For Boat Owners

In order to buy the right adhesive and repair fabric for your inflatable you need to know what fabric the boat is made of. The chart below is broken down into the two basic fabric types; plastic and rubber. By plastic I mean Coolthane, PVC, Urethane, Vynil, and the like. Rubber includes, but is not limited to; EPDM, Hypalon, and Neoprene.

As for adhesives; I like to use StaBond UK-148 or Clifton LA-4009 for plastic boats, and Clifton FA-1030 or FA-4844 for rubber boats. Here at Alaska Raft and Kayak in Anchorage we stock StaBond UK-148 for plastic fabrics and Clifton FA-4844 for rubber fabrics. Both of these adhesives are excellent two part glues. For instructions see my article in Fish Alaska Magazine; A Patch in Time, Field Repair of Inflatables.

Number 1: Not all boats are either/or (plastic or rubber). Some manufacturers have built inflatables out of both fabrics, and some manufacturers have built boats using both types of fabrics at the same time! Incept started out making rubber boats, but most of their production today is plastic. Northwest River Supplies makes rubber boats for the most part, but lately have been offering some urethane coated nylon inflatables (Bandit and Rascal inflatable kayaks, and the Revolution Series cats and rafts) and plastic drop stitch inflatables (GigBob). Let’s not forget Zodiac; Zodiac usually makes either plastic boats or rubber boats (the Grand Raid Series), but they have made boats using both types of fabric at the same time (necessitating the owner to have both types of adhesives and both types of fabrics in their repair kit)! Most of these boats were made in the late 70’s through the 80’s. Thankfully they have left that practice behind for the most part.

Number 2: This list is by no means complete. If you have a boat not on this list please let me know.). Or if you have a boat on the list with a different Coast Guard Designator please let me know. Please give me the manufacturer’s name, the model name (or number), and the first three letters of the serial number (the Coast Guard Designator). Your help in developing this list will be greatly appreciated.