Leaking Bass Buddy

[hoglaw]

So I bought what is commonly referred to as a bass buddy. It's a little one man plastic pontoon boat that's flat on top with square(ish) pontoons on bottom and has mounts for a trolling motor in the front and rear. I picked it up for $20.00, and was told that it had leaked in the past. Well, you get what you pay for and apparently the past also means the present. The leak is on the bottom/front of one of the pontoons, directly on what you would call a seam area. There doesn't appear to be an actual seam, but it's the vertex (lowest point on the pontoon). It's a crack that's pretty long, and fills up with water quite quickly as I found out yesterday.

My question is, is this fixable? It's a bit of a stress area because of the way I strap it down to my canoe trailor, so any fix would have to be pretty solid...we're not talking superglue in the crack here. Is there a kevlar patch or something I can bond to the whole of the bottom of the pontoon that will hold up? I'd love to get this thing fixed because it really cooks with my 50lb trolling motor on it (even when carrying extra water), and it's a great standing platform for fishing some of the places I fish here around Fayetteville. I can try to take a picture of the affected area if that will help.

Also, should anyone wish to trade an old flatbottom or canoe(s) for legal work in Arkansas, feel free to shoot me a P.M.

[Dutch]

You might be able to use some fiberglass resin and cloth and make a decent patch. I have done that kind of thing a time or two. It was never pretty but it was functional and cheap.

[zander]

I'm sure he was telling the truth. It had problems with leaking it the past, as in the the last time he had it in the water.

[hoglaw]

Haha. You'd think as a lawyer I'd be more perceptive to vague language like "in the past." Actually, I'm not hacked at the seller at all. In fact, his wife put it up on craigslist with an ad that said (as I recall) "husband out of town, want boat out of my yard, $20 first taker." At least that was the message I got. I think they could have told me that it had a close range 12 guage wound and I still would have risked a twenty on it.

I appreciate the insight. Where would I get fiberglass resin and cloth? Is that fiberglass cloth? I don't know what the boat's made out of, either some kind of plastic or other resin, but I don't think it's true fiberglass. I'll give southtown sporting goods a call and see what they have to say.

[Flysmallie]

The boat is made out of a type of plastic. Fiberglass cloth and resin will work for awhile but will eventually become brittle and fall off. A lot of it has to do with the mold release agents that are impregnated in the plastic. There are products out there that will repair the plastic but you are looking at spending about 2 to 3 times what you paid for the boat.

Your cheapest bet is to go the cloth and resin route. Just make sure that you sand and clean the surface to be repaired very well. I would clean with an alcohol based cleaner, then sand, then clean again. This will remove most of the release agents. Then apply the resin and cloth keeping the repair as thin as possible. If you can find a small amount of epoxy resin it would be much better that the normal fiberglass resin that you typically find which is a polyester base. The epoxy will be a lot stronger and will give some flexibility. Make sure which ever resin you use to coat it with paint. Aerosol is fine. You just want to make sure the resin is covered. Resins have no UV inhibitors so the sun will break them down and make them very brittle.

Other than that, great deal on a cool little boat!!!

[hoglaw]

The boat is made out of a type of plastic. Fiberglass cloth and resin will work for awhile but will eventually become brittle and fall off. A lot of it has to do with the mold release agents that are impregnated in the plastic. There are products out there that will repair the plastic but you are looking at spending about 2 to 3 times what you paid for the boat.

Your cheapest bet is to go the cloth and resin route. Just make sure that you sand and clean the surface to be repaired very well. I would clean with an alcohol based cleaner, then sand, then clean again. This will remove most of the release agents. Then apply the resin and cloth keeping the repair as thin as possible. If you can find a small amount of epoxy resin it would be much better that the normal fiberglass resin that you typically find which is a polyester base. The epoxy will be a lot stronger and will give some flexibility. Make sure which ever resin you use to coat it with paint. Aerosol is fine. You just want to make sure the resin is covered. Resins have no UV inhibitors so the sun will break them down and make them very brittle.

Other than that, great deal on a cool little boat!!!

Please forgive me for my ignorance, but let me recap: I need to purchase a fiberglass cloth and (separately) standard epoxy? Any idea where I can get the cloth? Are we talking the epoxy I can get from Walmart? Also, should I inject the mixed epoxy into the pontoon prior to bonding the cloth? Thanks again guys.

[Ozark]

You can get A good epoxy resin at Grizzly in Springfield. System Three is the name brand they have two or three different amounts in one to one ratio mixtures. You can buy the cloth at most car part stores. Oh and yes paint it as Flysmallie said.

[jdmidwest]

You may need to contact to the manufacturer to see what they suggest for a repair material. I cracked a yak last summer and they sent me a repair material that looked like a piece of weedeater material. I had to use a pinpoint torch to melt the material into the yak and it made a sturdy repair. I had some doubts at first, but it has made it a year and is solid. They may have some of the same stuff. You have to be careful what you use on plastics, you may melt it with some resins. Other option is JB weld or another type of material that I use to repair plastic gas tanks on small engines.

[Flysmallie]

Okay, here is what I know. System Three makes very good epoxies. However they make many different kinds. You have to make sure that it is a resin designed for laminating and NOT a quick cure resin. The quick cure will not allow enough time to completely "wet out" the fiberglass cloth.

The process that jdmidwest is talking about is plastic welding. You are basically melting a plastic rod onto the repair. This is the best method to repair plastic but it's a bit tricky too. jd had the fortune of being able to talk to the manufacturer and they sent him the plastic welding rod he needed for the repair. There are many different types of plastic and you have to use the right rod or it will peel off. I have a buddy that has a plastic welder that he uses for bumper repairs. He must have 10 different rods for all the different plastics. If you want to drag that thing to Springfield I know he would fix it up for you.

But I do know that a fiberglass repair will work, I repaired one like this when I was in High School. I looked tonight in Walmart and they do carry a small fiberglass repair kit for around $10 that has the material you need. You can also pick up a quart of acetone there for around $6 that would be good for cleaning the repair area before applying resin and afterwards for clean up. If you follow the instructions on the box you should have a pretty solid repair. Just make sure you clean, clean, clean and clean again before applying any resin. And afterwards you have to paint it.

I will pm you my phone number in case you need me to explain this in more detail.

[JobyKSU]

You all are much more industrious than I

I had a similar crack on a sit-on-top 'yak that I got for free and used to take out on the (small and uneventful) local lake.

I spread the crack and used Goop inside and out, then covered it with a flexible rubber patch (and more Goop). Once it dried I put about 2 layers of waterproof duct tape on to make it hydrodynamic.

It was ugly, but usually lasted 4 trips or so before I had to redo it. Of course, I never got far enough away that swimming wasn't an option

That was grampa's $1 fix for a free kayak.