Funny how things keep getting pushed up to the top of the list due to unexpected repairs. The other night I took the dinghy ashore to get some provisions. As usual I took the oars and put them in the car. Leaving them in the dingy is like leaving the keys in the ignition IMO. When I got back and pulled the oars out of the back one of the oars pulled apart.
The Oars that come with the Porta Boat are aluminum and have a metal pin the secures them together. After ten years in the salt water environment the pins on my oars rusted out. So I just used duct tape to secure them temporarily. Well that "temporary" fix lasted two years which is not bad, But, a more permanent solution was now needed. But, first I had to get back to BIANKA. Unfortunately, I did not have any duct tape in the car. Only some paper tape which was certainly not strong enough to hold the oars together. So I improvised by inserting a 1/4 inch screw into the hole the rusted out pin used to use. Then I used the paper taper around the screw to hold it in place:
It worked long enough to row back to the boat. But, a more permanent repair was needed. Since I never really took the Oars apart all I needed to do was make sure my repair was strong enough to keep the Oar halves together. For that the I decided to use some West System G/Flex Epoxy Adhesive
I have on board.First I had to get rid of the old Duct tape residue and clean the joint area:
I used a 3M 220-8-CC 6-Inch by 9-Inch Scotch-brite Heavy Duty Scour Pad
and some Denatured Alcohol to remove the of remnants of the Duct Tape:
This did a good job cleaning and roughing up the joint of the two oar pieces. I then mixed a small batch of the West System G/Flex Epoxy Adhesive :
I coated both pieces of the oar joints with the epoxy mixture and put them together:
I then covered the epoxied joint with some new Duct Tape to protect the epoxy and joint from any degrading effects of the sun:
The new repair of the Oar should last a number of years if my previous experience is any indication. With this emergency repair done it's time to move on to the next project of the list.
Tweet
Tweet
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Posts
4 comments:
wow! very nice. to get Marine repairs work is very expensive and you told a great way through which we can do it our self. thanks a million
It looks like a slight mishap, but nobody wants to wait for things to take a turn for the worse. I hope that unexpected yet imperative repair was enough to keep that oar together. Thanks for sharing your repair scheme, and have a safe sail!
Arthur Greene @ CMM
Thanks for this step-by-step guide on how you repaired the oars of your porta boat. I love how resourceful you were, and I’m sure you saved a lot of money by doing the repairs yourself. At the very least, it served as a good way to keep things in one piece for months, if not years. Cheers!
Kent Garner @ Whites Marine Center
Post a Comment