Fixing a hole?

[loonerdude44]

My orca (I'm sure you already know about her) has a hole underneath the valve, it's been there since day 1. I've used the supplied repair patch, but it only slows the deflation. I'm sure the patches (i cut up the original patch into smaller pieces) would normally work, but the hole is right underneath the valve, making it extremely difficult to properly patch. I've attached an illustration (and a rather poor one at that) of what it's like, I don't have anything with a camera right now. Is there any way I can properly fix this? The patches just keep getting bubbles in them that goes from the hole in the vinyl to the end of the patch (which goes over the valve area), so air keeps escaping.
Should I try to get some spare vinyl and some glue and try to patch it from the inside out? I've never performed surgery, not on a person, and certainly not on a pool toy lol



Thanks in advance, great people.

[vuur2]

Re: Fixing a hole?

If I were you, I'd get some good Soft PVC glue.
Deflate the whale so that there's no stress on the vinyl.
Next, carefully peel off the patch that's over the tiny hole, making sure not to enlarge the hole.
When the patch is gone, just put a drop of the glue on the hole and let it dry.
When the glue has dried up, put another drop of glue on top of the first drop, and let that dry too.
Keep doing this until the glue has made a patch of glue.
When done, wait for 24 hours just to be sure the glue has hardened completely.
Then inflate Layla again and the hole will be fixed

[OverTheTop]

Re: Fixing a hole?

If you have black electrical tape on hand I've found it works better than the patches they give you, at least for small holes and punctures. It's stretchier and stretches with the toy rather than forming bubbles like the patches, and also less permanent - you can remove the tape and use PVC glue to permanently fix it later.

[loonerdude44]

Re: Fixing a hole?

If I were you, I'd get some good Soft PVC glue.
Deflate the whale so that there's no stress on the vinyl.
Next, carefully peel off the patch that's over the tiny hole, making sure not to enlarge the hole.
When the patch is gone, just put a drop of the glue on the hole and let it dry.
When the glue has dried up, put another drop of glue on top of the first drop, and let that dry too.
Keep doing this until the glue has made a patch of glue.
When done, wait for 24 hours just to be sure the glue has hardened completely.
Then inflate Layla again and the hole will be fixed

Thanks, I'll give that a shot. It may be a while until I can get some and try it out though.

[craggy2012]

Re: Fixing a hole?

It's quite near to the valve, I'd probably punch a small disc of scrap clear PVC with a paper (stationary hole punch) and stick it down over the hole with a dab of vinyl adhesive. It'll cover the hole and be practically invisible.
Those repair patches they chuck in aren't very effective as they soon start to peel away- especially if you don't cut the patch into a circle shape first. 90 degree square corners on self adhesive patches always curl and lift away over time.