In the Field Plastic Welding

"So what we're going to do is, we're going to take some sticks.... and light them on fire."

And that we did, though not in exactly the way I had initially conceived.  But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Crack!

Just recently, the Spice and I were on a 5 day Salt river trip in Arizona when, on day one, I hit a not very large rock in not very fast current which punched a fist sized hole through the hull just where my heels rest. I've seen plenty of straight line cracks, but this is a full half moon shape that literally flaps open.  If a kayak could be said to have a serious avulsion, this would be it.

"I have some terrible news..."

Fortunately, the only other person on the trip, my better half (let me tell you, a great way to spend 5 days on the water) was rowing a 14 foot gear boat, so my broken kayak and I had a ride... But, it was day one and I still had yet to run the big fun rapids that lasted for the next two days!

Elisha going to town!

Cue the flaming sticks!  Going off some vague notion that to me had always been some kind of kayaker's urban legend, we set about to patch my boat at camp.  To forage for plastic bits, Elisha and I cut strips off of the inside of the cockpit rim.  She proved much more adept at this task than I... personally, I think Elisha (an admitted lifetime rafter) found some joy in hacking away at a plastic boat... but I digress.

About an hour later we had a small pile of plastic cork-screws and a few larger candlesticks.  To our amazement, the plastic sticks could be lit on fire and drip like ptex.  After applying a good layer to both the inside and outside, I let the thing cool and went back to enjoying my beer and the multitudes of brilliant starts over our heads.

A plastic candle

Fantastically, the patched boat did not sink right away the next day.  I was thrilled to be able to paddle my own boat down my first time in the Salt River canyon!

However, even though I was being a gentle with her as I could, the inevitable little rock bounces and stresses on the plastic from just negotiating wave trains eventually began to reopen the wound.  By lunch, I was slowly sinking again.  Fortunately, we were taking 4 nights to go 50 miles and so could stop relatively early for the next camp.

At Camp Two, this process was repeated.  The next day saw the same results, but with more whitewater, I began sinking quite a bit earlier in the day.  For days 4 and 5, I was happy to take the oars for a while and spend more time on the raft with my best friend, and my camera.

All and all, this made for a rather fun project at camp and only added to the wonderful experience that was the Salt River of 2013.  I did learn some things though:  next time, I would try harder to heat the area around the crack so the area would be more pliable and could form a more integrated weld.

So yes, it can be done!  I'm sure that if this crack had been a normal little straight-line crack, this patch would have been much more effective.  But hey... she got me through.