Quick Guide: Rubber Boat Repair Adhesives

This guide will help you choose the best glue for Pennel Orca, Hypalon, and other rubber boats.

Clifton Hypalon Adhesive

Excellent for Pennel Orca®, Hypalon®, neoprene and other synthetic rubbers. Used in building NRS Pennel Orca boats.

• “Mechanical” adhesion works by creating a bridge bond between two layers of material.
• Works well as a one-part adhesive.
• Bond strength is significantly increased when using it as a two-part adhesive with Clifton Hypalon Accelerator. Recommended for air-holding patches, D-rings, foot cups, etc. Also shortens cure time.
• Thick, “gloopy” consistency. Can be thinned a bit with toluene, but no more than one-part toluene to ten-parts adhesive.
• Recommend toluene for use as a solvent/cleaner and to reactivate the glue if it has dried beyond the tacky stage.
• Shelf life is approximately one year.
• Hypalon Repair Video
• Detailed repair instructions

Shore Adhesive

Works on all rubber boat materials.

• Also made by Clifton.
• Economical one-part adhesive. Does not work with Clifton Hypalon Accelerator.
• Shelf life is approximately one year.
• Detailed repair instructions

Stabond Adhesive

Works on PVC and urethane as well as rubber materials.

• Two-part adhesive
• Mix all of the accelerator with all of the adhesive, or mix proportionally for smaller amounts. For smaller amounts mix one-part accelerator to ten-parts adhesive.
• Detailed repair instructions

Aquaseal Flexible Repair Adhesive

• Bonds to Hypalon, neoprene, latex, nylon, vinyl (PVC), Gore-Tex® and other tri-laminates, plus many fabrics, foams, composites and plastics.
• Not recommended for air-holding patches.
• Very resistant to abrasion.
• Can be used to cover places where boat material coatings have been removed by abrasion, sometimes called a “scrim shot”.
• Mixing Cure Accelerator with Aquaseal® greatly speeds up cure time. It is also an excellent cleaner for prepping the repair surface and for removing excess Aquaseal.
• In areas where slickness may be an issue (top of a thwart or wear patch) a bit of sand can be sprinkled onto the glue five minutes after applying the last coat.