Or why I should spend $30 on a fresh can of Sta-Bond? Or is there a better adhesive for this purpose now?

Thanks,

Doug

[milkman]

I like Vynabond because it creates a vinyl weld between a vinyl patch and the vinyl skin of the inside of the hull. Don't sand, just use a good solvent cleaning agent on both parts you're gluing. I use 99% rubbing alcohol.

If you're putting in a D-ring mounted on hard plastic, I'd use G/flex epoxy. It's designed to handle the flexing of the hull.

[Paddle Power]

I'm with Milkman, Vynabond.

[phreon]

My Rival is the Royalite version. My understanding is the interior surface is not vinyl, hence using Sta-Bond instead of Vyna-Bond. I'm wondering if epoxy isn't the way to go. You can't get Sta-Bond in small quantities and it quickly goes bad once the container is opened.


Thanks,

Doug

[Bob P]

From my research, Royalite and Royalex use the same materials, only the thicknesses are different. You get vinyl either way. My Spark is Royalite and Vynabond worked well. Just don't use too much.

[sbroam]

I thought I heard back in the day that Royalite was lighter because it didn't have the inner layer of vinyl - you had ABS on the inside. Maybe that was true for one variation? And I have a memory of similar vintage that you were supposed to use a different adhesive which I thought was Stabond vs. Vynabond. But... they may be similar enough to not really make a difference? I'd go with GFlex because I have some on the shelf and if I didn't, I'd get some - it works and it's useful for more things than just d-rings in royalex...

[phreon]

Yeah, I read somewhere that older Royalite didn't use vinyl, but some other coating on the interior and that it changed later on to vinyl. Given this is a genuine Dagger canoe, I'll err on the old side... Unless somebody can tell me a way to verify it's vinyl?

I have some RAKA epoxy left over from repairing my river tripper. It has a bit of flex to it - I suppose I could give it a shot for D-rings.

Sta-Bond is a 2 part urethane adhesive, as I recall. It's NASTY stuff.

[Bob P]

Unless somebody can tell me a way to verify it's vinyl?

Just spread a little on an unused area on the hull. Once dry, try to peal it off.