Background
The final part in my project of designing and building a small, portable, easy to store boat to explore the many interesting waterways in my area. You can read about the build here, and the first launch here.
The repair
After staring at the broken boat for a few months, I finally decided to have one more go at making the waterproof hinges, this time using pvc fabric. I sourced some nice olive green pvc fabric, and then proceeded to to try a whole bunch of different glues that worked well glueing both pvc to pvc as well as pvc to painted wood. After several failed options I finally found one that worked ok, an industrial vinyl contact cement from the pvc fabric supplier.
The next task was a bit depressing - stripping off the old canvas. On the other hand, it was hard to remove, which is good!
The next job was to measure and cut out long strips of pvc, and then glue those to the boat. This also required some disassembly of the boat, to allow it to lay flat and the fabric to be free of wrinkles. The first seam I tackled was the centre, which is probably the hardest of the lot. It went pretty smoothly, applying glue to both pieces, drying for a while and then pressing together. Unfortunately this had to happen on the balcony as it didn't smell too good, and good ventilation was needed for safety. It was also burning hot in the sun. So I left it for a while.
The end
Of course I left it a while too long. Then the weather turned. Other things took priority, and before you know it Christmas 2025 came around! The whole autumn the boat was sitting out exposed to the elements. And then it was time to move to a new place.
The intention was to move the boat with us, but when I carried it down the stairs I immediately noticed it had put on a few kg's sitting out in the rain. That made it a bit too heavy now for easy portability. The hinges were a bit rusty. The sides a bit mossy. I thought of all the work I would still have to put into this project to complete it. I carried it a few more metres outside and placed it in a skip bin.
Reflection
So was this project a failure then? I don't think so. Firstly, a lot of the fun is in the figuring out, and there was a lot to figure out! I've found many ways that don't work, and a few that do. Knowing that there were better choices I could have made earlier in the project to get a better end result was probably the main reason to stop, but I did gain that knowledge.
Lessons learnt
- I like woodworking, I don't like messing around with pvc, contact cement etc.
- Cotton fabric painted with latex paint can work well as a waterproof hinge, but the fabric needs to be strong! Painting it won't make it stronger.
- "Glueing" cotton fabric to plywood using paint worked really well, and held as well as all the pvc/contact cement joins.
- When using contact cement, you need to put glue on both sides, and each hinge has two connections. That means for every metre of hinge you have 4 metres of glueing to do!
- Metal hinges are fiddly and annoying to install.
- Plywood is heavy.
- A boat you carry reasonable distances by hand needs to be super light!
- A folding boat is a lot more work than a non-folding boat.
- The hull shape I had was not great for paddling.
What's next?
I'm at a bit of a cross-roads. On the one hand, I could remake this design incorporating all the lessons learnt. That "proven version" would be:
- 4mm plywood to reduce weight and make it easier to bend
- rope figure of 8 hinges to prevent rust, screws.
- pvc fabric
A possible variation is to spend a bit more time trying different fabrics to see if I can source a strong cotton fabric that can be painted on. Then there's no need for all the solvent sniffing.
Finally I could go more like the KWIKY, using tape for hinges. That was my original plan, and I probably should have stuck with that for a prototype!
Of course a drastic re-design in hull shape, and even the whole concept is also possible. We'll see around Christmas 2026 maybe?
Written on 1 Jan 2026