RE: [Paddlewise] VHB

Peter,

Methylated spirits sometimes has denaturants or other additives from solvent reclamation which make it not always a good choice for final cleaning of a surface prior to painting or application of an adhesive.  Plain old soap and water, thoroughly rinsed with clean tap water is better, especially with closed cell foam, which will have a surface layer of cells scratched open by the sandpaper used to roughen it.  Dry thoroughly.

Your foam may be a polyethylene, nonetheless.  Is it slippery to the touch?  No is the answer you want.  Slippery might be PE, in one form or another.

BTW, hot melt glue will likely melt PE, but not polyurethane, the elastomer used for mini cell and other closed cell foams.

--
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR

-------- Original message --------
From Peter Osman <peter_at_energysustained.com> 
Date: 09/19/2014  3:14 PM  (GMT-08:00) 
To 'Craig Jungers' <crjungers_at_gmail.com>,'Paul Hayward' <nz7kayaker_at_gmail.com>,'Dave Kruger' <kdruger_at_pacifier.com> 
Cc 'Paddlewise' <paddlewise_at_paddlewise.net> 
Subject RE: [Paddlewise] VHB 
 
G’day,

 

Thanks for all the advice. The Velcro is more than strong enough but the adhesive it comes with is very unreliable. The boat is fibreglass and gelcoat and the seat is closed cell foam. I don’t think the seat is made from HDPE or LDPE as it holds glue tight except when it gets repeatedly soaked in saltwater.

 

Dave suggested using soap and water and careful drying. That sounds interesting as up to now I’ve been trying methylated spirits without success. I can’t find Weldwood in Australia but I do have an organic solvent based contact cement Kwik Grip that I know stands up to salt water. If that doesn’t work I’ll try hot melt glue

 

Thanks again, good to hear from you all,

 

All the best, Peter

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