Airalite Repair

Matt

Matt

Joined
Sep 15, 2006
Messages
24
I need to draw on the experience of the masses....I've got a Perception Eclipse Airalite with a crack. :cry: It looks like Perception says I can repair it with fiberglass, but I wondered if anyone else might have an idea on how well that works, any experience with this material (airalite) or another method of repair. :?:

Thanks,

Matt
 
hi ,
yes ,you can patch it with fiberglass. but i'm not sure if you have to do it with epoxy or polyester resin. someone also told me that you can fix little holes with somekind of special glue........ did you talk to someone from perception? i'm sure they can give you all the information you need.

good luck,

andreas
 
Thank you, and from what I've read, it is epoxy, rather than polyester. I did read on Perception's web site that you can fill small scrapes, etc with super glue gel......I have a call in to Perception and I'm sure they'll give me all the info I need. It seems that since this is a fairly new material, there isn't a lot of information on repairs. I'll keep this updated with any information I do find so that anyone with an airalite can have some good info.

Thanks again,
Matt
 
Hey Matt i am just curious, how much of a hit did it take to crack it? I've been curious about that material for a while. I read some brief notes on repairing Carbonlite(Eddyline's version of the same thing) in a sea kayaking book i got and they said to use fiberglass and super glue, and also to drill small holes in the ends of the crack to stop it from spreading. My guess is the super glue melts into the abs based material pretty good. but my own guess is that epoxy resin with fiberglass tape would be the strongest repair.
 
Hi Rider, It actually happened during shipping....which I know I should send it back and get a new one, but....there aren't any left so I thought I might keep it and repair it. It was a really good deal from Sierra Trading Post...... only 1250 (us) including shipping. Sounds like their shipping company has done this to boats before. Anyway, I feel like I got such a good deal and they will take more off the price for the damage if I keep it, so we'll see. I can't imagine it would make too much of a difference structurally if I fixed it since it's not a huge crack. In fact, the repaired area would no doubt be stronger, hopefully! Thanks for the tips on drilling holes at each end to keep it from spreading. Really good idea.

Thanks again,

Matt
 
Matt wrote: Anyway, I feel like I got such a good deal and they will take more off the price for the damage if I keep it, so we'll see. I can't imagine it would make too much of a difference structurally if I fixed it since it's not a huge crack.

The experience of the local kayak dealer on Eddyline boats (Carbonlite; similar material, I think) which got cracked was that it depended on where the crack was, and how clean they got the surfaces at repair time. IIRC, Eddyline made a solvent-based repair glue (might have been super glue) available which worked pretty well. However, a couple boats could not be repaired and were totaled.

You might call Eddyline for a second opinion; I'd hate to own one of these if it were not 100% fixed.

Or, call Pacific Wave, down here (Warrenton, OR) and ask for Ben -- he did the repairs, and dealt with the boats, years ago, now.
 
I don't remember the chemical name of the glue that I been using but Bell Canoes sells it under the name of Super Bond http://www.rutabaga.com/product.asp?pid=1013653.

I have used this with success on numerous Perception Airlite boats, Current Designs TCS and Yakima and Thule luggage boxes. This is the same glue that bonds the two halves of the boat together. Valley Kayaks starting gluing in their bulkheads into their composite boats with this stuff. It saves weight compared to fibreglass and is just as strong.

While fibreglass will work, I prefer this glue as it is quicker and isn't as messy. The repair is also less noticeable. Find some drywall fibreglass tape for this repair. The tape is self adhesive. Apply to the inside of the repair after drilling holes at the ends of the crack to prevent further splitting. Then mix up the glue and apply with a putty knife. The drywall tape will soak up the glue and help stiffen the area that cracked.

Use the glue in a well ventilated area as it smells very toxic. Good luck. You should have no problem putting your boat back together. I've seen luggage box meet garage destruction that left the box in dozens of pieces put back together so a single crack should be no problem.
 
when airlite boats first came the rep told me: if there is a crack have the owner go to a saturn dealer.....saturns are made from the same stuff....

what that saturn dealer could do/offer/advise????dunno....'we need to replace the front quarterpanel on that eclipse'
rob
 
My lovely wife insisted I send it back and reorder a new one.....probably the smart thing to do. So that is what I did and now am the proud owner of a shiny new airilite eclipse. I want to thank all the folks that replied.....hopefully now I won't need to know how to fix it, but if I do........ :lol:

Thanks again,

Matt
 
I used to work in the plastics industry, this Airalite is apparentley (from Perceptions website) an extruded composite of Acrylic over ABS. Same stuff used to make Hot-Tub's. Its a thermoplastic, so you are not likely going to be able to repair it with an adhesive to the same molecular strength as new. I'm sure if the crack is small and tight you could repair with cyanoacrylate (crazy glue). If its a large breach, you could try epoxy/fiberglass. However, it definately won't be as strong as new. I'm just basing this off the materials they state its made from. I would defer to what the manufacturer recommends.

However, if you just paid $1250 for it, would you not want it to last a long time in pristine condition?? I'd get it replaced if it was mine.

G.
 
I've heard that you can take thermoformed boats to body shops that work on Saturn cars and they can fix it good as new.

*****
 
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