repairing a repair on hypalon!

[motobando]

I'm in the process of cleaning up the hypalon on my boat and want to fix a poor repair job that the previous owner performed on a patch. They sanded a much larger area of the hypalon than was needed (about 8 to 10 cm beyond the patch!). The hypalon is black and it really shows. Are there any tricks to help make the hypalon smooth again where it was sanded? Many thanks for any ideas...!

[9D280]

Remove it and put a bigger patch on?

[motobando]

Thanks for the reply. I thought about that, but that patch would be quite large for literally a pinhole (looks like a hook went in).

[captnjack]

There's really nothing which will "regloss" the sanded area.

[motobando]

re-glossing it - that's what I was hoping for. Was thinking there's maybe a way to somehow buff it out with some elbow grease...

[captnjack]

Originally Posted by motobando

re-glossing it - that's what I was hoping for. Was thinking there's maybe a way to somehow buff it out with some elbow grease...

Not really. If it were a hard boat you could try progressively finer polish, working up to something like 1200 grit wet sanding. Then of course you'd wax it to "fill in" the last imperfections for a gloss finish.

I don't think I would try that on hypalon. Waxes are generally bad news for inflatables, limiting your future repair options. 303 Protectant might help a little. It will mostly be slippery and a bit glossier, but won't really remove the underlying scratches and needs to be reapplied.

Being in San diego sun you'll want 303 anyway to keep the fabric aging to a minimum. Might as well see if it helps the scratched areas.

[motobando]

Well I picked up some 600 & 1200 sandpapers and will try to wet sand it so it's not so bad. I'll stay away from waxes, etc... I do use 303 so that should help a bit.