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PostPosted: Fri Mar 29, 2019 2:49 pm 
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Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2019 11:32 am
Posts: 6
Recently purchases an AI with an older sail. Already ordered a replacement, but I would like to keep the current one as a backup for when I expand my fleet (3 kayaks strong already!).

The sail itself still maintains a lot of the stiffness in the material, however it has a few holes in the mylar window and one small tear near the head of the sail off to the side of the largest baton. See pictures below.

I have purchased some Life Safe Awning repair tape to repair all of the holes/tears. I understand that the best option for repairing the sail portion is to get the patch kit, however I would like to test the awning repair tape and see how long it holds!


Image



Image


Process I plan to follow:
1. Wash affected areas with water
2. Wipe them down with some mild rubbing alcohol to clean away remaining water contaminants
3. Apply tape to both sides of the sail, covering the holes by more than 1in of tape in all directions
4. Apply additional tape to anywhere that is making a cracking noise when running one finger over it


Below are images of the results. The sail portion did not turn out as well as I hoped due to the fact that the sail is warped. I'll update this post once I have take the kayak out several times. Please let me know your thoughts and questions!




Image
Image


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 29, 2019 5:48 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2005 6:29 pm
Posts: 2763
Location: High Point, NC
Believe it or not, but I have found that Gorilla Tape (clear) is as good a repair tape as you can find for clear mylar sail repairs. For the rest of the sail, you can use self-adhesive insignia cloth to get you buy for quite a while. Really all depends on the size of the area you need to repair.


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 29, 2019 5:50 pm 
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Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2019 11:32 am
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Thanks for the tip! My first trip out with it is tomorrow, if any of my repairs fail I'll take your suggestions into consideration.


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 29, 2019 6:55 pm 
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Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2019 3:28 am
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Looking at your post got me thinking. Plastics often become brittle with time/uv/etc. Could you put some more life into them with something like a protectant spray designed for car dashboards?


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 29, 2019 8:53 pm 
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Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2019 11:32 am
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That is an interesting thought, I wonder if any sort of coating would affect the performance of the sails. I imagine anything would cause additional unwanted drag/windage on the sails themselves.

Also, I am not sure how temperamental mylar is. Definitely merits more research.


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PostPosted: Thu Aug 22, 2019 9:19 am 
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Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2019 11:32 am
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So far the tape is holding on the sail and mylar. Though I wouldn't expect the sail tape to last more than 5-10 trips.


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PostPosted: Thu Aug 22, 2019 1:30 pm 
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Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2018 4:19 pm
Posts: 17
I was wondering what kind of thread is used in these sails. I have a couple worn spots and loose ends. Also what kind of material is the sail actually made of?


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 20, 2019 3:26 pm 
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Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 9:09 pm
Posts: 187
Location: Sayville, NY
yakking wrote:
Looking at your post got me thinking. Plastics often become brittle with time/uv/etc. Could you put some more life into them with something like a protectant spray designed for car dashboards?

I always rinse down sail after saltwater use, then a couple times a year I'll spray sail down w/Aerospace 303 & let it soak in & dry in sun. Original sail going on 8 years now, looks good!

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Bob
Proud member Kayak Fishing Association of New York


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